what was the last 'classic film' you watched and were knocked out by?

As for me, my rediscovery was Exotica.

Also a big Dracula AD 1972 fan (the 73 follow-up, Satanic Rites of Dracula, isn't anywhere near as good) - one of the first Hammer films I ever saw on late night British telly, along with the equally fine Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, made the same year. Totally agree act the effectiveness of Christopher Neame's performance as the acolyte: the summoning in the church is perhaps the best scene in the film, and it's another REEL TO REEL horror, along with Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape, also AD 1972.

And I really like Alligator Man by Stoneground!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18RKwISa6JM

Wolfen rocks.

Just watched The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane for the first time, which TCM aired as part of its October programming. Not really a horror movie, though; more of a piece with something like The Beguiled (either version, though I’m partial to Siegel’s) or Smooth Talk. Lovely autumnal vibes, with an extraordinary Jodie Foster, an adorable Scott Jacoby, and a creepy-as-hell Martin Sheen. And while I include this more as an observation than an endorsement, the film is rather startlingly frank and even blasé about adolescent sexuality in ways that would not play well today.

As for me, my rediscovery was Exotica.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, October 25, 2022 9:15 AM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the best movie ever made

I need to see that still

David Lean's Summertime was marvellous. And a while back I finally saw Daisies and it completely ruled

Haven't seen Exotica since it came out. Reminding finding it confusing at first and then really liking it.

i just saw the shout (1978) and idk if it's a classic but it should be

Haven't seen Exotica since it came out. Reminding finding it confusing at first and then really liking it.

― 2-4-6-8 Motor Away (James Redd and the Blecchs

Then and now the ending doesn't quite work, but, geez, the rhythm of the thing, the laying out of these chess pieces on the board, the poignancy of life in that strip club -- these things stayed with me and got reinforced now.

xp
I've never heard of that, but the description sounds great--maybe an influence on Peter Strickland?

oh yeah, strickland has totally seen the shout

Exotica is all about evoking a place and a feeling, which is what most of my favourite films are about.

Yep.

I saw The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane in the theater when I was 8 and it was probably the heaviest, most adult film I'd seen to that point. It raised some questions.

Dr Morbius called it "icky."

it is pretty icky, especially having 13-year-old jodie foster be nude in a sexual setting (though body-doubled by her older sister)

Exotica is all about evoking a place and a feeling

I feel this in Egoyan's intimate, small-scale movies like Next of Kin and Calendar, but most of his well-known movies feel too mannered to be evocative. He's like the jigsaw puzzle maker who's more concerned with how the pieces fit together than the picture itself.

High and Low is my favourite Kurosawa, and mentally I always connect it with The Bad Sleep Well as contemporary thrillers, but there's a crushing inevitability to the latter that maybe makes it less exciting.

I tend to confuse those Kurosawas.

The Old Dark House

I love the pre-code stuff

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Dark_House_(1932_film)

Old Dark House is great, kind of a comedy but also truly grotesque.

The James Whale specialty.

When Saul is released from the room - at first he seems so harmless but quickly becomes one of the more strangely terrifying characters in film history