L - LH
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La Llorona [2019] La pasajera [2021] Lake Bodom [2016]
Lake of Death [2019] Land of the Dead [2005] Last Action Hero [1993]
The Last Days on Mars [2013] The Last Man on Earth [1964] Last Moment of Clarity [2020]
Last Ones Out [2015] The Last Sharknado: It's About Time [2018] The Last Stand [2013]
The Last Vermeer [2019] The Last Victim [2021] Last Woman on Earth [1960]
Late Night with the Devil [2023]
The Lathe of Heaven [1980] Leatherface [2017] The Lego Movie [2014]
Let the Right One In [2008] Level 16 [2018] Leviathan [1989]
Late Night with the Devil [2023]

            
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A 70's late night talk show features the paranormal on sweeps week and the devil shows up. This is getting a lot of praise but, unfortunately, I don't see why. I grew up watching late shows and this representation of one wasn't funny enough or realistic enough to feel the least bit authentic ..especially when it's presented as competition to Johnny Carson. I don't think so. Also, things played out exactly as I expected with no surprises and not nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be. It was ok, I liked it, but there's some real missed opportunities here.
Last Moment of Clarity [2020]

            
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A loner in hiding, who's trying to piece together why his fiance was murdered 3 years previously, spots an actress that looks remarkably like her. The characters were very likable and the interplay between them was honest and realistic. That's good because the first half of the film progressed very slowly with a lot of dialog scenes being nothing more than padding. The second half picked up nicely although the minor twists were not particularly surprising nor was the ending but we enjoyed it as a light 'thriller' drama and it was worth watching.
The Last Victim [2021]

            
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Out in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico, a road-tripping couple and their dog cross paths with a sociopathic killer and his cohorts. Exceptional story telling, sharp dialogue and well-developed, genuinely honest and unique characters highlight this slow burn that takes nearly 2 hours. Regardless, I was so locked in, it never felt too long or slow. Acting was exceptional all around, especially Ali Larter who portrays a woman who has skills but is also prone to anxiety attacks creating an interesting dynamic. Ron Perlman and Ralph Ineson also rocked. Good stuff!
The Last Days on Mars [2013]

         
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For a film that I had never heard of until just recently, what a surprise. On their last day of a 6 month tour on Mars, a research team finds a bacterium that's real happy to have a nice warm host walk by after a multi-billion-year dry spell. Acting was excellent depicting real characters making realistic decisions. In fact, realism is central to this struggle for survival and I never once doubted it. Photography is amazing, the violence can be sudden and brutal and they really captured a true sense of panic and futility. It's been done before but this one did it real well.
Let the Right One In [2008]
aka Lat den ratte komma in
            
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A bullied, 12-year-old boy befriends the new girl next door, despite her being a vampire. You'd be hard pressed to find a more tragic, coming-of-age love story than this one. Centered nearly exclusively around Oskar and Eli, everyone else is just peripheral characters that serve to sculpt their relationship into something wonderful and dangerous. I really appreciated that the filmmakers were subtle with these external forces and didn't feel the need to shove the bullying or broken family issues down our throat. Great story incredibly well acted. Excellent film.
The Last Sharknado: It's About Time [2018]

            
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Not so much about battling the sharknadoes as it is a time travel film as our heroes hop around in time trying to find a solution to stopping the sharknadoes forever. As campy and low budget with cheap spec fx as any of the other films, it also has the same incredible level of imagination and a complete lack of concern to take anything seriously making it supremely entertaining. Coming up with one ridiculous scientific solution after another that makes no sense is exactly as it should be. Full of the usual cameos, inspired puns and LOL moments, it's a gas.
La pasajera [2021]
aka The Passenger
            
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Van on a road trip encounters an alien being that turns them into savage, gooey people and it really doesn't matter. When they meet, the people involved immediately treat each other with contempt making them entirely unlikable. The film's progress is driven by the characters doing stupid things and irrational behavior without any rhyme or reason. First the van is out of gas, suddenly it has gas. A struggle is taking place in the van and the driver and passenger up front are unaware of it?? Some good gnarly moments but nothing we haven't seen better.
Last Ones Out [2015]

         
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A small group of people in Africa trying to get to a rescue point amidst a zombie outbreak. Typical zombie film with remarkably few zombies and a whole lot of wandering around in the wilderness - one of them appearing quite healthy right after an emergency operation - contemplating who can or can't be trusted while the writer desperately tries to come up with realistic scenarios to throw at them in a attempt to fill up 76 minutes with something of interest and then treating us with an ending that's so ludicrous, I almost threw a shoe at the TV. Pretty darn lame.
La Llorona [2019]

            
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This is not the Conjuring universe version but rather a Spanish production based 'very' loosely on the La Llorona legend. An aging General is absolved of war crimes and genocide in Guatemala. With his family home under siege by protesters, a mysterious woman is hired as a maid and things begin to fall apart. The acting and overall production quality is fantastic and it's far more a destructive personal family-in-crisis drama then horror. My only problem was the necessity to drag out every single scene way beyond its worth. It does lack needed energy.
Lake of Death [2019]
aka De dodes tjern
         
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No synopsis needed as this is a pretty typical 'haunted-cabin-in-the-woods' story with an initial setup, a climax, and (to keep the viewer's attention) the rest consisting of scene after scene of creepy activity with no rhyme, reason, or explanation. The climax comes right out of a romantic tragedy which, in this film, came off as rather lame ...and the final scene left me going, "Huh?". The characters held my attention as they were genuine, smart and likable. Too bad they weren't placed in a more compelling story. Mildly entertaining if you have no expectations.
The Last Stand [2013]

            

There's a manhunt going on for a high profile drug lord who is expected to pass through a little town just north of the Mexican border and the sheriff is not about to let that happen. Maybe it's just because I like Arnold Schwarzenegger but I found this film to be just plain fun. Lots of action, a few good jokes, sociopathic villains, good shoot outs and more. All handled expertly by director Jee-woon Kim (I Saw the Devil, The Good the Bad the Weird). What's not to like?
The Lathe of Heaven [1980]

         
  
The first made-for-TV film by PBS is probably still the best film they ever produced ...and on practically no budget. Bruce Davidson gives an incredible performance as a man who dreams and everything changes, and how a dream specialist tries to manipulate him with dire consequences. Fantastic dialogue and a mind twisting storyline makes up for the nearly laughable special effects. Don't be misled by the 2002 remake ...which was just awful. Watch this one and watch it now!
Last Action Hero [1993]

            

By the use of a magic ticket, a boy is able to enter a film featuring his favorite action hero. This is one of those films that most everyone has seen but I never have. I didn't like the kid much, I hated Lt. Dekker, and the film was way too long. However, I liked that half the time was spent with the characters in the movie and the other half spent in the real world ...and the problems that developed. They even had the action as over-the-top in the movie world and somewhat more realistic in the real world ...like busting a car window with your fist really hurts! Quite fun.
Level 16 [2018]

            
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A group of girls, who have never seen the outside world, have spent their entire lives in an underground school to be trained to be the perfect virtuous woman to be adopted into an elite family. Two of the girls discover there's something far more sinister going on. This was an exceptionally well presented film with great acting and a completely believable story, even with the unlikely premise. It's also exceptionally slow. Luckily, in this case, I didn't let the slow pace get the better of me as it had me pretty much hooked from the start. It's good ...just be patient.
Land of the Dead [2005]

            


The world may be overrun with zombies but the class war between the elite and the unfortunate is worse than ever ...and the zombies are getting smarter. Romero continues to deliver in this non-stop action, zombie thrill ride with the usual amazing and disturbing make-up fx. Dennis Hopper's performance is manically twisted. Find the extra gruesome extended version for all the chuckles and giggles.
Leviathan [1989]

            
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While mining silver 3 miles deep in the ocean, a crew runs across a shipwreck called the Leviathan ...and it's still carrying something. This is a pretty typical '80's monster movie that isn't too bad ...it's just made badly. The crew are unprofessional idiots, the constantly changing mutant creature is filmed in extreme closeups, flash cuts and bad lighting so we never really got a good look at it, and, apparently, they think the audience will buy that it takes just a couple minutes to go up 3 miles without proper decompression. But hey... it wasn't boring.
Lake Bodom [2016]
aka Bodom
            
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Four teenagers, all with a different agenda (that aren't bright enough to figure out they're all lying to each other), go on a trip to Lake Bodom, a place where 4 teens were murdered in 1960. Revealing some of their lies fills up the first half hour. Then there's a good twist followed by a protracted half hour of dealing with car keys and more deceptions. Then the film discards all the previous events and becomes something else entirely digressing into a series of incredibly unlikely events right up to the preposterous ending. Phhhtt!
Leatherface [2017]

            

A rather simple and sad story about how Jed, the most normal and likable kid of the insane family, is turned into leatherface through the influences of his family, a sadistic operator of an asylum, a vengeful and corrupt sheriff, as well as a few other things. Thus making the efforts of this good soul surrounded by vultures rather futile. There were also moments in the film that struck me as unnecessarily gross and disgusting. It's mildly entertaining and they didn't make it campy, which definitely would not have worked so, that's a plus.
The Lego Movie [2014]

         


In a Lego universe, a nondescript construction worker becomes the 'Special' and is tasked with saving the universe from Lord Business. This was suggested by a web site guest and I found it to be very amusing, brilliantly colorful and highly imaginative. I don't recall any laugh-out-loud moments but I had a lot of fun watching it. Great for the whole family. Thanx for the suggestion.
The Last Man on Earth [1964]

            
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An immune survivor of a deadly virus may be the last man on earth. After seeing The Omega Man and I Am Legend, this first film adaption of the story 'I Am Legend' is nostalgic but rather lame and poorly made. What was interesting about it, though, was the creatures that walked the night were called vampires but, by modern day terms, they were clearly zombies, in a broad sense ...a monster that didn't become mainstream until Night of the Living Dead 4 years later.
Last Woman on Earth [1960]

            
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While a gambler, his wife and his lawyer are scuba diving in Puerto Rico, the atmosphere is inexplicably robbed of its oxygen temporarily. They discover they are the only ones alive on the island. Unlike most of Corman's films at the time, the event is the only thing about this film that is sci fi. In fact, this is a rather interesting character study of the dynamics between the last woman, an overbearing husband and a sensitive but fatalistic friend that goes pretty much as expected. Overly melodramatic but not a bad film.
The Last Vermeer [2019]

         

A biopic centering on Han Van Meegeren who was put on trial for selling recently found Vermeer's to the Nazis and the surprising revelations the trial uncovers. If you're a frequent visitor, you probably know that I'm not a big fan of biographies. This is one of the exceptions. Handled with exquisite care, with outstanding acting (especially Guy Pierce & Claes Bang), this film provides just enough compelling drama to make it feel like a fictional story and it keeps one's full attention to the screen without ever sacrificing it's authenticity. Well made and fascinating.
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