[6] Jacqueline Bisset (The Deep, Bullitt) stars as the wife of a music journalist who becomes convinced her husband’s body has been inhabited by another man, a famous concert pianist, through the use of dark magic. Alan Alda plays the journalist, whose beautiful hands strike the fancy of the aging pianist, played by Curt Jurgens. Bisset’s character goes through a lot, first noticing odd behavior …
[2] This low-rent, paint-by-numbers snooze-fest features a foursome of estranged family members brought together to the eponymous location after the death of their matriarch. But little do they know someone in the house is practicing voodoo magic to kill everyone off one by one. Will they find out who the killer is? Will you give a shit if they do? I didn’t. The House on …
[6] This is a SPOILER REVIEW. Writer/director Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream) makes a claustrophobic allegory of the Bible’s story of creation, the fall from grace, all the way up through the birth of Jesus and beyond. He does it with Javier Bardem playing God and Jennifer Lawrence playing a hybrid of Mother Earth and the Virgin Mary (or women/mothers in general?) …
[8] Aussie director Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger) spins a Hitchcockian yarn based on a novel by Charles Williams. Dead Calm is a solid thriller that takes place almost entirely on the open waters of the Pacific. Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman play a couple trying to overcome the loss of their child, when up to their boat rows beautiful but psychotic …
[6] The third Evil Dead film gets a bigger budget and a more traditional plot, but the polish and structure don’t compensate for low-budget invention and madcap inspiration. Bruce Campbell is prime here, delivering a smattering of memorable lines and a few good scenes of physical comedy as a department store employee whisked back in time to 1300 AD where he must battle an army …
[6] Poor Janet. When she was just a little girl, she watched her mommy stab her daddy to death, and she’s been haunted by nightmares ever since. She’s also terrified of inheriting her mother’s mental disorder. To make matters worse, someone is taking advantage of this fact for their own nefarious purpose. Nightmare is one of a handful of black & white psychological thrillers released …
[8] Philip Kaufman enhances the creepiness and desperation in this superior retelling of the classic tale of alien menace and paranoia. The terrific cast includes Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Brooke Adams, and Leonard Nimoy. Ben Burtt provides the spooky sound effects, including that hideous, otherworldly sound the pod people make when they spot a human in their midst. This particular film version (there …
[7] This Hammer production is, in the best way possible, like a live-action episode of Scooby-Doo, complete with pirates, marsh phantoms, scarecrows, and secret identities. The charismatic cast is headlined by Peter Cushing as the dubious town vicar and Patrick Allen as a British captain sent to investigate an alleged smuggling ring. The mystery is as transparent as anything the Scooby gang ever encountered, but …
[5] As a boy, Harry saw Mommy screwing Santa Claus, which really messed with his brain. As an adult, Harry is obsessed with Christmas. He works at a toy factory, keeps disturbingly close tabs on all the neighborhood children, and has a tendency to go homicidal when people doubt that he’s the real St. Nick. Christmas Evil isn’t violent enough to be a slasher movie …
[4] Aliens in flying saucers contact a scientist about their plan to enslave all the humans of Earth! This atomic age flick is slow going until the last ten minutes, when effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen gets to destroy Washington D.C. Aside from the big finish, this movie suffers from the usual pitfalls of the era, including bad acting, over reliance on stock footage, and silly …
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