[4] A mummified prince is discovered and brought to England where someone resurrects it to do their evil bidding. Hammer Films follows up their 1959 remake without stars Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing. Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb treads painfully familiar ground with a dull cast and is slow-moving until the last twenty minutes. Composer Carlo Martelli tries to compensate with a musical score too …
[6] A farming town falls victim to an airborne toxin that turns everyone into homicidal maniacs in this remake of George Romero’s 1973 original. The film is directed by Breck Eisner (son of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner), and while it drags in many places and brings little originality to the ‘outbreak’ or ‘zombie’ subgenres, it’s nonetheless a competent little horror flick. My main gripe …
[8] A young boy who can see and hear dead people confides in a child psychologist who comes to believe the boy’s curse is a gift. The strength of The Sixth Sense lies most prominently in the scenes between Toni Collette and Haley Joel Osment. I’m hard-pressed to think of another on-screen mother/son relationship that is more realistic or affecting. Their final scene together, where they …
[5] Dr. Jekyll (and Mr. Hyde) must be one of the harder characters to pull off in any believable way. So while I admire Paul Massie’s bravery, he wasn’t quite able to convince me. I think it’s primarily because of the weird voice he uses while he plays Dr. Jekyll. And how do we explain the fact that he is bearded as Jekyll, but clean-shaven …
[4] The mystery is paper-thin in this tale of Medusa-like sisters who turn their victims to stone. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee have precious few scenes together, and neither are on their best game (Cushing’s character isn’t much to work with). The Gorgon is a sub-par entry in the Hammer Horror canon, but you’ll still find a few scenes of delicious gothic ambience. I love …
[3] The fourth Saw film isn’t nearly as clever as it tries so desperately to be, and the death traps for which the series is so famous are woefully uninspired. The movie also deflates the mystique of its central character, Jigsaw, by giving him a cheezy, cliched back story. Director Darren Lynn Bousman shows a knack for imaginitive scene transitions, but everything else about this …
[8] Kathy Bates delivers a spooky Oscar-winning performance in Rob Reiner’s film based on the novel by Stephen King. Screenwriter William Goldman builds a tremendous amount of tension and suspense with barely more than two characters and one room. The payoff isn’t as interesting as the build-up, but Misery is still a fun, scary ride. James Caan is great as the victimized writer, and deserves …
[7] 28 Days Later is a bright feather in the multi-colored cap of director Danny Boyle, who also gave us Trainspotting, Sunshine, and Slumdog Millionnaire. Cillian Murphy wanders post-apocalyptic England after a virus has turned most of the population into zombies. Boyle’s twist on the zombie sub-genre is speed — the zombies move like lightning. 28 Days Later unfolds very nicely and builds to a …
[4] Sarah Michelle Gellar (TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer) stars as a woman who has visions of a murder, eventually coming to realize the murderer may be coming for her, too. This supernatural thriller is okay for the first half-hour, but then it completely reveals its hand when there’s still half the movie left to endure. For all the mysterious build-up, the concept turns out to …
[5] This monster romp was the first solo effort by effects wizard Ray Harryhausen. All the stop-motion animation has the usual Harryhausen charm, including a famous scene where the dinosaur rages down Wall Street and chomps on a policeman. Unfortunately, there’s not much else going for this creature feature until that point. The story is one of the earliest to feature atomic mutation, but the …
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