[5] Chris Pine, Lou Taylor Pucci (Thumbsucker), Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly), and Emily VanCamp (Everwood) roam the empty western United States after a plague has killed most of the population. They do their best to avoid desperate stragglers, but have a harder time not turning on each other when the disease finally catches up with them. Carriers is well acted and captures a compelling post-apocalyptic …
[6] British men and women are held captive in segregated prison camps under the rule of a sadistic Japanese commander who vows to kill them all if Japan loses World War II. When the Brits secretly learn of the war’s end, they have to keep their Japanese torturers from finding out. They sabotage radio equipment and attempt to delay the mail. But when an American …
[7] Fredric March plays a 1950s Czechoslovakian circus owner trying to lead his troupe in a daring escape from the Iron Curtain. The plan is to obtain a permit to perform for communist soldiers in the border territories — then create a distraction and make a run for freedom over a narrow bridge into American occupation. At the same time, March’s character is dealing with …
[7] Guillermo del Toro presents this creepy tale about a little girl (Bailee Madison) who discovers evil creatures live in the ash pit beneath her father’s newly acquired mansion. While the creatures try to persuade the girl to join them, they frame her for destructive deeds, turning her dad (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) against her. As the girl falls into despair trying …
[5] After his little brother discovers a dead dog and a scary old man on a wooded shortcut, a new-teen-in-town (Drew Seeley) invites his friends to investigate the trail and the legend behind the mysterious old man who patrols it. The opening act of The Shortcut fails to generate any excitement for the story that lies ahead, one that’s a little less obvious than big …
[6] Liam Neeson stars as an ex-CIA operative who pursues sex traffickers in Paris to rescue his kidnapped daughter. Taken opens with twenty minutes of clunky, expository screenwriting before Neeson is allowed to kick things into high gear. He single-handedly rescues this formula potboiler with a performance of fierce determination. Not since the likes of Clint Eastwood has an actor threatened to find and kill …
[7] Writer/director Neil Burger (Divergent, The Illusionist) presents a futuristic story about children genetically engineered and sent into space on an 86-year mission to colonize a distant planet. Once they’re teenagers, however, the kids become too smart for their own good. When they realize their impulse control and libidos have been held at bay through medicated meals, they quit cold turkey. The once docile crew …
[6] An American (John Shepperd) visits his fiancée (Lynne Roberts) and her father in their rural chateau at the same time a series of murders begins. The father’s brutish gardener with a criminal past is a prime suspect. And so is his socially awkward servant, an immigrant from Java who holds a childlike adoration for the bride-to-be. Dr. Renault’s Secret is Twentieth Century Fox’s attempt …
[7] Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) directs this made-for-TV adaptation of Stephen King’s novel about a writer who discovers his hometown is being overtaken by vampires. The most remarkable thing about Hooper’s work here is how genuinely scary Salem’s Lot is without ever resorting to gore or excessive violence. Scenes of vampire children floating outside bedroom windows, beckoning their next victims to let …
[3] Horror maestro Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream) tackles voodoo and zombification in The Serpent and the Rainbow. Bill Pullman (Spaceballs) stars as an anthropologist sent to Haiti by a pharmaceutical company seeking the ingredients of a powder that is thought to give the living every appearance of being dead. Victims are buried alive while still hearing, seeing, and feeling everything. Along …
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