Wes Craven

[3] In this adaptation of the DC Comics series, a scientist working on a bio-engineering experiment is killed in a lab explosion that turns him into a creature, half-man and half plant. Super-strength and the ability to heal people are perks of the transformation, which come in handy since the military is trying to find him and steal his formula for their own nefarious purposes. …

[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 …

[8] After taking an interesting turn for the worse with their first sequel, New Line Cinema corrects course with a third Freddy movie that’s just as good as the original film. Original star Heather Langenkamp returns as a psychologist that specializes in dreams, hired on at a hospital where suicidal teens are being terrorized by Freddy. When the kids begin dying, Langenkamp helps a new …

[8] Teenagers are hunted in their dreams by a murderous burn victim. But unlike normal nightmares, if the kids die in their dreams, they also die in real life. Writer/director Wes Craven (Scream, The Hills Have Eyes) works from a marvelous concept and introduces the world to one of the horror genre’s most indelible villains — Freddy Krueger, played with monstrous glee by Robert Englund, …

[8] Stranded in the desert on their way to California, a family is attacked by savage cannibals in Wes Craven’s brutal, low-budget horror flick, The Hills Have Eyes. I love the setting and tone of the film. The isolation of the desert location and the darkness that surrounds the family’s wrecked camper create a palpable atmosphere of dread and terror that’s hard to shake, especially …

[6] You really aren’t supposed to return to a well too many times. But in the case of the Scream franchise, I was still thirsty. So I drank… and the water’s still good! Of course the novelty has worn off, but unlike many other horror franchises, the characters have grown and developed, and gosh-darn it, you actually care about Sidney Prescott, Gale Weathers, and dopey …

[5] There’s a good concept at the core of this Wes Craven/Kevin Williamson (Scream) collaboration — a brother and sister coming to terms with the fact that they may be werewolves. But serious werewolf fans will bemoan the cheesy Hollywood setting and the sub-par computer-animated effects. I liked Jesse Eisenberg as the brother, but Christina Ricci and pretty much the rest of the entire cast …

[7] More of the same is enough to earn a passing grade in the case of Scream 2. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is off to college, but Ghost Face isn’t through with her yet, shoving the sordid story of her mother’s sexual indiscretions and brutal murder front and center. Courtney Cox and David Arquette get more screen time to develop an odd but affecting romantic …

[1] Pulse is astonishingly bad in almost every way imaginable. The only nice thing I can say about it is that leading lady Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) seems to be doing the best she can with the material. But other than that, the film is like staring into a giant anus that never stops shitting on you. First there’s the idiotic concept — dead people …

[9] Wes Craven’s self-referential teenaged slasher flick soars on the strengths of Kevin Williamson’s clever screenplay and its charismatic cast. Anyone who loves slasher movies will revel in the in-jokes and homages, but the film isn’t all satire — it’s a fine little thriller in its own right. Neve Campbell (Party of Five) picks up the mantle of ‘scream queen’ admirably and the supporting cast …