“It gets absorbed.” “It finds a role in the body.” Lines spoken by a pivotal character late in Gyorgy Pálfi’s Taxidermia, they could mean anything. A commentary on pre- and post-Soviet Hungarian individual and cultural identity or which filmic genres are stirred into this surreal mix.
Read More Boy Bunting, comedy, drama, DVD, Gyorgy Palfi, horror, Not Rated, TaxidermiaI never much cared for director Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko, with its trippy time travel and cryptic-creepy rabbit, and liked his nonsensical Southland Tales even less. His seeming need for his films to be illogical eventually plagues The Box, too, turning what starts out as an intriguing and easy-to-grasp sci-fi parable into yet another mind-bending [...]
Read More blu-ray, Cameron Dia, David, drama, DVD, Frank Langella, horror, James Marsden, Mystery, PG-13, Richard Kelly, Richard Matheson, Sci-Fi, The Box, thrillerFor those of you out there who fear that the end of the world is nigh, take heart–Armageddon will no doubt have its own little pleasures. Case in point: Zombieland, the latest entry in the celebrated zombie comedy sub-genre, bringing the joy back to zombie plague survival. Set about 2 months after a particularly virulent [...]
Read More Abigail Breslin, action, blu-ray, comedy, DVD, Emma Stone, horror, Jesse Eisenberg, R, Woody Harrelson, ZombielandThe exotic-sounding title of this seriously second-rate spaceship flick starring Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster refers to a fictional but violent psychological condition that sets in after too much time in suspended animation. I experienced some violent feelings of my own as the end credits rolled–and had a few choice words–having plunked down $10 to [...]
Read More Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Christian Alvart, David, Dennis Quaid, DVD, horror, Pandorum, R, Sci-Fi, thriller, Travis MilloyFrom director Karyn Kusama (Girlfight), and writer Diablo Cody (Juno) comes one of the most refreshingly original horror films I have seen in some time, Jennifer’s Body. Think Drop Dead Gorgeous with a dash of Mean Girls, a hint of Heathers, and a whole lot of demonic carnage.
Read More Amanda Seyfried, comedy, Diablo Cody, DVD, horror, Jennifer's Body, Karyn Kusama, Megan Fox, R, Spook, thrillerA Perfect Getaway doesn’t quite live up to the second word of its double-meaning title, but it’s still a nifty little thriller from writer/director David Twohy (Pitch Black) that manages to surprise just enough to make watching it worthwhile. The setup posits the possibility that one of three couples–newlyweds Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich, free-spirit [...]
Read More A Perfect Getaway, Chris Hemsworth, David, David Twohy, drama, DVD, horror, Kiele Sanchez, Marley Shelton, Milla Jovovich, Mystery, R, Steve Zahn, thriller, Timothy OlyphantJust like The Bad Seed, The Omen, and Joshua, The Orphan reminds us that children are creepy. First off, I would like to stress that The Orphan plays more like a drama/thriller than a horror film. Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John Coleman (Peter Sarsgaard) are experiencing strains in their marriage after Kate’s third child – [...]
Read More Aryanna Engineer, drama, DVD, horror, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jimmy Bennett, Orphan, Peter Sarsgaard, R, Spook, thriller, Vera FarmigaSam Raimi returns to the horror genre with Drag Me To Hell, an oddly original fairytale-inspired creep fest. Drag Me To Hell follows Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), a loan officer at a small bank, who is in a wonderful relationship with her supportive boyfriend (Justin Long), and looking forward to her first big promotion. All [...]
Read More Alison Lohman, Drag Me To Hell, DVD, horror, Justin Long, PG-13, Sam Raimi, Spook, thrillerOther Voices, Other Rooms: Acoustic Design in Roman Polanski’s Repulsion (1965) As the title sequence of Roman Polanski‘s Repulsion suggests, with its violation of the human eye in closeup by thin striations of text, the film we are about to watch is one concerned with altered perceptions. Like the infamous razoring scene from Luis Buñuel‘s [...]
Read More A.I., blu-ray, Catherine Deneuve, drama, DVD, horror, John Fraser, Not Rated, repulsion, Roman Polanski, thrillerThis fact-based fright flick starring Virginia Madsen is the second effort in as many weeks to deal in some way with possession and is a mostly mediocre mishmash of better horror films that contains some genuine jolts but nothing to make it truly terrifying. It’s essentially The Amityville Horror set in the title state sometime [...]
Read More David, DVD, Elias Koteas, horror, Kyle Gallner, Peter Cornwell, PG-13, The Haunting In Connecticut, thriller, Virginia Madsen