In the remakes-can-be-good file comes this doozy of a gorefest from the captain of creepy, David Cronenberg. Retaining the basic foundation of the 1958 original, he amps up the flesh-defying transformation and truly heartbreaking tragedy. Utilizing Howard Shore’s bombastic score to soulful effect, the slow disintegration of lone and lonely genius Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) is simultaneously horrifying and wrenching.
It’s hard to believe now but there was once a time when Joel Schumacher could make a popular film that was actually good. The vampire genre had been more or less languishing in spoof purgatory before Tom Holland came along with Fright Night to make them scary again. But who would have thought that the man behind the brat-pack classic St. Elmo’s Fire would make vampires not just sexy but sexy-cool?
A bloody good film in every sense. Tim Burton has never done and will likely never do better than this grand guignol musical horror show. Dante Faretti’s production design reveals a Burton-esque soundstage version of 19th century London that has a Universal Pictures monster movie appeal.
Insanely goofy by today’s standards. However, as a nine-year-old boy this was the most terrifying initiation into the world of horror that I could have expected. In 1979 a mini-series would span the same day across two weeks. That meant that after taking a terrifying beating with part one on Saturday, I went back for seconds the following Saturday.
The rampaging crocodile at the center of this film is merely incidental. It’s really just a flimsy excuse to get a bunch of likable actors together (Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman, Brendan Gleeson, Oliver Platt, Betty White) and riff on David E. Kelly’s playful script. Veteran horror director Steve Miner nicely balances the horror with the humor, always keeping an emphasis on the latter.
George A. Romero may have created the modern zombie, but this movie gave them their insatiable craving for braaaiiins. Mixing equal parts horror and comedy, director and Alien scribe Dan O’Bannon disposes of the dead-serious political undertones of Romero’s movies and instead opts for straight-up goofball hijinks at a medical supply company located next to a cemetery and conveniently stocked with cadavers.
Far too many horror movies ask the audience to root for the killer by treating their victims as irritating morons (I’m looking at you, Paranormal Activity). This overlooked little gem has the temerity to (gasp!) treat its audience with a modicum of respect. The oddly-paired Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson get creative as a divorcing couple marooned at an isolated motel cum snuff-film backlot.
There’s nothing singularly new or original in Nicolas Winding Refn’s crime-drama Drive. Nevertheless, it is a gratifying alternative to the usual frenzied features that tear through mulitplexes every summer, or the tedious independent films that suggest great import but offer…
I’ve spent more than my fair share of time railing against CGI, motion capture, and their combined and discrete misuse. In light of 20th Century Fox’s reboot of their classic Planet of the Apes series, I could not be more…
There’s little point in trying to review this last film objectively. Harry Potter episodes ceased the ability to stand on their own as individual films since Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. That movie was the series’ peak,…