There’s no point in trying to pretty this up. T his remake of THE WICKER MAN, rewritten from Anthony Schaffer’s original screenplay by Neil LaBute and directed by him is a complete flop. With little more than the threat of an estrogen-fueled society to render audiences weak with fear, and none of the zeitgeist of an… Read More »
SLITHER — DVD
SLITHER has perhaps the worst poster of any terrific film released in 2006. It may have actually kept people away, what with the way its space slugs converging on a bathtub cradling a classically nubile nymphette. It fails in every respect to convey the wicked humor and superbly self-aware irony that permeates every frame of… Read More »
PAN’S LABYRINTH
The combination of war and her mother’s remarriage to a Fascist captain proves to be too much for Ofelia, the heroine of Gullermo del Toro’s arresting fable of power and powerlessness. The time is 1944, the place is northern Spain, but the landscape is that of the imagination and, in del Toro’s hands, that is… Read More »
THE MESSENGERS
There is much to be said for letting a horror film build slowly. The audience moves from the everyday world into one where the unknown lurks with intentions that seem anything but friendly. And so it is with THE MESSENGERS, the latest from the Pang Brothers, a duo that can make an empty room seem like the maw of hell using little… Read More »
THE REAPING
Just in time for Passover, Easter, and/or any other equinoctial festival on your liturgical calendar comes THE REAPING, an abomination of a film to put the fear of God in us all with its sheer awfulness. Then again, one can with some merit ponder why an all-knowing Being would allow such as this to happen.… Read More »
1408
1408, based on the short story by Stephen King, is a slick psychological thriller masquerading as a good old-fashioned ghost story. It’s old-fashioned in the sense that it relies on the jump-and-scare technique rather than the slash-and-burn one. It also relies on some fiendishly clever twists and an intelligent script that’s smart not just because… Read More »
30 DAYS OF NIGHT
30 DAYS OF NIGHT, based on the graphic novel of the same name, promises a new vision of the vampire and it delivers. Unfortunately, that new vision is dull, derivative, and more likely to induce a coma than a nightmare. Tired stop-action strobe effects, townsfolk dumber than an ice floe, and vampires more notable for… Read More »
DIARY OF THE DEAD
Some artists work in oils, some artists work in marble, George A. Romero works in zombies. With DIARY OF THE DEAD, he continues his work in that most unusual of mediums, making this incarnation as fresh, as timely, and as grotesquely funny as all that he has purveyed before. Maintaining the conceit of using zombies… Read More »
KISSED
KISSED is a film about necrophilia. But the odd thing is that it’s not what you’d expect. Not by a long shot. I disliked the subject matter, intensely, but I admired the expertise of the filmmaker, Lynn Stopkewich, in allowing us to see this phenomenon from the necrophiliac’s point of view. It’s an enormously brave film. And yes, because I know you’re wondering… Read More »
SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD
With SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD, George Romero has finally answered the prayers that his fans didnt know they were praying. The zombie-meister has produced a zombie western, and done so without missing a beat in picking up a thread from his last flick, DIARY OF THE DEAD. As with that most excellent flick, its not… Read More »