The Bride (1985)
Jul 29, 2006Frankenstein Film
Lushly mounted remake of Bride of Frankenstein with Sting as Frankenstein and Jennifer Beals as the Bride. More costume drama than it ever is a horror story.
Cary Elwes
The Princess Bride (1987)
Dec 6, 2002Fairytale Romance/Swashbuckler
Swashbuckling fairytale that treads a fine line between deconstruction and parody, while reveling in a script where the dialogue positively dances. Perfectly cast - a film that few do not come out enjoying its ebullient fantasy
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Jan 7, 2001Dracula Adaptation
Francis Ford Coppola remakes and reinvents Dracula, transforming the text of Bram Stoker's book into a sensual, visually ravishing film with lush production values that make you gasp in excitement
The Crush (1993)
Oct 13, 2000Psycho Underage Girl
A copy of Fatal Attraction where Cary Elwes rents a room from a family only to find himself dealing with a psychopathic underage Alicia Silverstone determined to seduce/wreak vengeance
The Jungle Book (1994)
Jul 19, 2000Jungle Hero
The first of the Disney live-action remakes of their animated films. Stephen Sommers abandons the talking animals and gives us a film that it more Tarzan than Rudyard Kipling set in a lush fantasy version of India
Twister (1996)
Dec 6, 2002Tornado Chasers
After the massive success of Jurassic Park, anything with Michael Crichton's name on it was hot property. This is made from his script about tornado chasers and is a rather entertaining film made with no other purpose that to keep producing a series of spectacular mass destruction scenes on an ever-expanding scale
Kiss the Girls (1997)
Jun 21, 2003Serial Killer Thriller
The first film adapted from James Patterson's books about forensic profiler Alex Cross, featuring standout performances from Morgan Freeman (cast as Cross) and Ashley Judd
Liar Liar (1997)
Jan 16, 2005Man Cursed with a Truth-Telling Wish Comedy
A film with a children's movie premise - an amoral lawyer is forced to be honest for a day when his kid makes a wish - is over-taken by Jim Carrey in full over the top mode
Quest for Camelot (1998)
Jan 7, 2006Animation/Arthurian Fantasy
An Arthurian legends fantasy adventure made as part of the animation renaissance of the 1990s. Anything serious aspirations are wrecked by the insertion of inane popular culture in-jokes
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Jan 19, 2001Making Nosferatu with a Real Vampire
This comes with the clever and uniquely original premise that asks what would happen if during the making of the 1922 Nosferatu actor Max Schreck turned out to be a real vampire
Saw (2004)
Nov 16, 2004Killer's Sadistic Games
Forget the grim and sadistic sequels that followed, this low-budget directorial debut from James Wan is a masterwork that conjures unbearable dread and tension in its study of characters forced to consider the horribly inconceivable
Ella Enchanted (2004)
Dec 12, 2004Revisionist Cinderella Comedy
Excruciatingly awful take on Cinderella, which overruns the fairytale with hip contemporary in-jokes and pop culture references, shredding any suspension of disbelief in its desire to appeal to a modern teen cool
The Alphabet Killer (2008)
Aug 7, 2011Search for a True-Life Serial Killer
This claims to be based on an unsolved true-life serial killer case from the 1970s, although dumps all but a handful of facts in favour of a B-movie thriller plot about a detective with mental illness
A Christmas Carol (2009)
Nov 14, 2009Miser's Redemption/Animation
Robert Zemeckis’s motion-capture animated adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic. The tale has gone through so many adaptations, it fee;s an uphill battle to find anything new in the story no matter the technical quality of the film
Psych 9 (2010)
Nov 26, 2014Sinister Happenings in an Abandoned Hospital
Thriller with a heroine working in an abandoned hospital amid sinister happenings that draws substantially on the fine Danish film Nightwatch. Does an okay if familiar job making us constantly doubt everything that happens before arriving at an ending that only confuses
Saw 3D (2010)
Mar 1, 2011Killer's Sadistic Games
Supposedly the final chapter of the Saw saga – where the sole novelty on offer is gore and body parts coming out the screen in 3D. This is conducted with a tired lack of effort that makes for tedium-inducing watching
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013)
Mar 9, 2014Animation/Comic-Book Superheroes/Alternate Timeline
A strong, intelligent DC Universe animated film set in an alternate timeline where the histories of various familiar DC characters have turned out radically different
Black Christmas (2019)
Feb 21, 2020Girl’s Dormitory Slasher
A remake of the work that has been cited as the first slasher film. This is less a horror film than a horror film that has been hijacked by a political agenda, delivered with a relentlessly loud and damning misandrist tone
The Unholy (2021)
Sep 10, 2021Sinisterly Ambiguous Miracleworker
Adaptation of a James Herbert book about a deafmute girl who suddenly speaks and performs miracles, which may have a sinister cause
The Hyperions (2022)
Jan 1, 2023Superhero Film
The rarity of an original screen superhero film, this takes place in a Retro 1970s setting as former superheroes conduct a heist to get their badges of power back
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023)
Apr 22, 2023Spy/Action Film
Guy Ricthie makes a spy action film that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is far more absurdly entertaining than anything you expect it to be. Hugh Grant steals the day as the super-villain of the show
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
Oct 21, 2023Spy/Action Film
The seventh of Mission: Impossible films with Tom Cruise still on great form at age 61. He and the team raise the bar for the series to a new high
Rebel Moon – A Child of Fire: Part One (2023)
Jan 6, 2024Space Opera
Zack Snyder returns with a work that is all but a Star Wars film in name where he draws heavily on the basics of The Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven
Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)
Apr 27, 2024Space Opera
Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon was intended as a two-part space opera saga. This first half emerged watchably and this is Part Two