Just Before Dawn (1981)
Sep 16, 2020Backwoods Brutality
A particularly strong and underrated variant on the Backwoods Brutality film. From Jeff Lieberman, director of the cult killer worm saga Squirm and the LSD flashback psycho film Blue Sunshine
Gregg Henry
Body Double (1984)
Jan 16, 2000Psycho-Sexual Thriller
Brian De Palma psycho-thriller that blatantly copies Hitchcock's Vertigo and a few dashes of Rear Window. But De Palma's stylish moves collapse under the weight of an absurdly contrived plot
Bates Motel (1987)
May 12, 2013Psycho TV Pilot Spinoff
Not the tv series, this is an unsold earlier tv pilot that attempted to spin a series off from Psycho, An ill-conceived disaster, the film's clumsy
direction could not be further away from Alfred Hitchcock if it tried
Raising Cain (1992)
Jul 6, 1999Split Personality Psycho-Thriller
Brian De Palma made a return to his trademark psycho-thriller for the first time in several years but the benchmarks of the genre were now The Silence of the Lambs and Basic Instinct and De Palma’s wildly contorted plot and flourishes of style for their own sake seem dated
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
Nov 16, 1999Intergalactic Adventures
Third of the Star Trek: The Next Generation films has Jonathan Frakes back in the director's seat where he again plays to his strengths with great visual effects scenes but the story feels like a filler episode
Femme Fatale (2002)
May 26, 2010Psycho-Thriller
Brian De Palma makes a return to the classic psycho-thrillers where he made his name, shouting virtuoso directorial flourish from the rafters and pulling off an amazingly contrived plot
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)
Dec 12, 2004Action/Rival Assassins Showdown
An action film that sets Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu up as rival assassins. Despite a reasonable budget thrown at it, the film comes strangely without enervation
Slither (2006)
Jun 21, 2006Alien Mutation and Zombies
James Gunn directs a film about body-snatching alien slugs that proves enormous fun and comes packed to the edges with numerous genre references and homages
Super (2010)
Jul 24, 2011Schmuck Tries to Become a Superhero
After Defendor and Kick-Ass all coming out within a short space of time, the superhero with no powers comedy was getting over-familiar but this outing from James Gunn still finds some new things and proves highly amusing
Lizzie Borden Took an Ax (2014)
Nov 24, 2016True Crime
Lizzie Borden is one of the more fascinating figures in True Crime. This is very accurate to the details of the case; alas it gets the most sensational aspect over soon in and bogs down in the minutiae of the trial
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Aug 2, 2014Marvel Comics Adaptation/Space Opera
A triumphal Marvel Comics adaptations that manages to mainline the spirit of the original Star Wars, while in in its wryly, self-deflating culture savvy suggesting a Star Wars rewritten by a 14 year-old Quentin Tarantino
The Belko Experiment (2016)
Jun 17, 2017Office Employees Trapped in a Deadly Elimination Game
Greg (Wolf Creek) McLean directs from a script by James Gunn. The Office by way of Battle Royale as 80 employees are locked in an office building with orders to eliminate one another
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017)
Dec 8, 2017Animation/Comic-Book Superheroes
The Teen Titans get their first solo film in the DC Universe Original Animated Movies. A reasonable adventure based on a classic comic title that works with a good story and characterisation, even if some of it has an adult flavour that makes you wonder who the audience is