Julian Richings Archives

Urban Legend (1998)

Rating: ★★½

May 9, 1999Slasher Film

Following the success of Scream, this was an attempt to make an upmarket slasher film based around the motif of urban legends in the same way that Scream used 1980s slasher films. It is a stretch to make urban legends fit in some cases but director Jamie Blanks delivers reasonable tension

Director: Jamie Blanks

Actors: Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Jared Leto, Loretta Devine, …

Category: Horror

9 May 19997 June 2020 by Roog

Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms (1998)

Rating: ★

Aug 14, 2004Undead Super-Soldiers/Action

The first of two cheap Universal Soldier sequels made in Canada with Matt Battaglia inheriting Jean-Claude Van Damme's role

Director: Jeff Woolnough

Actors: Matt Battaglia, Gary Busey, Chandra West, Jeff Wincott, …

Category: Science Fiction

14 August 20045 April 2023 by Roog

Thrill Seekers (1999)

Rating: ★★

May 31, 2010Time Travel

A throwaway direct-to-dvd release about time travellers come back to view famous disasters that rises above low expectations to develop an occasionally interesting plot

Director: Mario Azzopardi

Actors: Casper Van Dien, Catherine Bell, Martin Sheen, Peter Outerbridge, …

Category: Science Fiction

31 May 20107 October 2022 by Roog

Wrong Turn (2003)

Rating: ★★

Feb 23, 2004Backwoods Brutality

Passable effort that copies that basics of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre with a group of stranded teens running afoul of an in-bred family

Director: Rob Schmidt

Actors: Desmond Harrington, Eliza Dushku, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Jeremy Sisto, …

Category: Horror

23 February 200419 March 2021 by Roog

Survival of the Dead (2009)

Rating: ★★★½

Jul 30, 2010Zombies

George Romero's sixth and final zombie film where he writes characters and a script with much more of a richness of theme than he did in the last two entries

Director: George A. Romero

Actors: Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Richard Fitzpatrick, Athena Karkanis, …

Category: Horror

30 July 20105 December 2021 by Roog

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)

Rating: ★★

Feb 14, 2010Greek Myth in the Present Day

Chris Columbus seeks to emulate the success of the Harry Potter films with this adaptation of a Young Adult series about the children of Greek gods. The film falls apart due to Columbus's typical banal cues and effects overkill

Director: Chris Columbus

Actors: Logan Lerman, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Brandon T. Jackson, …

Category: Fantasy

14 February 20106 January 2024 by Roog

Bag of Bones (2011)

Rating: ★★

Jan 20, 2012Stephen King Adaptation/Ghost Story

The perpetually terrible Mick Garris is allowed loose on another Stephen King book where he promptly reduces a subtle, ambiguous ghost story to a series of lunging pop-up scares without any concept of atmosphere or nuance

Director: Mick Garris

Actors: Pierce Brosnan, Melissa George, Annabeth Gish, Anika Noni Rose, …

Category: Horror

20 January 201218 July 2025 by Roog

The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh (2012)

Rating: ★★★

Aug 19, 2013Ghost Story

Rue Morgue magazine editor Rodrigo Gudiño makes his directorial debut with an old-fashioned ghost story that is a slow, moody ambiguous single-person drama

Director: Rodrigo Gudiño

Actors: Aaron Poole, Vanessa Redgrave, Charlotte Sullivan, Julian Richings

Category: Horror

19 August 20133 July 2026 by Roog

The Colony (2013)

Rating: ★★

Apr 11, 2013Grim Survival in a Frozen Future

This creates a fascinatingly different future - a world of grim survivalism amid a new Ice Age in the aftermath of Global Warming. The look of the film is fantastic, only to fritter it on an action focus and Mad Max cliches

Director: Jeff Renfroe

Actors: Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton, Kevin Zegers, Charlotte Sullivan, …

Category: Science Fiction

11 April 20136 October 2025 by Roog

A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

Rating: ★★

Dec 25, 2015Anthology of Christmas Horror Stories

An anthology that offers a quartet of Christmas horror stories, including ones of zombified elves and a Krampus monster. Hosted by William Shatner who plays a radio talkshow host in the wraparound

Director: Brett Sullivan, Grant Harvey, Steve Hoban

Actors: William Shatner, George Buza, Julian Richings, Debra Lynne McCabe, …

Category: Horror

25 December 20158 February 2026 by Roog

Spare Parts (2020)

Rating: ★★

Oct 10, 2021Girl Punk Band Become Gladiators with Weapons Attachments

I was sold from the point of reading the premise where an all-girl punk band is abducted, surgically given weapons attachments and forced to fight in an arena

Director: Andrew Thomas Hunt

Actors: Emily Alatalo, Julian Richings, Michelle Argyris, Jason Rouse, …

Category: Horror

10 October 20219 March 2025 by Roog

Vicious Fun (2020)

Rating: ★★

Jan 23, 2022Support Group for Serial Killers

Horror comedy set around the wonderfully appealing idea of a support group for serial killers

Director: Cody Calahan

Actors: Evan Marsh, Amber Goldfarb, Julian Richings, David Koechner, …

Category: Horror

23 January 202213 March 2025 by Roog

Anything for Jackson (2020)

Rating: ★★★½

Feb 18, 2022Elderly Devil Worshippers Imprison a Pregnant Woman

Unexpectedly excellent film where an elderly Satanist couple abduct a pregnant woman in order to incarnate their grandson in her unborn child. This deflates the cliches in a series of alternately funny and wild twists

Director: Justin G. Dyck

Actors: Julian Richings, Sheila McCarthy, Konstantina Mantelos, Josh Cruddas, …

Category: Horror

18 February 202218 February 2022 by Roog

Beau is Afraid (2023)

Rating: ★★★½

Sep 8, 2023Surreal Journey

Ari Aster’s third film had many audiences scratching their heads. It follows Joaquin Phoenix on an allegorical journey that becomes a dark comedy and an entirely surreal Freudian nightmare

Director: Ari Aster

Actors: Joaquin Phoenix, Nathan Lane, Parker Posey, Patti LuPone, …

Category: Fantasy

8 September 202313 November 2025 by Roog