The Magical Land of the Leprechauns (1999)
May 1, 2010Leprechaun Fantasy
Lively and undeniably likeable Hallmark mini-series that celebrates Irish myth. Giddily silly nonsense conducted with a boisterous energy
Tony Curran
Blade II (2002)
Jul 29, 2002Comic-Book Vampire Hunter
Blade was a solid vampire/action film but the sequel is a quantum leap over that, a visually kinetic and immensely exciting comic-book of a movie thanks to the employment of Guillermo Del Toro in the director’s chair
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Sep 2, 2003Teamup of Characters from Victorian Fiction/Graphic Novel Adaptation
The much hated adaptation of the Alan Moore graphic novels. It is undeniable fun watching the crossover between various fictional Victorian characters, while the production design is amazing
Beowulf & Grendel (2005)
Nov 10, 2006Epic Legend
An interesting and worthwhile attempt to retell the epic legend of Beowulf but to give it grounding as an historical work. Filmed in Iceland with an international cast
Underworld: Evolution (2006)
Apr 2, 2006Vampire-Werewolf War
The second of the Underworld films where Len Wiseman gets a bigger budget and amplifies the CGI and action sequences,. On the other hand, the characters and story are so stripped to a minimum you lose track of why things are happening
Shuttle (2008)
May 25, 2017Abduction Aboard an Airport Shuttle
A group of people taking a shuttle back from the airport are taken abducted and made prisoner. One of what this author has termed Conceptual Containment Thrillers, which confine the action to a single locale, this has some twists and turns but does nothing remarkable with the idea
The Midnight Meat Train (2008)
May 1, 2010Ritual Killer on the Subway/Clive Barker Adaptation
One of the best Clive Barker adaptations. Japan's Ryuhei Kitamura brings a masterful assurance with the horror elements and does gore in astonishingly new and unrealised ways
Ondine (2009)
Jun 19, 2010Man Fishes Up a Selkie
Neil Jordan directs a beautifully earthy Irish fairytale in which Colin Farrell fishes up a possible selkie woman
The Presence (2010)
Jan 18, 2013Ghost Story
Ghost story that does an excellent job in creating an incredibly haunted and unusual atmosphere. On the other hand, the film falls apart during the second half where it heads in another direction altogether and leaves one entirely unclear what is going on
Labyrinth (2012)
Jan 20, 2014Cross-Historical Search for the Holy Grail
Christopher Smith is an underrated genre director but his first venture into tv is disappointing cross-historical quest for the Holy Grail story that reads like warmed over Da Vinci Code
Awaiting (2015)
Oct 18, 2017British Backwoods Brutality
This is the British equivalent of a Backwoods Brutality film in which Tony Curran is a towtruck driver who traps and kills motorists to salvage their belongings
Eat Locals (2017)
Jun 26, 2019Vampire Film
A vampire film directed by actor Jason Flemyng set around a group of vampires at siege in a farmhouse from a unit of vampire hunters. The vampire film is looking a little tepid post-Twilight era and this does little to turn the genre around