A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
May 1, 2010Dream-Invading Boogey Man
Yet another in the fad for 19870s/0s horror remakes, a merely efficient revival that reduces the wild, outré scares of Wes Craven's original to conveyor belt shocks
Eric Heisserer
The Thing (2011)
Oct 16, 2011Shapechanging Alien Nasty
Though pitched as a prequel, this is essentially a remake of John Carpenter's classic. Alas, this only finds the same phantasmagoric outlandishness as Carpenter did in a couple of scenes that may be moderately impressive for those who have never seen the original
Final Destination 5 (2011)
Aug 12, 2011Precognition/Doomed Bridge Collapse Survivors
The series drags another entry out set around the premonition of a bridge collapse. This one is played with such an enthusiasm for the bizarrely improbable deaths that it is one of the best of the sequels
Lights Out (2016)
Jul 31, 2016Creature Lurking in the Dark
The James Wan produced (as opposed to directed) film is a dubious prospect. You cannot deny that this film about creatures in the dark does make an audience jump but I felt that I'd seen everything before
Arrival (2016)
Dec 11, 2016First Contact with Aliens
Most SF films gloss over the issue of communication with aliens, having them either speaking English or with devices like Universal Translators. This is a superbly intelligent film that grapples with how to communicate with something different
Bird Box (2018)
Feb 9, 2019Mysterious Catastrophe After Which People Are Forced to Not Look Outside
Very similar to A Quiet Place from several months earlier where here people cannot look outdoors and must remain blindfolded. Hindered by a frustrating lack of any explanations as to what is happening
Bloodshot (2020)
Apr 11, 2020Augmented Super-Soldier/Comic-Book Adaptation
That starts out seeming a standard mindless action film in which Vin Diesel is resurrected as an augmented super-soldier only for everything we assume to get turned on its head in interesting ways