The Wiz (1978)
May 5, 2007All-Black Musical Wizard of Oz Remake
Musical modernisation of The Wizard of Oz relocated in New York City with an All-Black cast. Despite a clear budget arrayed, the film lumbers and never much comes to life
Joel Schumacher
The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)
Jun 9, 2003Miniaturised Housewife Comedy
An appealing comedy remake of The Incredible Shrinking Man with Lily Tomlin as a housewife who starts to shrink after exposure to household cleaning products. One of the better films from the usually terrible Joel Schumacher
The Lost Boys (1987)
Mar 12, 2002Teen Vampires
Popular 80s vampire film that suffers the curse of Joel Schumacher. A promising opening dissolves into posturing cool, flashy visuals with zero substance underneath
Flatliners (1990)
Aug 17, 2002Exploring the Afterlife/Haunting
A film about med students stopping their hearts so as to explore the afterlife. This aims for big ideas but befalls director Joel Schumacher who delivers pretty visuals but finds nothing any more profound than a figurative group hug
Falling Down (1993)
Nov 18, 1999Man's Shooting Rampage Against the Frustrations of Life
Though many people celebrated this as black comedy about Michael Douglas taking up arms on a shooting rampage against the petty frustrations of modern life, it is a film that is really a single redneck rant against the poor and minorities
Batman Forever (1995)
Apr 30, 2001Comic-Book Superhero
Tim Burton’s superlative duo of Batman films were wrecked after Joel Schumacher took up the director’s chair and turned the films into giant camp fests. Here he allows a madly overacting Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones loose as the villains
Batman & Robin (1997)
Sep 30, 2000Comic-Book Superhero
Possibly the worst film ever made on a big studio budget, Joel Schumacher’s follow-up to Tim Buton's standout Batman films where he turns everything into an absurd Day Glo realm with a script for two year-olds, campy puns and badly overacting super-villains
8MM (1999)
Apr 29, 1999Snuff Movie Thriller
This seeks to be another Se7en, adapting a script by Se7en writer Andrew Kevin Walker and employing the same visual style in the story of Nicolas Cage delving into a seedy underworld in search of a snuff movie.
Phone Booth (2002)
Jun 28, 2003Man Trapped in a Phone Booth by a Psycho Sniper
Sharp and original script from Larry Cohen in which Colin Farrell is trapped inside a phone booth by a sniper. Good story that even the awful Joel Schumacher in the director's seat doesn't screw up too badly
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Jan 6, 2005Disfigured Madman Beneath the Opera House/Musical Adaptation
The long-planned film adaptation of The Phantom musical emerges as disaster under Joel Schumacher. The Phantom's presence has all been watered down and the film exists as no more than a series of scenographic poses
The Number 23 (2007)
Feb 3, 2008Numerological Obsession and Paranoia/Reality Bender
Demented Joel Schumacher film in which Jim Carrey sees occurrences of the number 23 everywhere and finds his life is being predicted by a book. Featuring one of the most absurd scripts ever written
Town Creek (2009)
Nov 14, 2010Nazi Vampire
Aaaaaaaargh the director I love to hate, Joel Schumacher, turns out a halfway reasonable film. An original menace where Schumacher displays a good grasp of the modern horror film