Images (1972)
Oct 28, 2000Identity Blurring/Surrealism
A fascinatingly enigmatic work from Robert Altman, an artily experimental film in which the identities of five people together at a countryside cottage begin to shift and blur
Lionsgate
Gods and Monsters (1998)
May 1, 1999Genre Director Biopic
Biopic of James Whale, director of the Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein. Whale’s movies are used to echo a tale of friendship between the aging gay Whale (Ian McKellan) and his straight gardener (Brendan Fraser)
Believe (2000)
May 24, 2000Children's Ghost Story
A children's ghost story that is written with uncommon depth and care and directed with reasonable effect
Sacrifice (2000)
Sep 9, 2007Escaped Con Hunts Serial Killer
Michael Madsen is a bank robber who makes an escape from jail and goes on the run to track down the serial killer who killed his daughter
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Aug 2, 2001Teenage Girl Werewolves
Witty, wryly sarcastic modern take on the werewolf film where two teenage sister become affected – sort of like a remake of I Was a Teenage Werewolf by way of Ghost World. Two sequels followed.
The Punisher (2004)
Jun 15, 2004Comic-Book Vigilante
Amid the huge surge of Marvel Comics adaptations in the early 2000s, there came this version of The Punisher. Cast with Thomas Jane, the film is tepid and singularly lacking in the grim, dark avenging violence of the comic-book
Man-Thing (2005)
Sep 9, 2007Marvel Comics Adaptation/Creature in the Swamps
The bastard child among the spate of pre-MCU Marvel Comics adaptations during the mid-2000s, a film based on their swamp-dweller that throws out most of the comic-book
See No Evil (2006)
Feb 25, 2015Slasher Film
Modern slasher film where the sole note of distinction is the wrestler known as Kane cast as the hulking killer. Outside of a moderate level of brutality in the despatches, there is little here that stands out from the genre's cliches in any way
Skinwalkers (2006)
Mar 7, 2009Werewolves
A big-budget revival of the werewolf film set amongst warring werewolf clans of bikers. Produced by Stan Winston and with an interesting cast line-up
Right At Your Door (2006)
Jun 9, 2026Dirty Bomb Detonated in L.A.
One of the fear-fraught films made in the aftermath of 9/11, a tense thriller concerning the detonation of a dirty bomb in L.A. and the panic that descends as one man tries to barricade his home
Doctor Strange (2007)
Jan 1, 2008Marvel Comics Magician Superhero/Animation
One among a handful of animated films based on Marvel Comics properties, this conducts a passable telling of the origin story of the Sorcerer Supreme
The Condemned (2007)
Feb 13, 2009Barehands Survivalism/Deadly Reality TV Show
An action movie where the toughest criminals are forced into a barehanded survivalism competition against one another while this is livestreamed. As the hero, wrestler Steve Austin has zero charisma
Stir of Echoes: The Awakening (2007)
Feb 23, 2011Gulf War Vet Receives Visions
Stir of Echoes was a spookily effective film. Alas in this sequel, we go from Kevin Bacon as a medium to Rob Lowe as a haunted Iraq War veteran amid a series of routine pop-up scares
Punisher: War Zone (2008)
Mar 21, 2010Comic-Book Vigilante
The Punisher (2004) with Thomas Jane was a dud among the 2000s Marvel Comics adaptations. Here the role is recast with Ray Stevenson and director Lexi Alexander gets the dark, violent tone of the comic-book right
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
Disaster Movie (2008)
Jul 4, 2010Parodies of Various Films
The movie parodies of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, which consist of crude, witless gags run over replication of scenes from films of the last twelve months, are painfully unfunny. This doesn't even spoof the disaster movie
The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
Oct 9, 2008Martial Arts Adventure
Westernised homage to Wu Xia and the Shaw Brothers film with an American teen transported back to Ancient China, this has all the thrill of junior-grade martial arts tournament
The Eye (2008)
Mar 29, 2008Woman Sees the Dead
An English-language remake of the ghost story from the Pang Brothers follows the other film faithfully but in terms of atmosphere is a pallid copy of the original
The Spirit (2008)
Jan 11, 2009Comic-Book Superhero
A real head-scratcher. Legendary comic-book writer Frank Miller directs an adaptation of the famous Will Eisner comic-book. A completely madcap film that deserves to be rediscovered as a cult classic
My Bloody Valentine (2009)
Feb 24, 2009Slasher Film
Another in the fad for remakes of 70s/80s films. where the 1981 slasher film gets reworked if this did not come with the 3D gimmick, it would be no more than a routine direct-to-dvd release
Gamer (2009)
Jan 30, 2010Future Live-Action Videogames
Film somewhere between Counterstrike and The Running Man where convicts are controlled as avatars inside a live-action videogame. A difficult to believe premise that is pumped up with hyper-adrenalised action visuals
Daybreakers (2009)
Jan 17, 2010World of Vampires
Australia's The Spierig Brothers create a strong and original scenario for a vampire film set in a future where vampires have killed almost all the humans and the blood supply is now running out.
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
The Hunger Games (2012)
Mar 29, 2012Future Televised Human Hunting
A Young Adult box-office hit that does little more than competently shuffle around ideas from other SF films. Jennifer Lawrence makes an impressive showing but the film also soft-pedals the moral reality of its scenario
Nurse 3-D (2013)
Jun 22, 2014Psycho Nurse
A splendidly trashy film that throws all good taste to the wind The title role is played by a sizzling, substantially undressed Paz de la Huerta. While deficient in acting ability, she delivers an hilarious voiceover
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Nov 23, 2013Future Televised Human Hunting/Social Revolution
The first sequel to the box-office juggernaut. The surprise is that it spends defies most of the things that made the first film, not to mention has made one of the year's biggest box-office hits into a parable for Marxist revolution
Rapture-Palooza (2013)
Feb 23, 2014Biblical End Times Comedy
There is irresistible appeal to the idea of a comedy that conducts a spoof of the Biblical Rapture. Despite a script from one of the Bill and Ted writers, this emerges as a remarkably unfunny film that consists of about an hour of Craig Robinson delivering crude sexual innuendos
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014)
Nov 22, 2014Future Social Revolution
The third The Hunger Games film starts in with a more brooding complexity but with the book being split in two parts, the story feels more thinly drawn and comes to an abrupt end just when it starts to get interesting
I Frankenstein (2014)
Jan 25, 2014Frankenstein Monster's Modern-Day War with Demons
An empty-headed work that seems entirely premised around the provision of CGI effects spectacle and actively resists engagement on any other level. A spectacularly ridiculous film in almost every way
Jessabelle (2014)
Dec 7, 2014Haunted Southern Home
Ghost story from one of the directors of the Saw sequels that settles in with halfway reasonable build-up, before being killed off by an improbable left field twist ending
The Vatican Tapes (2015)
Dec 4, 2015Possession and Exorcism
The exorcism film has made a big comeback in the 00s. From one of the co-directors of the Crank films, this only offers up the same mix of cliches as usual – indeed, often seems like a series of random jump scares without any rationale as to why they would be happening
The Age of Adaline (2015)
Apr 25, 2015Woman Who Does Not Age
Aimed at the same audiences as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Blake Lively is a woman who hasn't aged since the 1930s. This comes with the nostalgic weepiness and solemn self-importance of a work pitched to Academy Awards voters
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015)
Nov 28, 2015Future Social Revolution
The finale of the saga comes with a tough, gritty edge that make it the best directed of the series. On the other hand, it builds well only to arrive at an ending that goes oddly sideways and throws sympathies to the wind
Blair Witch (2016)
Sep 24, 2016Found Footage/Backwoods Haunting
The Blair Witch Project was genuinely innovative. It is a surprise that we never saw a string of sequels. Adam Wingard finally does here but at a time when the Found Footage genre feels played out of moves
Boo! A Madea Halloween (2016)
Mar 12, 2017Halloween Comedy
I don't dislike the Tyler Perry film – the performances are skillfully accomplished. Here however Perry attempts to make a Halloween comedy while displaying almost zero interest in any of the genre elements
Nerve (2016)
Nov 20, 2016Internet Site That Offers Deadly Challenges
This is like an online version of 13 Sins about an internet site that pushes people to take increasingly more outrageous and eventually deadly dares. One of the new thrillers centred around social media that seeks to adopt its visual look, this is slickly polished and aimed direct to the teenage demographic
Norm of the North (2016)
May 20, 2016Animation/Talking Polar Bear
As animated films go, there are few that feel like a constructor set of pieces copied from every other film than this. Audiences found the adventures of a twerking polar bear lacking too and it made a record for the lowest weekend gross for an animated film ever
Urge (2016)
Dec 31, 2016Designer Drug Causes Mass Insanity
The use of a designer drug causes a small island to descend into mass insanity – this is essentially The Crazies repackaged as a slick empty-headed thriller for teen audiences. The various scenes of madness are frequently laughable and the film arrives at possibly the most ridiculous twist ending one has ever seen
Boo! 2 A Madea Halloween (2017)
Feb 24, 2020Halloween Comedy
Tyler Perry is an accomplished impressionist but his two Halloween comedies appropriate elements of the horror film while having no interest in the genre. Here all the horror elements only serve to deliver a lecture on child rearing
Power Rangers (2017)
Jun 24, 2017Teen Power-Suit Superheroes
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers with its ridiculous rubber monsters and dementedly over-the-top acting as one of the key pop culture phenomena of the 1990s. The question is what audience do producers possibly think that there might be for a dark and gritty cinematic reboot?
3 from Hell (2019)
Oct 20, 2019Family of Psychos
Rob Zombie is back,, making the third in his trilogy of Firefly films following House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. It is all fairly much the same as before where Zombie's sympathies are cleanly with the family of psychopaths and their murderous rampage.
Antebellum (2020)
Sep 26, 2020The Brutalities of Slavery/Reality Twister
This highly charged work about race issues received a very mixed critical reception but I liked it for its clever M. Night Shyamalan-esque twistiness that messes with storytelling convention
Smiley Face Killers (2020)
May 28, 2021True Crime/Cult of Mysterious Killers
A film based on the so-called Smiley Face Killings, a series of theorised true-life serial killings. With a script by Bret Easton Ellis of American Psycho fame
Alone (2020)
Aug 22, 2021Zombie Film
English-language version of the Korean zombie film #Alive about a guy stranded in an apartment during the zombie apocalypse trying to communicate with the girl across the street
Chaos Walking (2021)
Apr 9, 2021Planet Where Thoughts Are Visible
Doug Liman's adaptation of a Young Adult series that was problem-ridden behind the scenes. This certainly creates an interesting scenario set on a planet where men’s thoughts are visibly manifest
Prey for the Devil (2022)
Oct 16, 2023Possession and Exorcism
Daniel Stamm, the director who made the standout , returns to make a more traditional possession and exorcism film
Loveland (2022)
Feb 15, 2024Cyberpunk Future
Modest and interesting Cyberpunk film that works as a melancholy future-set romance with Ryan Kwanten as a hitman. Minimalist but with some striking conceptual twists
Dust Bunny (2025)
Apr 10, 2026Gonzo Film/Imaginary Monster
A completely indescribable film about a young girl who befriends a hitman and asks him to protect her from an imaginary monster. The result falls somewhere between Leon/The Professional and a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film
War Machine (2026)
Mar 20, 2026Military Action/Killer Robot
The military action film is a genre that does nothing for me. But this does have a furious, survival-oriented pace as it pits Alan Ritchson and a detachment of soldiery up against an alien killer robot