Matthew Bright Archives

Forbidden Zone (1982)

Rating: ★★★

Aug 12, 2011Gonzo Other-Dimensional Musical

Cultishly bizarre, deliberately offbeat and wacky film that was made as a vehicle for the band Oingo Boingo. More a film you admire for its determination to be strange than anything else

Director: Richard Elfman

Actors: Herve Villechaize, Susan Tyrrell, Matthew Bright, Kedric Wolfe, …

Category: Science Fiction

12 August 201124 February 2026 by Roog

Shrunken Heads (1994)

Rating: ★★

May 5, 2005Disembodied Heads Take Revenge

Another film from Charles Band’s Full Moon Production centred around dolls - in this case, three murdered youths who are resurrected as flying shrunken heads. A film that never quite lives up to the outlandishness of its premise

Director: Richard Elfman

Actors: Julius Harris, Meg Foster, Bodhi Elfman, Paul Linke

Category: Horror

5 May 200528 June 2024 by Roog

Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994)

Rating: ★★★

Dec 6, 2013Female Demon Visits Earth

One of the better films to emerge from Full Moon, the story of a female demon who escapes to Earth and becomes a vigilante defender of the innocent. Rather well done with Angela Featherstone being particularly otherworldly

Director: L. Hassani

Actors: Angela Featherstone, Nicholas Worth, Charlotte Stewart, Milton James

Category: Fantasy

6 December 201314 January 2026 by Roog

Freeway (1996)

Rating: ★★★½

Jun 30, 2010Modernised Little Red Riding Hood/Juvenile Delinquent Drama

Matthew Bright's extraordinary modernisation/trashing of Little Red Riding Hood who becomes Reese Witherspoon's juvenile delinquent who goes hitchhiking and is targeted by serial killer Kiefer Sutherland

Director: Matthew Bright

Actors: Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland, Dan Hedaya, Wolfgang Bodison, …

Category: Fantasy

30 June 201010 December 2025 by Roog

Modern Vampires (1998)

Rating: ★★

Apr 7, 2001Vampires

Richard Elfman film about chic vampires who have become an elite living in Hollywood. Despite promise and some interesting ideas, this is ruined by an atrociously overacting cast

Director: Richard Elfman

Actors: Casper Van Dien, Rod Steiger, Kim Cattrall, Natasha Gregson Wagner, …

Category: Horror

7 April 200110 December 2025 by Roog

Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (1999)

Rating: ★★★★

Aug 7, 2000Modernised Hansel and Gretel/Juvenile Delinquent Drama

Matthew Bright's even better sequel to Freeway where he conducts an outrageous and quite brilliant modernisation of Hansel and Gretel now recast with two juvenile delinquents on the run

Director: Matthew Bright

Actors: Natasha Lyonne, Maria Celedonio, Vincent Gallo, David Alan Grier, …

Category: Fantasy

7 August 200010 December 2025 by Roog

Ted Bundy (2002)

Rating: ★★★★

Feb 15, 2004True-Life Serial Killer

True crime film from Matthew Bright based on serial killer Ted Bundy. Bright remains very faithful to the details of the case and he and star Michael Reilly Burke delve into the psychopathic mindset with considerable effect

Director: Matthew Bright

Actors: Michael Reilly Burke, Boti Ann Bliss, Tom Savini, Tiffany Shepis, …

Category: Horror

15 February 20049 November 2021 by Roog