Maniac (2012)
Controversial remake of the 1980 psycho film. The remake’s unique take is that everything is shot in first-person from the point-of-view of the killer.
Maniac Cop (1988)
The first in a series of films starring Robert Z’dar as an hulking, deformed ex-cop seeking revenge. Not as effective as the sequels but is lifted above the routine by a quirky Larry Cohen script
Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence (1992)
The third of the Maniac Cop films had production problems and now feels more like a regular slasher film, although is still boosted by a characteristically witty Larry Cohen script
Maniac Cop II (1990)
Standout sequel to Maniac Cop, the best of the series, where Larry Cohen turns in a remarkable script and William Lustig delivers incredible action sequences
Mannequin (1987)
It is hard to believe this ever received a greenlight, a film in which Andrew McCarthy falls for a storefront mannequin (Kim Cattrall) who comes to life. The comedy has an excruciating inanity
Mannequin on the Move (1991)
A sequel to the Mannequin, the inane comedy about a romance with a storefront dummy come to life. Here Kristy Swanson plays a princess who is turned into a statue before being awoken in the present
Manos Returns (2018)
Manos: The Hands of Fate is considered one of the worst films of all time. 42 years later some of those involved in the original decided to make a sequel that manages to be just as bad a film
Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)
Regarded as one of the worst films ever made, more than anything this is just dull and boring. The plot concerns a couple straying into a desert home where a warlock is about to be resurrected
Mansion of the Doomed (1976)
This first film from B-budget producer Charles Band, a blatant copy of Eyes Without a Face with mad surgeon Richard Basehart abducting women and transplanting their eyeballs into his blind daughter
Mansquito (2005)
B-movie in which a chemical spill at a lab causes a mass murderer to turn into a giant mosquito hybrid. An efficient cobbling of cliches that comes out as a B budget variation n The Fly.
Mantis in Lace (1968)
A 1960s LSD film where a stripper kills men while under the influence. Mostly this is just a series of nudie scenes that go on and on without any plot
Mara (2018)
Olga Kurylenko deals with a demon that appears to those affected by sleep paralysis. Another sleep paralysis horror film that only tepidly dips into the subject
Marabunta (1998)
A routine made-for-tv movie where a small Alaskan town comes under attack as it is overrun by a legion of marabunta ants
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (2021)
This is the most charming animated (in this case stop-motion animated) film in years, a mockumentary about the life of a tiny talking shell that inhabits a human home. My best film of 2021
Margaux (2022)
Group of young people get away to a smarthome for the weekend, which then tries to kill them. The most ridiculous amongst a mini-spate of films about smarthome A.I.’s
Marian, Again (2005)
Strong and effective UK tv thriller where Stephen Tompkinson becomes obsessed with the girlfriend who went missing years earlier after he thinks he sees her again
Mariko Rose the Spook (2009)
A strange Japanese film in which a suicidal lesbian receives relationship advice and from the ghost of a drag queen
Marionette (2020)
Film about a psychiatrist dealing with a boy who appears to be able to cause things to happen. All before things get really weird
Marjorie Prime (2017)
From the always interesting Michael Almereyda, an adaptation of a Pulitzer-nominated play set in a future where people replace their departed loved ones with holograms
Mark of the Devil (1970)
Another depiction of the Middle Ages witch persecutions that becomes a catalogue of the cruelties enacted – Torture Porn way back before anybody ever invented the term
Mark of the Vampire (1935)
Dracula director Tod Browning reteams with Bela Lugosi in a remake of the silent London After Midnight. A vampire film that has much atmosphere but is ruined by a ridiculous ending
Markham (2020)
British-made homage to H.P. Lovecraft that has some of the most stunning black-and-white photography seen in some time but I am still trying to puzzle out what the film was actually about
Marooned (1969)
Released three months after the Moon Landing, this was a big-budget film depicting a space mission disaster that leaves three astronauts marooned in orbit
Marquis (1989)
Hilariously adult and filthy minded retelling of the Marquis de Sade story using puppets. Quills crossbred with Meet the Feebles if you like.
Marquis de Sade (1996)
A biopic of the Marquis de Sade that is not uninteresting but suffers from being produced by Roger Corman on one of his usual B-budgets
Marrowbone (2017)
Film about children hiding in big old house of secrets following the death of their mother. Filled with all manner of fascinating secrets and twist revelations
Mars (1996)
Action film with police officer Olivier Gruner investigating a murder on Mars. For a film that claims such a definitive title – that it is about the planet Mars – this lets all opportunities slip through its hands
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Tim Burton makes a film based on the old Topps bubblegum card series about Martian invaders, which becomes an affectionately goofy tribute to 1950s alien invasion cinema
Mars et Avril (2012)
An impressively designed Quebecois sf film where it is it is sad to see so much artistry lavished on something completely nonsensical and utterly woolly-headed in terms of its ideas
Mars Express (2023)
A French animated film, SF noir set on a future Mars with detectives fighting against someone who is jailbreaking robots. This deploys a strong and confident use of Cyberpunk tropes
Mars Needs Moms (2011)
Motion-capture animated version of a popular children’s book. The title suggests a 1950s B movie and the subtext doesn’t bear close examination but the results are engagingly put together
Mars Needs Women (1966)
Larry Buchanan was a low-budget director whose cheapness easily equaled Edward D. Wood, Jr. This alien invasion effort features Tommy Kirk come to Earth to procure women for repopulation purposes
Marshland (2014)
A strong and tightly wound police procedural, not unreminiscent of the first season of True Detective. What makes the plot stand out is the beautifully desolate setting of the remote Spanish marshlands
Martian Child (2007)
Adapted from a David Gerrold book, this is essentially the Adam Sandler adopts a kid film Big Daddy by way of K-PAX and its ambiguous alien visitor
Martian Land (2015)
The Asylum’s response to the box-office success of The Martian. The script has only made minimal effort to research the science but this works somewhat better than their usual fare
Martians Go Home (1990)
A majorly unfunny film about the arrival of aliens in Hawaiian shirts that do bad stand-up comedy routines and tell everybody’s embarrassing secrets
Martin (1976)
George Romero’s vampire film is one of his most remarkable films. In contrast to the cliches, the vampire here is a pale teen with an unhealthy obsession contrasted with a religious extremist who demands he be exorcised.
Martyrs (2008)
Pascal Laugier makes one of the most horrific films to emerge from France in the 00s. Scenes of grim torture sit alongside a plot that messes with almost everything we take for granted
Martyrs (2015)
Martyrs was one of the most grimly disturbing films of the 2000s. This English-language remake is one of the great all-time bad ideas that waters everything down and rewrites the ending
Martyrs Lane (2021)
Director Ruth Platt creates a beautifully subtle and delicate ghost story where the appearance of a ghost girl ends up stirring up secrets in a household
Mary and Max (2008)
A quirky and quite hilarious Australian-made claymation film about the mail correspondence between a young girl and a lonely middle-aged man
Mary and the Witch’s Flower (2017)
The third film from former Studio Ghibli employee Hiromasa Yonebayashi who is is seen as the carrier of Hayao Miyazaki’s mantle. Sweet and amiable, even if it never hits the emotional heights Miyazaki does
Mary Had a Little Lamb (2023)
The people behind Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey deliver a horror version of the nursery rhyme. Here Mary becomes a middle-aged woman living in the woods with a hulking son who has a lamb’s head
Mary Poppins (1964)
Disney classic that is mostly a series of dance and effects sequences strung together without any real plot nevertheless is conducted with a dizzying absurdism and perfect charm that never wears out its welcome
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
Mary Poppins was one of the greatest of all Disney live-action films. This is a sequel that is an exacting replication/homage to the original but never seems to create its own sparkle
Mary Reilly (1996)
This took a critical drubbing where it came out, especially Julia Roberts’ Irish accent but is a revisionist take on the Jekyll/Hyde story told through the eyes of Dr Jekyll’s maid and an extremely good version of the story
Mary Shelley (2017)
Biopic of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. This places a feminist slant on Mary’s story meaning that she wrote the book less to address themes about science and hubris than because she was in an unhappy marriage
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)
An adaptation of Frankenstein made as companion piece to Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Kenneth Branagh creates a lush production but the attempts to emulate Coppola’s sensuality go awry
Masque of Red Death (1989)
A dull and dreary version of the Edgar Allan Poe story, especially when placed in contrast to the definitive 1964 version from this film’s producer Roger Corman
Mass Effect: Paragon Lost (2012)
While Mass Effect has an impressive reputation on the console screen, this is a dull anime spinoff that only comes in around the level of a production line animated tv episode
Massacre at Central High (1976)
Classic 1970s exploitation film about a new kid in high school who takes violent reprisals against bullies. The film comes with surprising levels of allegory.
Massacre on Aisle 12 (2016)
A horror comedy set in a hardware store on Christmas Eve as the staff fall to murderous squabbling after the discovery of a dead body and large sum of money
Master of the World (1961)
One amid the spate of Jules Verne adaptations of in the 1950s/60s with Vincent Price as Robur, the inventor of an amazing airship who wants mankind to stop waging war
Masters of the Universe (1987)
Live-action film based on the Mattel toy line and popular animated tv series. Given a Cannon Films budget, it emerges as a cheesily absurd Flash Gordon/Conan the Barbarian knockoff
Masters of the Universe (2026)
A reboot of Masters of the Universe, this fully embraces the mythology of the animated series and gives them great life. But is also a work that is constantly deflating any chance you are taking it seriously
Matador (1986)
Cheerfully outrageous early Pedro Almodovar black comedy where virginal Antonio Banderas confesses to a series of murders conducted by his death obsessed lawyer
Match Point (2005)
This was one of Woody Allen’s strongest films in some years, this is a London-set work about conscience and murder over which the spirit of Dostoevsky hangs
Matchless (1967)
This was one of the numerous spy films of the 1960s, an Italian-made effort featuring Patrick O’Neal who goes into action with the aid of a magic invisibility ring
Matilda (1996)
Danny DeVito directs an adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel with Mara Wilson as a mentally gifted child. In DeVito’s hands, Roald Dahl’s black bite overbalances into broad farce
Matinee (1993)
A Joe Dante film set during the Cuban Missile Crisis about a childhood in B movie fandom. John Goodman is on great form in a role that pays homage to filmmaker William Castle
Matriarch (2022)
A wonderfully creepy Folk Horror film in which Jemima Rooper returns to her home town after many years and finds very strange things happening
Matthew Blackheart (2002)
A film about a monster hunter from the 1940s who is thawed out in the present-day. This appears to have been made as a pilot for a tv series that never went ahead
Matthew Hopkins – Witchfinder General (1968)
Based on a true-life historical figure, this is a stark and effective film that depicts the barbarism of the 17th century witch hunts. Vincent Price plays seriously and the film is all the more effective as a result
Mausoleum (1983)
A B-budgeted hit from the video era concerning a possessed housewife. A film that has only been construed around the provision of cheap makeup effects at which it holds an undeniable entertainment value
Mauvais Sang (1986)
The second film from Leos Carax, a near-future set romance that bursts with freshness and originality. Set during the return of Halley’s Comet concerning the theft of virus vaccine
Max & Co (2007)
An amiable Swiss Claymation effort not dissimilar to Aardman’s films concerning a young fox troubadour who takes a stand against a tyrannical fly swat manufacturer
Max Payne (2008)
Based on the popular videogame, this is fairly much Death Wish by way of Jacob’s Ladder. An expensive studio film that proves an underwhelming delivery of its promise
Max Reload and the Nether Blasters (2020)
Videogamers fight a demonic entity unleashed from a 1980s game. A film that is far more fun that you expect and comes loaded with videogaming in-jokes
Max Steel (2016)
An ill-conceived attempt to compete with Marvel superheroics. Based on a popular line of action toys, this gets nothing right – it’s hard to even tell it is meant to be a superhero film for half the show
Maxie (1985)
Light fantasy comedy where Glenn Close plays a housewife who is possessed by the ghost of Maxie, a Hollywood starlet who is determined to revive her career
Maximum Ride (2016)
Adapted from a Young Adult series by crime writer James Patterson about a group of kids with wings, this never made it beyond one film and is an exceedingly lacklustre production
MaXXXine (2024)
Ti West and Mia Goth round out their trilogy of films that consisted of X and Pearl. This time they make a psycho film that takes Goth’s starlet to 1980s Hollywood
May (2002)
An almost unclassifiable work from Lucky McKee that plays out as a gonzo love and rejection story featuring an alienated Angela Bettis before an end that tips over into horror
May the Devil Take You (2018)
Indonesia’s Timo Tjahjanto has emerged as a Must Watch director on the basis of his jaw-droppingly brutal action films. Here he pays homage to 1980s horror films in particular The Evil Dead
May the Devil Take You: Chapter Two (2020)
May the Devil Take You was a homage to 1980s films like The Evil Dead. Here Timo Tjahjanto makes a sequel and goes absolutely demented
Mayflower II (2020)
An hilariously bad film in which Christians feel oppressed by a Bible-censoring dystopia on Earth and so create a secret project to launch a space mission to relocate on Mars
Mayhem (2017)
A cross between The Belko Experiment and George Romero’s The Crazies as workers in an office is infected by a virus that causes them to lose their inhibitions. Made with dark relish
McDull – The Pork of Music (2012)
Fifth in a popular series of Hong Kong animated films. This has a sarcastic bite that resembles Beavis and Butt-Head in its story of a talking animal children’s choir before it starts to get mawkish
Me and Him (1988)
A comedy in which Griffin Dunne’s penis begins talking to him. Contrary to expectation, most of the film is PG-13 but some of the films attitudes and unfunny routines are fairly mind-boggling
Me and My Mates vs. the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)
An Australian zombie comedy. The basic premise sets a bunch of lads and their cheerfully Neanderthal, sexist, beer-drinking, sports loving ways up against the zombie apocalypse
Me Myself I (1999)
An Australian variant on Sliding Doors in which single woman Rachel Griffiths suddenly finds herself in an alternate timeline where she is now married and has kids
Me Two (2008)
Lightweight French bodyswap comedy where aging rocker Alain Chabat and mousy bureaucrat Daniel Auteuil end up sharing the same body
Meander (2020)
This may be the most claustrophobic film ever made about a woman trapped inside a labyrinth of narrow tunnels and crawlspaces that house a series of death traps
Meatball Machine (2005)
The first of a series of gore-drenched Japanese films featuring absurd creature effects and action moves. This is a wonderfully cartoonish film with rival bio-mechanoid creatures fighting
Meatball Machine: Kodoku (2017)
A sequel to Meatball Machine, the film that started the gonzo Japanese splatter genre, filled with wild mutations, over-the-top splatter, surreal humour and an obsession with schoolgirls in panties
Meatballs III: Summer Job (1987)
Unrelated to the Bill Murray film in anything but name, this is a moronic teen summer camp comedy in which Patrick Dempsey is aided in trying to lose his virginity by angel Sally Kellerman
Meatballs Part II (1984)
No-one is pretending that the Bill Murray summer camp comedy Meatballs was a masterpiece but it looks a work of art in comparison to this unfunny sequel, which also throw in a stiff E.T. lookalike
Medea (1969)
Pier Paolo Pasolini makes a film based on Medea, the wife of Jason from Greek myth (not to be confused with Tyler Perry’s films), who slaughters their children after he leaves her for another woman
Medicine Man (1992)
John McTiernan was one of the great action directors of the 1980s but this drama with Sean Connery as a cranky scientist in the Amazonian rainforest and his bickering relationship with Lorraine Bracco failed to come off
Meet Cute (2022)
An extremely clever romantic comedy where Kaley Cuoco repeatedly returns back through time to replay her one perfect day, a date with Pete Davidson
Meet Dave (2008)
Off-the wall Eddie Murphy comedy in which he plays an alien spaceship disguised as a human come to Earth. All the fun comes from watching Murphy’s wacky antics, which buoy up the film’s weaker moments
Meet Joe Black (1998)
A ponderous big screen remake of Death Takes a Holiday where Death in the form of Brad Pitt comes to Earth, engages in a romance and considers the meaning of the human condition
Meet Mr Lucifer (1953)
One of the forgotten comedies from UK’s Ealing Studios, this rails against the evils of the then new medium of television where The Devil contrives to make people miserable by getting them to watch tv
Meet the Applegates (1991)
A satiric comedy about a family of insects who set up house in suburbia posing as humans. This takes to its premise with a darkly farcical tone that is quite hilarious
Meet the Feebles (1990)
Peter Jackson‘s second film, what might be called The Muppet Show by way of John Waters, an inspired work of puppet depravity that makes a beeline for bad taste
Meet the Robinsons (2007)
One of the more enjoyable efforts from the mid-2000s dead zone of Disney animation, this quickly gets demented and emerges like The Jetsons colliding with The Royal Tenenbaums
Meet the Santas (2005)
Sequel to Single Santa Seeks Mrs Claus where Santa’s son (Steve Guttenberg) ties the knot. Utterly predictable and amazingly traditional and conservative in its sentiments
Meet the Spartans (2008)
The painfully unfunny films of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer are a random assortment of films of the last six months run over with crude and vulgar jokes. In this case, they take on parodying principally 300
Meeting Evil (2012)
A surprisingly good variant on The Hitcher with Samuel L. Jackson as a psychopathic stranger who takes hapless family man Luke Wilson for a ride leaving a trail of bodies
Meg 2: The Trench (2023)
The sequel to the Jason Statham starring killer shark film, bigger and more over the top than before. The surprise is seeing cult director Ben Wheatley turning to making a big, dumb film