Pet Shop (1995)
Shape-Changing Alien Pets
A painfully bad Charles Band production for children about a strange couple that set up a pet shop selling alien creatures
Films of 1995
Piranha (1995)
Killer Fish
The 1978 Piranha is remade as a cable tv movie but has excised all the humour and witty genre in-referencing of the original
Pocahontas (1995)
Disney Animation/Historical Meeting Between English & Native Americans
Disney bases an animated film on the historical character but warps the story considerably. It feels that this is a Disney animated film made more to adhere to Political Correctness than it is a good one
Powder (1995)
Psychically Gifted Alienated Teenager
Film from the controversial Victor Salva with Sean Patrick Flanery as an alienated teenager who demonstrates remarkable powers
Power Rangers: The Movie (1995)
Teen Power-Suit Superheroes
Film spinoff from the Mighty Morphin Powers Rangers tv series that became a fad in the 90s. All the same rubber monsters and shrieking over-the-top acting is preserved intact
Prehysteria! 3 (1995)
Baby Dinosaurs
The third and probably the best of the children’s dinosaur films from Charles Band where the pitiful effects are at least compensated for by an eccentric sense of humour
Project Shadowchaser III (1995)
Shapechanging Killer Android
Third in the series about android terrorists, this is now about an amok android on a spaceship
The Prophecy (1995)
War Between Angels
Standout film about angels warring on Earth that dispenses with any cutsie depiction of angels. Several sequels followed.
Proteus (1995)
Shape-Shifting Monster
Shabby copy of Alien with shipwreck survivors facing a genetically engineered monster on an oil rig
Rainbow (1995)
Journey Up a Rainbow/Children's Film
A directorial outing from actor Bob Hoskins where a kid travels up a rainbow but his doing up sets nature in a heavy-handed environmentalist message
The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1994)
Backwoods Brutality
The third sequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Usually reviled by fans, this is not unworthwhile, capped by a genuinely insane performance from a then-unknown Matthew McConaughey
Rough Magic (1995)
Magical Realism
Venture into Magical Realism with Bridget Fonda as a magician’s assistant who undergoes a Mexican ceremony to emerge with real magical powers. Featuring a young Russell Crowe.
Savage (1995)
Alien-Altered Neanderthal Superman
Bizarrely incomprehensible film from Avi Nesher set in a Cyberpunk future in which Olivier Gruner is turned into a Neanderthal superhuman by aliens living in cyberspace
Scanner Cop II: Volkin’s Revenge (1995)
Psychic Powers
The fourth and last of a series of low-budget sequels to David Cronenberg’s Scanners, also the worst of the bunch featuring a series of absurd head-exploding effects
Screamers (1995)
Evolved Androids/Planetary Journey/Philip K. Dick Adaptation
Modest and underrated Philip K. Dick adaptation that builds reasonable atmosphere during its journey across a planet and doubt as to who among the party might be one of a breed of evolving androids
Se7en (1995)
Serial Killer Thriller
Classic serial killer film from David Fincher, a superb effort from the casting to a script that seems weighted by the moral ills of the 20th Century to the unforgettable twist ending
The Secretary (1995)
Psycho Secretary
One of a series of Fatal Attraction copycats, a psycho-thriller where Mel Harris has her life torn apart by psycho secretary Sheila Kelley
Serpent’s Lair (1995)
Demonic Seductress
A supernatural version of Fatal Attraction where Jeff Fahey is lured into an affair with a neighbour who is a succubus
SleepStalker (1995)
Boogeyman
Clearly influenced by A Nightmare on Elm Street, this is a film about an executed killer who returns as a dream boogeyman who transforms from a flow of sand
The Snow Queen (1995)
Animation/Fairy-Tale
Lightweight British animated adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale made for children
Solitaire for 2 (1995)
Romantic Comedy/Telepathic Woman
A romantic comedy in which Amanda Pays has a curse that gives her the ability to read thoughts
Sorceress (1995)
Erotica/Suburban Witches
Jim Wynorski is a B-budget director whose films feature women with massively oversized breasts. Beyond epic-sized mammaries, this softcore tale about housewives engaged in witchcraft that makes no sense on a plot level
Space Marines (1995)
Space Opera
Low-budget film that does quite a creditable job on the whole space marines theme
Species (1995)
Alien Sex Fiend
Slick and rather silly copy of Alien that conceptually cross-hatches it to emerge as essentially Basic Instinct with tentacles
Star Hunter (1995)
Alien Sportsman Hunts Human Game
An incredibly cheap ripoff of Predator (and even more so that film’s real source The Most Dangerous Game) relocated to an urban area. Incredibly tatty and dull on all counts
Strange Days (1995)
Near Future Social Disorder/The Millennium/Virtual Memories
A Kathryn Bigelow directed Cyberpunk film scripted by James Cameron concerning an illicit technology that can replay memories. This offers a powerful vision of a socially divided L.A. on the eve of the millennium
Suspect Device (1995)
Identity Bender/Action
What seems a routine low-budget action film is propelled into the decidedly watchable by a bizarre Philip K. Dick-ian twist that comes mid-film
Tainted Love (1995)
Psycho-Sexual Thriller
Tawdry copy of Basic Instinct, an erotic thriller about a woman detective going undercover to investigate a series of murders that are linked to a health club
Tales from the Crypt Presents Demon Knight (1995)
Siege Against Demons
Film spinoff from the popular Tales from the Crypt horror anthology tv series but with more gore effects, this is competently done but does nothing to distinguish itself
Tales from the Hood (1995)
African-American Horror Anthology
Horror anthology with a specific focus around African-American issues. This conducts a fine revival of the anthology genre and delivers a series of episodes that are all solid and well above-average horror tales
Tall Tale (1995)
Characters from Wild West Legends
This has the promising idea of bringing together various mythic figures from the West like Pecos Bill and John Bunyan but then mishandles them in an oddly mundane depiction
Tank Girl (1995)
Post-Holocaust Punkette/Comic Book Adaptation
This is poorly regarded by fans of the original cult comic-book, nevertheless has a zany, anarchic energy and surreal sense of humour that is hard to dislike
Temptress (1995)
Erotica/Possession by Kali
Erotic horror film made by Playboy where Kim Delaney is possessed by an incarnation of Kali
Theodore Rex (1995)
Cop and Dinosaur Partner
Disastrous flop that tries to do a Lethal Weapon buddy cop film by way of Jurassic Park and gives us a film about a cop with a dinosaur partner!
Three Wishes (1995)
1950s Coming of Age Tale/Mysterious Stranger
This is a 1950s Coming of Age story with Patrick Swayze as a mysterious stranger dispensing wisdom, before the film arrives at a very peculiar fantastic ending
The Tie That Binds (1995)
Adoption Psycho-Thriller
Usually a scriptwriter, Wesley Strick makes a reasonable directorial debut in this psycho-thriller about a white trash couple killing those in their way to getting back the daughter that was taken away from them
Tokyo Fist (1995)
Boxing, Body-Piercing and Masochism
Shinya Tsukamoto returns to the repressions of his earlier Tetsuo: The Iron Man in this frenetic, ultra-violent work about a downtrodden salaryman who reconnects with life by allowing himself to be beaten up in the boxing ring. This feels like Raging Bull remade by David Cronenberg
Toy Story (1995)
Pixar Animation/The Secret Life of Toys
The first film from Pixar and a breakthrough in being the first computer-animated film. Even aside from its technical innovations, this is enormously good fun with extremely well-constructed character arcs
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Time Paradox
Terry Gilliam remakes the classic short film La Jetee as one of the most impressive of modern time travel films with an exceptional plot that is built around a sophisticated time paradox
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
Action/Advanced Weaponry
Sequel to Under Siege in which Steven Seagal was a lone individual in a Die Hard scenario defending a battleship against a terrorist takeover; this is the same but with Seagal defending a train
Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)
Vampire Comedy
An odd mismatch of talent where Wes Craven directs Eddie Murphy as a vampire who arrives in present-day New York. Craven and Murphy seem to drown either;s distinctive voices out
Village of the Damned (1995)
Telepathic Alien Children
Director John Carpenter did amazing things with his remake of The Thing but was not able to replicate such with his remake of Village of the Damned, which misses the taut atmosphere of the 1960 film
Virtual Combat (1995)
Virtual Characters Come to Life/Action
Completely ridiculous martial arts SF film with Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson as a future cop fighting a videogame character incarnated in the real world
Virtual Seduction (1995)
Virtual Reality
Produced by Roger Corman back when the idea of Virtual Reality was new and fascinated with the erotic possibilities. Jeff Fahey tests out a VR system and becomes lost in it after creating a simulation of his late girlfriend
Virtuosity (1995)
Android Serial Killer
Director Brett Leonard started the fascination with Virtual Reality off with The Lawnmower Man but shot himself in the foot with this absurd braindead follow-up in which Denzel Washington pursues a madly OTT Russell Crowe as an android serial killer
Voodoo (1995)
Voodoo Fraternity
A low-budget film where Corey Feldman is a university student who signs into an oddball fraternity only to find that it practices voodoo rites and he has signed away his soul
Waterworld (1995)
Post-Holocaust Drowned Earth
The most expensive film ever made at the time, a Kevin Costner epic in which he is a lone mariner in a drowned world where survivors cling to shantytowns floating on the surface. Essentially a Mad Max film located on water.
The Whispering (1995)
Angel of Suicide
Unremarkable and largely forgotten video release with former teen heartthrob Leif Garrett investigating appears of a mysterious figure that encourages people to suicide
White Man’s Burden (1995)
Race-Reversed Alternate World
Potent and effective take on race relations that imagines an alternate world where Blacks are a majority and white people live as a disadvantaged minority
Xtro3 (1995)
Alien Nasty
Third of the Xtro films, none of which are related to one another, this features the discovery of aliens at an abandoned military base
The Young Poisoner’s Handbook (1995)
True Life Teenage Poisoner
A true-crime film based on real-life British murderer Graham Young, this comes with a black humour tone and a great performance from Hugh O’Conor as Young