Legion (1998)
Soldiers vs Alien Nasty
Well-made Alien copy that seems to have been conceived as a crosshatch between The Dirty Dozen and The Thing where the creature remains mostly psychological
Films of 1997
Perdita Durango (1997)
Outlaw Lovers/Santeria Sorceror
Spinoff of characters featured in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart and a greatly underrated film for Alex de la Iglesia. this pushes into even darker and more anarchic places than Lynch did, featuring outlaw lovers who are black sorcerers on a trail of murder and kidmap
The Saint (1997)
TV Series Remake/Thief Hero
Big screen revival of the famous playboy spy falls flat due to the miscasting of Val Kilmer in the title role where Kilmer’s attempts to adopt disguises and accents throughout becomes risible. The thriller plot is nothing to get excited about.
RocketMan (1997)
Idiot Joins a NASA Mars Mission
Unfunny comedy in which Harland Williams plays a bumbling idiot who is recruited to take part in a NASA Mars landing mission. Slapstick inanity results.
Retroactive (1997)
Timeloop
Modest and halfway reasonable variant on Groundhog Day with a group of people caught in the same loop of time where everything manages to go wrong each time
The Relic (1997)
Monster Movie
This is a copy of Alien with a monster hunting people through darkened corridors and is generic in all regards, although you have to admit that Stan Winston creates an original monster and the film generates reasonable suspense
Redline (1997)
Near Future Russia Thriller
Standard action film made interesting by the choice of its setting in a post-Soviet Russia Cyberpunk future
Rebirth of Mothra II (1997)
Japanese Monster Bash
After their successful revival of Godzilla in the 1990s, Toho revived Mothra for a series of standalone battles, albeit with a very juvenile focus made for children. This was the second and better of the three films
Quicksilver Highway (1997)
Horror Anthology
The perpetually awful Mick Garris inflicts adaptations of Stephen King and Clive Barker stories on us in what looks like an unsold pilot for a horror anthology tv series
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Anime/Epic Fantasy
Stunning work of fantasy from Hayao Miyazaki. Made on an epic-sized story canvas and with a breathtaking beauty, this is one of the few original screen works to capture something of the nature and scale of written epic fantasy
Prince Valiant (1997)
Sword and Sorcery/Comic-Strip Adaptation
The classic comic-strip receives a disastrous film adaption where director Anthony Hickox plays everything for campy silliness
The Postman (1997)
Post-Holocaust
Kevin Costner directs David Brin’s post-holocaust tale as an epic Western. Most audiences ridiculed the film’s ardent flag-waving but you cannot deny that Costner makes a stirring and undeniably interesting film
Pippi Longstocking (1997)
Anarchic Girl/Animation
A likeable animated adaptation of Astrid Lindgren’s popular children’s character from the Canadian company Nelvana
Photographing Fairies (1997)
Fairies and Altered Perception
One of two films that came out in 1997 about the Cottingley Fairies Hoax. In comparison to the other, FairyTale: A true Story, this expands the premise out into a remarkable study of altered perception
Perfect Blue (1997)
Anime/Psycho-Thriller
The directorial debut of Satoshi Kon, overseen by Katsuhiro Otomo, an anime concerning a troubled Japanese pop singer being cyber-stalked by a doppelganger
Paws (1997)
Talking Dog
Australian-made children’s film about a kid who creates a computer program so his dog can talk where it then becomes voiced by Billy Connolly
The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo (1997)
Jungle Boy
Lesser budgeted sequel to the 1994 remake of The Jungle Book, which actually comes closer in tone to the original Rudyard Kipling stories
Orgazmo (1997)
Mormon Porn Star Superhero
An early work from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone about a Mormon who becomes a porn star and then turns superhero
Open Your Eyes (1997)
Reality Bender
Excellent film from Alejandro Amenabar in which a handsome playboy finds himself in the midst of a baffling series of reality flips before arriving at an SF twist ending
The Nurse (1997)
Psycho Nurse
Psycho-thriller with Lisa Zane as a nurse seeking vengeance for the death of her father
Nirvana (1997)
Cyberpunk
Strong and intelligent Cyberpunk film with Christopher Lambert dealing with a videogame character that has come to life
The Night Flier (1997)
Tabloid Journalist Tracks Vampire/Stephen King Adaptation
Okay but nothing standout Stephen King adaptation with Miguel Ferrer as a tabloid journalist covering a series of killings before realising he is tracking a vampire
MouseHunt (1997)
Men vs an Intelligent Mouse
The directorial debut of Gore Verbinski, this harnesses Babe-styled animatronics to essentially create a live-action Tom and Jerry cartoon with two comic villains being outwitted by a seemingly unkillable mouse
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)
Interdimensional Combat/Videogame Adaptation
Sequel to the Mortal Kombat film. While the first film was fun, here anything resembling plot has been stripped away to concentrate on fight scenes such that the film blurs into a single shapeless action sequence
Misbegotten (1997)
Psycho Sperm Donor
From a Larry Cohen script, a side-splitting effort with Kevin Dillon as a psychopathic sperm donor who forcibly intrudes into the life of his baby’s mother
Mimic (1997)
Evolved Insects
This was the second film from Guillermo Del Toro, a modest and quite good Alien copy with Mira Sorvino hunting evolved insects in the New York subway tunnels
Men in Black (1997)
Alien Coverup Conspiracy Agency
A huge box-office hit, this comedy turns UFO conspiracy of
The Love Bug (1997)
Cute Car/Disney Comedy
TV movie revival of Disney’s Herbie films and one of the better sequels, playing around with the concept and even adding a Herbie origin story
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Genetically Engineered Dinosaurs Amok
The first sequel to the massive success of Jurassic Park where Steven Spielberg returns to direct with a script that seems a mishmash of loose ends that only weakly rehashes the original
Lost Highway (1997)
Identity Exchange/Surrealism
A bafflingly surreal yet compulsive David Lynch film in which Bill Pullman and wife receives mysterious threatening videotapes and Bill then inexplicably turns into Balthazar Getty
A Little Bit of Soul (1997)
Longevity Drug and Satanism Black Comedy
Australian black comedy about research into longevity and Satanism. The film has a great cast but hits a shrilly hysteric pitch without ever being funny
Scream 2 (1997)
Slasher Sequel Parody/Deconstruction
Wes Craven’s Scream was a clever and witty homage to/deconstruction of the slasher film of the 1980s; for the sequel, he and Kevin Williamson naturally turn to deconstructing the slasher sequel
The Secret Kingdom (1997)
Miniature World Under the Kitchen Sink
This is an appealingly strange Charles Band produced children’s film about a kid who discovers a miniature magical kingdom that is located under the kitchen sink
Liar Liar (1997)
Man Cursed with a Truth-Telling Wish Comedy
A film with a children’s movie premise – an amoral lawyer is forced to be honest for a day when his kid makes a wish – is over-taken by Jim Carrey in full over the top mode
Touch (1997)
Faith Healer
Paul Schrader adapts an Elmore Leonard novel about a youth who suddenly becomes sought by various parties when it is discovered he has miracle healing powers but the results never quite come off
Who is Running? (1997)
Tomorrow's Newspaper Headlines
Debut feature from Oxide Pang of the Pang Brothers fame. A variant on the tv series Early Edition in which a man receives newspapers that foretell the future and must race to prevent fates from occurring in order to earn karmic salvation for his girlfriend
The Well (1997)
Body in the Well/Psychological Horror
An incredibly spooky film about two woman on an Australian outback farm that believe they are haunted by a dead body in the well
Warriors of Virtue (1997)
Fantasy Otherworld
Fantasy film set in a magical otherworld defended by martial arts wielding kangaroos
Volcano (1997)
Disaster Movie/Volcano Erupts in L.A.
A disaster movie made early into the CGI era based around the ludicrous notion of an active volcano suddenly appearing in Los Angeles
Under Pressure (1997)
Psycho Next-Door Neighbour Snaps
Modestly effective psycho-thriller with Charlie Sheen in his first psycho role as a fireman who snaps under the pressures of everyday life and threatens his neighbour
Uncle Sam (1997)
Vengeful Undead Army Veteran
Film about an undead military veteran from director William Lustig and a script by the great Larry Cohen that unevenly digs into patriotic sentiment with black regard
The Ugly Duckling (1997)
Animation/Fairy-Tale
Amiable British animated film for young children based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale
The Ugly (1997)
Serial Killer
A New Zealand made serial killer thriller that emulates The Silence of the Lambs but becomes distracted by directorial effect
Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997)
Kitsch Surrealism
Another of Guy Maddin’s surreal kitsch films all delivered in deadpan prose, this boasts more of a name cast than usual for Maddin
Turbulence (1997)
Serial Killer on a Plane
Ridiculous disaster movie where air hostess Lauren Holly must deal with serial killer Ray Liotta while trying to land the plane
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997)
Teen Power-Suit Superheroes
The second of the film spinoffs from tv’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. More inane silliness played with shrieking OTT excess
Trucks (1997)
Vehicles Amok/Stephen King Adaptation
Remake of the same Stephen King short story that formed the basis of Maximum Overdrive about trucks turning against humanity … Why remake a work that was poorly regarded first time around is a good question but this actually emerges as the better version
Trekkies (1997)
Star Trek Fandom Documentary
A mind-boggling and frequently hilarious documentary that charts the eccentricities of Star Trek fandom, profiling the lives of several fans and how the fandom is part of their lives
Too Many Ways To Be No. 1 (1997)
Alternate Timelines/Hong Kong Gangsters
Predating Sliding Doors, this hard-boiled Hong Kong gangster film from Wong Kar-wai did the whole alternate timelines theme first
The Sender (1997)
Alien Visitor/Psychic Powers/Action
Action film with Michael Madsen and a mystery alien woman fighting a government coverup of UFOs to retrieve his abducted daughter
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
James Bond Film
Pierce Brosnan’s second outing as James Bond holds up fairly well, especially in the action department, although Jonathan Pryce seems miscast as a Rupert Murdoch-modeled super-villain
Time Under Fire (1997)
Time Travel/Action
Unimaginative time travel/action film that plays out like
Switchback (1997)
Psycho-Thriller
Directorial debut from the Die Hard scriptwriter Jeb Stuart is a solid thriller but the film was a surprise flop despite bringing together an impressive cast
Steel (1997)
Comic-Book Superhero
Widely ridiculed adaptation of the DC Comics superhero featuring Shaquille O’Neal that slips down to a simplistic level of Saturday morning cartoons inanity
Starship Troopers (1997)
War with Aliens
Travesty of Robert Heinlein’s classic SF novel from Paul Verhoeven. Heinlein’s philosophical argument for militarism is junked in favour of blackly comic mindless violence
Spice World (1997)
The Spice Girls' Gonzo Escapades
The Spice Girls conduct their own version of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night, a largely plotless film with them clowning around. Including appearances from aliens.
Spawn (1997)
Demon Superhero/Comic-Book Adaptation
A very disappointing film adaptation of Todd MacFarlane’s cult comic-book where all of the moody darkness emerges with one-dimensional effect as little more than The Punisher with horns
The Sore Losers (1997)
Gonzo Exploitation Homage/Alien Spree Killers
Film that seems to be trying to cram in as many exploitation elements as possible from UFOs to spree killers, zombies, Women in Prison and rock’n’roll
Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997)
Adult Fairy-Tale
Beautifully made and very adult version of the fairytale, which seems determined to play up the terror aspect of the title, resulting in a work that seems a long way away from Disney
Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1997)
Scandanavian Murder Mystery/SF Twist
Adapted from an acclaimed book, Julia Ormond stars as an Icelandic heroine in a detective story with an SF twist
Skeletons (1997)
Smalltown Secrets
An almost respectable film from David DeCoteau about a journalist uncovering the disappearance of a gay man in a town that eliminates those who do not conform to its wholesome lifestyle
The Sixth Man (1997)
Ghost Aids Basketball Team
Exceedingly lightweight effort about Marlon Wayans’ ghost brother aiding their basketball team, which proves as predictable as one expects
A Simple Wish (1997)
Inept Fairy Godmother
Ghastly children’s film with Martin Short as an inept fairy godmother. Inanity ensues where there seems no ceiling on how over-the-top performances are allowed to go
The Shining (1997)
Haunted Hotel/Cabin Fever/Stephen King Adaptation
Stephen King expressed dissatisfaction with the way Stanley Kubrick handled his novel and here remakes it as a tv mini-series that adheres more closely to the book. While Kubrick’s film is far better, this is not bad where even the perpetually awful Mick Garris subdues his tendency to overdo everything towards some subtlety
A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
Kidnapping & Angelic Intervention Comedy
Danny Boyle eccentricity with Ewan McGregor as an inept kidnapper and Cameron Diaz as his more astute abductee. A head-scratching comedy that also throws gun-toting angels into the mix
The Alien Agenda: Endangered Species (1997)
Alien Takeover Anthology
The second of Kevin J. Kindenmuth’s surprisingly good compilations of video shorts around the loose theme of alien invasion and takeover
The Alien Agenda: Under the Skin (1997)
Alien Takeover Anthology
The third and least satisfying of the otherwise above average compilation films on the theme of alien invasion from Kevin J. Lindenmuth and other directors
The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue (1997)
Animation/Talking Appliances
The first of two Brave Little Toaster sequels, this plays more along the lines of a regular animated film formula but has its charms
DNA (1997)
Genetically-Engineered Monster
Another variant on Alien – a monster movie with Mark Dacascos as a doctor facing a genetically engineered insect monster in the jungles of Borneo
The Devil’s Advocate (1997)
The Devil is a Lawyer
Despite a premise that sounds more like the punchline of a lawyer joke – The Devil (Al Pacino) is a high-price lawyer in New York – this is lushly produced, played seriously and with surprising theological depths
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Writer's Self-Analysis Comedy
A Woody Allen film in which he plays a writer on his way to receive an award. The film drifts in and out of a series of vignettes and stories he has written, including a number of fantastic interludes, with highly amusing effect
Deceiver (1997)
Police Interrogation Psycho-Thriller
A police interrogation film that becomes a psycho-thriller as suspect Tim Roth turns the interrogation back on the detectives. Despite a strong cast, the film eventually strains plausibility
Cure (1997)
Hypnotism Murders
The film that brought Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa to attention. Set around a series of hypnotism murders, this is, as with Kurosawa’s films, cryptic and frequently inexplicable but has an undeniable uncanniness
Cube (1997)
Mysterious Labyrinth
An excellent conceptual SF film, a directorial debut for Vincenzo Natali with six people trapped in a labyrinth of identical rooms some of which contain death traps where they must solve the puzzle to find the way out
Contact (1997)
Communications from Space
Carl Sagan’s novel about SETI is inflated into a big budget film determined to impress even though the story did not need it. Sagan’s interesting debate about religion and science is emasculated so as not to offend any religious groups
Conspiracy Theory (1997)
Flaky Conspiracy Theorist Comedy/Thriller
This should have been a witty film – Mel Gibson as a conspiracy nut who discovers one of his theories is true and is hunted by government agents – but the result is a confused mess that turns into an overblown action vehicle
Conceiving Ada (1997)
Ada Byron Biopic/Ada Recreated in Cyberspace
Rather muddled film that seems to want to be a biopic of Ada Byron but ends up with her (as played by Tilda Swinton) recreated in cyberspace
Club Vampire (1997)
Vampires
Set around a secret society of vampires, this is a strong contender for the worst vampire film ever made. It suffers badly from a directorial approach that is unsure if it is taking things seriously
A Chinese Ghost Story: A Tsui Hark Animation (1997)
Hong Kong Supernatural Fantasy/Animation
A Chinese Ghost Story was a classic in Hong Kong cinema, followed by two sequels and then animated spinoff sold in the West under the name of series producer and cult director Tsui Hark
Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997)
Friendly Ghost
The first of the video-released sequels to the Casper the Friendly Ghost film, this is played down to children and comes with much in the way of slapstick
The Butcher Boy (1997)
Disturbed Irish Childhood
Neil Jordan makes a film about an abusive childhood that actually ends up asking us to cheer on the central character’s emergence as a murderer. Maybe the most cheerfully entertaining film ever made about child abuse.
The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1997)
Animation/Talking Appliances
Third of the Brave Little Toaster films, this takes the talking appliances to Mars and comes with an appealingly zany sense of humour
Epsilon (1997)
Alien Visitor in the Australian Outback
A film from Rolf de Heer, a director who makes highly unusual works and should be better known than he is. In this, an alien woman befriends a man after she appears in the Australian Outback
Bram Stoker’s Shadowbuilder (1997)
Shadow Demon
One of several films that came out after the success of Bram Stoker’s Dracula claiming Stoker’s above their title despite slim or no connection. That said, this is a modestly effective film about a demon that exists in the shadows
Bram Stoker’s Legend of the Mummy (1997)
Revived Mummy
Low-budget and cheap looking adaptation of a lesser-known Bram Stoker novel The Jewel of the Seven Stars. This was clearly made to capitalise on Stoker’s name following the success of Bram Stoker’s Dracula
The Borrowers (1997)
Miniature People Adventures
Amiable adaptation of Mary Norton’s books about a family of miniature people that live in hiding in a human house. Aimed for big scale effects and slapstick set-pieces but sufficiently engaging nevertheless
Black Circle Boys (1997)
Teenage Satanists/True Story
Modest and effective portrait of troubled youth as a teen is drawn into a group who have sworn allegiance to Satan. The film is driven by an intense compelling performance from Eric Mabius as the group’s leader
Batman & Robin (1997)
Comic-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
Batman and Mr Freeze: SubZero (1997)
Comic-Book Superhero/Animation
The second of the animated Batman films, a Mr Freeze story timed to come out at the same time as Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin atrocity. This treats the Mr Freeze story with far more respect than that film
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (1997)
SF Writer-Philosopher Documentary
Documentary about controversial philosopher/SF writer Ayn Rand. Her life is treated in exhaustive detail but the documentary-makers seem too enamoured of their subject matter to find any critical distance
Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery (1997)
Spy Movie Spoof
The first of Mike Myers’ Austin Powers films is at times extremely silly and scatological but does offer a knowing and witty parody of the James Bond films. The result became a cult phenomenon
The Apocalypse (1997)
Spaceship on a Collision Course with Earth
The title is a cheat as this is not about the End of the World, merely a film about a spaceship on a collision course with Earth. Essentially Die Hard aboard a spaceship
Anastasia (1997)
Animation/Amnesiac Russian Royal
Considerable return to form for animator Don Bluth even if the story of the Russian Royals he is telling is based on a hoax and manages to entirely excise any mention of the Communist Revolution
Anaconda (1997)
Giant Snake
A film crew in the Amazon headed by Jennifer Lopez encounter a giant snake. Mounted as a CGI monster movie in the aftermath of Jurassic Park, this has scripting that frequently descends into the ludicrous
An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)
Modern Werewolf
Sequel to An American Werewolf in London, which copies the set-up with a different city but misses all of the sense of humour, even fails to offer anything like the classic transformation effects
American Perfekt (1997)
Road Movie Psycho-Thriller
A surprisingly good road movie psycho-thriller focusing on various people travelling a desert highway where it becomes apparent that one of them is a serial killer
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
Alien Sequel
The fourth of the Alien films. French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet comes on board and delivers a comic-bookish run through of a Joss Whedon script that overspills with too many ideas
The Empty Mirror (1997)
Adolf Hitler Reminisces
A bizarre film that features Adolf Hitler sitting around in the afterlife joined by Sigmund Freud and others as he reflects on his image
Erotic Ghost Story – Perfect Match (1997)
Hong Kong Erotica/Heavenly Bunny Women
Film posing as a sequel in the Hong Kong-made Erotic Ghost Story series, this consists of random sexual encounters and comic interludes without much connecting plot
Last Lives (1997)
Alternate World Criminal/Action
B-budget action film in which C. Thomas Howell is caught up in a chase when an escaped criminal from an alternate timeline abducts his wife.