Zoom: Academy for Superheroes (2006)
School for Superheroes
Family-friendly superhero film that places more focus on slapstick than superheroics and contains an embarrassing return to the screen for Chevy Chase
Films of 2006
Zinda (2006)
Imprisonment and Revenge
A blatant Bollywood copy of Oldboy, often scene-for-scene
Yeti: A Love Story (2006)
Gay Yeti/Troma Film
Troma film about a group of trampers attacked by a Yeti only for one of the group to discover gay love with the Yeti
The Year Without a Santa Claus (2006)
Christmas Film
Dull live-action tv remake of the Rankin-Bass stop-motion animated Christmas special
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Comic-Book Superheroes
Brett Ratner inherits the X-Men franchise from Bryan Singer for the third film in the series and promptly killed it off (after this point everything became prequels featuring Young X-Men). Ratner’s handling of the superheroic action lacks Singer’s exhilaration or any affinity for the characters
Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)
Afterlife for Suicides
Oddball film set in an afterlife for suicides. You keep expecting the film to burst out into a vein of rich black comedy that never comes and you are left with a film that feels as though it is being eccentric for the sake of it.
The Wind in the Willows (2006)
Talking Animals/Absurdist Adventures
Amiable live-action adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s work made for the BBC with an all-star cast
Wilderness (2006)
Human Hunting/Bare Hands Survivalism
Tough brutal British film where a group of youth offenders are hunted while on a wilderness survival course on an island
The Wild (2006)
Animation/Talking Zoo Animals
Likeable animated film about a group of zoo animals making an escape that ended up being overshadowed by the similar, more high-profile Madagascar
The Wicker Man (2006)
Pagan Religion
The 1973 version of The Wicker Man is a cult classic; this is one of the worst remakes of all time that gets nothing about the original right, blunts its themes about religion and tosses in crude shocks and killings
Wicked Little Things (2006)
Zombie Children
Despite being pitched as a zombie film, this is more of a ghost story featuring undead children who were killed in a mine disaster. Director J.S. Cardone does well with the horror elements
When a Stranger Calls (2006)
Babysitter Stalked
Passable remake of the 1979 slasher film that streamlines the original and sets it all in amazing designer dream home
When a Killer Calls (2006)
The Asylum Mockbuster/Slasher Film
One of The Asylum’s first mockbusters, designed to popularise on the remake of When a Stranger Calls
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006)
Teenage Girl Martial Arts Warrior
Disney Channel film where a modern teenager finds she is the reincarnation of a martial arts warrior
WarGames: The Dead Code (2006)
Teen Hacker Thriller/Amok A.I.
WarGames was a thriller that was way ahead of its time; this sequel is no more than video fodder exploiting recognition factor that reduces the original to hacker movie cliches in a technically ill-informed and incoherent plot
Volver (2006)
Drama/Mother's Ghost
Pedro Almodovar film in which two daughters try to deal with their mother’s seeming return from the dead
The Visitation (2006)
Christian Film/Ambiguous Miracle-Healing Stranger
The novelty of the first Christian horror film. As opposed to much of the message-heavy tripe that usually gets peddled in this niche market, this is actually well structured with a number of interesting ambiguities and engaging as a story for the better part
Vampire Diary (2006)
Lesbian Vampire/Found Footage Film
Not to be confused with tv’s i>The Vampire Diaries, this is a British film that sets out to reconstruct the lesbian vampire film within the frame of modern LGBT relationships. It is also Found Footage, an early and rather amateurish variant, but not without some effect
V for Vendetta (2006)
Graphic Novel Adaptation/Totalitarian Future England
Adaptation of the Alan Moore graphic novel with a script from The Wachowskis. Moore’s repudiation aside, this is a fine and literate work that retells the story of an anarchist trickster and potently politicises it for the era of the George W. Bush.
Underworld: Evolution (2006)
Vampire-Werewolf War
The second of the Underworld films where Len Wiseman gets a bigger budget and amplifies the CGI and action sequences,. On the other hand, the characters and story are so stripped to a minimum you lose track of why things are happening
Ultraviolet (2006)
Dystopian Future Action/Vampire Mutations
Milla Jovovich is a part of a vampire rebel underground in a dystopian future. A film filled with incredible design schemes and action scenes that are as spectacular as they are ridiculously improbable
Ultimate Avengers II (2006)
Marvel Comics Superhero Team/Animation
Follow-up to the previous animated Marvel Comics film featuring The Avengers, this serves to introduce Black Panther to the screen for the first time
Ultimate Avengers (2006)
Marvel Comics Superhero Team/Animation
The first of several animated films based on Marvel Comics properties, this does a solid job in adapting Mark Millar’s The Ultimates, a retelling of The Avengers origin story
U (2006)
Animation/Talking Animal Frolics
A likeable and colourful French animated film
Turistas (2006)
Organ Harvesting of Tourists
A blatant copy of Hostel about tourists in Brazil being abducted into an organ harvesting scheme. Director John Stockwell seems distracted by filming diving scenes
Troubled Waters (2006)
Abduction Thriller/Psychic Detective
Thriller starring Jennifer Beals as an FBI agent who receives clairvoyant visions during the hunt for an abducted girl
Tristan + Isolde (2006)
Historical Romance
Adaptation of the legendary historical romance was considered a box-office flop but emerges as a better film than one expected it would
The Tiger’s Tail (2006)
Doppelganger Film
John Boorman makes a film where Brendan Gleeson has his life taken over by a doppelganger
Thr3e (2006)
Christian Serial Killer Thriller
Quite evidently modelled on Se7en even to the lookalike title, this is the novelty of a Christian serial killer thriller. The results are quite strange to say the least
The Thief Lord (2006)
Orphan Thieves Fantasy
Children’s film made with care and attention, written and produced to an adult level, far superior to 95% of the US studio efforts
Them (2006)
Mysterious Home Assault
French horror film that generates a reasonable level of tension as a couple are attacked in their home by mysterious strangers
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
Backwoods Brutality
Prequel to the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, which sets out to tell the origin story of the cannibal family. New director Jonathan Liebesman pushes the gore and sadism to Torture Porn extremes
Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006)
Rockstars' Gonzo Quest
Film spinoff of the rock parody act headed by Jack Black. This emerges like i>The Blues Brothers recast with Cheech and Chong and delivers some occasionally surreal and amusing gags
Tekkonkinkreet (2006)
Anime/The Lives of Street Kids
Anime about two homeless boys living in an inner city neighbourhood. The background artwork has a stunning degree of detail such that the city almost becomes its own character
Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo (2006)
Animation/Comic-Book Superhero Team
The first film featuring DC Comics; Teen Titans, a spinoff from the Teen Titans animated series
Taxidermia (2006)
Tales of Gross-Out Surrealism
György Pálfi directs an anthology mad up of three stories where the emphasis is on dark, gross-out humour
Tales from Earthsea (2006)
Anime/Epic Fantasy
Hayao Miyazaki’s son Goro more than capably takes up his father’s mantle in a anime beautiful adaptation of one of Ursula K. Le Guin’s later Earthsea books
Sweeney Todd (2006)
Murderous Barber
Released before the Tim Burton version, this is a British tv production that offers a grimly realistic, non-musical historical portrait of Sweeney Todd with Ray Winstone in the title role
Superman Returns (2006)
Comic-Book Superhero
This has a bad reputation but Bryan Singer does a wonderful job in bringing Superman back to the screen in a version surprisingly reliant on the Christopher Reeve films. The superheroics soar and Kevin Spacey makes for the best screen Lex Luthor ever
Superman: Brainiac Attacks (2006)
Comic-Book Superhero/Animation
Spinoff of the 1990s animated Superman tv series, made as tie in for Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns Some good action, negligible use of the characters unlike the DC Universe Animated Original Movies that began the following year, at best a routine episode of the tv series
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006)
Comic-Book Superhero
The original version of Superman II became mired in problems over the firing of director Richard Donner. After the rediscovery of the original footage, Donner was able to go offer up a restored version. Seeing the storylines the way they were meant to be and Marlon Brando’s original scenes as Jor-el make for a work that is superior in every way
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Man Discovers He is a Fictional Character
Quite reasonable meta-fiction where a surprisingly subdued Will Ferrell discovers he is a character in a novel and tries to rebel against his fate
The Stranger Game (2006)
Psycho Nanny
Routine psycho-thriller where Mimi Rogers’ home is invaded by psycho babysitter David Orth
Stormbreaker (2006)
Teenage Spy
Film adaptation of a popular series of Young Adult books about a teenage spy. Made not long after the Austin Powers films, this seems unable to decide if it is being serious or a parody
Still Small Voices (2006)
Ghostly 911 Calls
TV movie in which Catherine Bell is a 911 operator who receives calls from a ghostly child
Stay Alive (2006)
Countess Bathory Inside a Computer Game
This comes with the completely nonsensical premise of Countess Bathory having been reincarnated inside a videogame. Needless to say it is one that the film does nothing to make credible or even indicate it has read anything about the historical Countess Bathory
Spymate (2006)
Spy and Chimpanzee Companion
Perhaps the lamest spy movie idea EVER – a children’s film about a spy who goes into action accompanied by a chimpanzee
Special (2006)
Man Believes He is a Superhero
Before the likes of Defendor, Kick-Ass and Super, there was this, one of the best comedies about superheroes with no powers. The film loves screwing with its audience and comes with a series of mind-bending flips between drug hallucination and subjective view of the superpowers in action
Southland Tales (2006)
Near-Future L.A.
Richard Kelly of Donnie Darko fame makes a work set in a near-future L.A., a sprawling film bursting at the edges with too many characters and subplots but not uninteresting
Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror (2006)
Ghetto Horror Anthology
Rapper Snoog Dogg fails badly at branding himself as a horror anthology host, while the stories prove nothing to write home about either
Snakes on a Train (2006)
Snake Vomiting Curse/Snakes Amok
The first of The Asylum’s mockbusters intended as a soundalike copy of Snakes on a Plane, this ends up defeated by low-budget and one of the most absurd premises of any film in recent memory
Snakes on a Plane (2006)
Snakes Amok
Purportedly this was dreamed up by scriptwriters over drinks trying to think of the most ridiculous pitch they could make. The result was advertised as a deliberately bad movie and became a modest hit
Slither (2006)
Alien Mutation and Zombies
James Gunn directs a film about body-snatching alien slugs that proves enormous fun and comes packed to the edges with numerous genre references and homages
Slaughtered Vomit Dolls (2006)
Sadism and Torture
A hardcore and irredeemably nasty film, this has the aesthetic of a snuff movie and features lots of scenes of victims tortured and vomiting
Skinwalkers (2006)
Werewolves
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
666: The Child (2006)
The Asylum Mockbuster/Devil Child
An early mockbuster from The Asylum that came out the same day as The Omen remake, this conducts a blatant copy of The Omen on a low-budget
Sisters (2006)
Siamese Twins Psycho-Thriller
Disappointing remake of Brian De Palma’s 1973 Siamese twins psycho-thriller that changes many elements and crucially lacks De Palma’s stylistic showmanship
Sinking of Japan (2006)
Japanese Disaster Movie
Big-budget modern Japanese remake of a 1970s disaster movie in which Japan starts to catastrophically sink into the ocean. Despite revisiting the original with CGI spectacle, this is a film in which hardly anything interesting happens
Silk (2006)
Taiwanese Ghost Story
Fascinating and original Taiwanese film about scientists investigating a haunted house and employing various methods to trap the ghosts
Silent Hill (2006)
Videogame Adaptation/Sinister Otherworldly Town
One of the best of all filmed videogame adaptations. Christophe Gans creates a creepy and unworldly atmosphere, along with a series of genuinely outlandish creature effects
Shortbus (2006)
Modern Sexuality
A second film from John Cameron Mitchell of Hedwig and the Angry Inch fame where Mitchell sets out to chart different flavours of sexuality in the 00s and does so with sometimes funny, othertimes outrageous effect. Included here for a heroine whose orgasm has the ability to cause power fluctuations
Sheitan (2006)
French Backwoods Brutality
French Backwoods Brutality film heads in some admirably weird and gross directions but falls apart at the end
The Shaggy Dog (2006)
Man Transforms Into a Dog Comedy
The remake of the old Disney comedy becomes a vehicle for Tim Allen, played with a manic slapstickery wherein Allen demonstrates there are few levels of silliness he will travel to in imitating dog-like behaviours
Severance (2006)
Backwoods Brutality Comedy
Rather funny British-made parody on Backwoods Brutality cliches where a work group of a team-building exercise ending up hunted by East European locals
Seven Mummies (2006)
Western Ghost Town
Horror film where escaped convicts wander into a Western ghost town where a gold treasure is guarded by mummies
See No Evil: The Moors Murders (2006)
True Life Serial Killers
True Crime mini-series based on the infamous Moors Murders of the 1960s and one that seems determined to conduct the least interesting account of the murders possible
See No Evil (2006)
Slasher 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
Scoop (2006)
Journalistic Tips from the Afterlife
One of the more forgettable Woody Allen comedies with Scarlett Johansson as a journalism student who gets tips from the afterlife
The Science of Sleep (2006)
Dreams and Wacky Surrealism
A Michel Gondry film that blurs the line between dream and reality with hilariously offbeat regard. Gondry indulges his eccentricities to the maximum with quite sublime results
Scary Movie 4 (2006)
Genre Spoof
Fourth of the Scary Movie films and the usual crude inanity, although under David Zucker the movie parodies have expanded well beyond what can be labelled scary movies any longer
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Animation/Philip K. Dick Adaptation/Identity Bending Drugs
Richard Linklater conducts an animated adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel with extremely faithful results. Keanu Reeves is a police officer assigned to investigate what he realises is himself
Saw III (2006)
Killer's Sadistic Games
Third of the Saw films and the point where director Darren Lynn Bousman places the series’ focus on grim gore-drenched sadism and torture
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006)
Santa vs Jack Frost
Third of the Santa Clause films starring Tim Allen as Santa where his reality is upended by the evil Jack Frost
Santa Baby (2006)
Santa's Daughter
TV movie where Jenny McCarthy plays Santa’s daughter who takes over the family business
Rohtenburg (2006)
True-Life German Cannibal
Film based on true-life German cannibal Armin Meiwes who met a man online and by mutual agreement killed and ate his body
Ring Around the Rosie (2006)
Haunting/Reality Bender
This starts out as a seeming ghost story without creating much tension then features Tom Sizemore going psycho, before arriving at one of the most confusing of all attempts to conduct an M. Night Shyamalan twist ending
Right At Your Door (2006)
Dirty 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
The Return (2006)
Haunting
Ghost story in which Sarah Michelle Gellar receives a series of mysterious visions as she travels across Texas
Retribution (2006)
Japanese Ghost Story
Kiyoshi Kurosawa attempts to give the J-horrors of Ring and The Grudge a run for their money and creates an intensely haunted film. As with much of Kurosawa’s films, this also comes with a deeply unfathomable plot
Requiem (2006)
Possible Demonic Possession/True Story
This should be mandatory viewing after watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose. While that film rewrote the tragedy of Anneliese Michel as a film about possession, this German-made production sets things straight and tells a story about a girl with mental health issues
Renaissance (2006)
Animation/Futuristic Film Noir
Dazzling French animated Cyberpunk film shot in the performance capture animated process and then rendered in striking two-tone black-and-white
Re-Cycle (2006)
Fantastical Dream World of Discarded Ideas
A film from the Pang Brothers in which a heroine enters into an extraordinarily conceived fantasy world that would appear to be taking place in her own imagination
Random Quest (2006)
Alternate Timeline/John Wyndham Adaptation
BBC tv play adaptation of a short story by John Wyndham that also furnished the earlier film Quest for Love about a man finding himself in an alternate world. Despite this version being more faithful to Wyndham, the earlier film makes the central relationship work better
Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders (2006)
True Crime
A True Crime film based on the Hillside Stranglers case, or at least the arrest of one of the killers. From a director who makes True Crime films but throws out the facts and makes up his own story about what happened
The Quick and the Undead (2006)
Post-Holocaust Zombie Hunter
Exactly as the title suggests, a mash-up between the zombie film and a Western (albeit relocated to a post-apocalyptic future) – and one that plays itself surprisingly seriously
Pulse (2006)
Soul-Sucking Creatures from the Internet
As part of the mid-00s fad for English-language remakes of Japanese horror films, Kiyoshi Kuroawa’s unfathomable but undeniably creepy internet horror is reworked as a standard teen film
Princess (2006)
Animation/Anti-Porn Vigilante
Animated film from Denmark about a man who goes on an ultra-violent crusade against the porn industry over the loss of innocence of his young niece
The Prestige (2006)
Rival Victorian Stage Magicians
Christopher Nolan directs a beautiful period piece with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as rival Victorian stage magicians. The film is an elegantly crafted Hall of Mirrors and illusions, capped by sterling performances from all involved
A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Backstage at a Radio Variety Show
The final film from the great Robert Altman set backstage at a radio variety show as an angel of death wanders through
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006)
Zombie Chicken Mutations/Troma Film
Troma film that has maybe the silliest movie title ever. This sets out to be so persistently moronic and wilfully offensive that it eventually attains a delirious absurdity
Population / 436 (2006)
Sinister Small Town
Film about a sinister small town where the population must always be kept at the title figure. An interestingly strange scenario suffers from far too laidback direction
The Plague (2006)
Zombified Children
Interestingly different film about zombified children set after a time when childbirth has died out. This generates a reasonable level of tension but arrives at a very confusing end
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Pirate Fantasy Swashbuckler
The second of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Johnny Depp and all the principals are back and much of the eccentric humour is present but the action has undergone budget bloat
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
Killer with a Hyper-Acute Sense of Smell
An extraordinary Tom Tykwer film starring Ben Whishaw as an 18th Century man who has a hyper-acute sense of smell
Perfect Creature (2006)
Alternate World of Vampires
Conceptually ambitious New Zealand made film set in an alternate history where vampires live alongside humans
Penelope (2006)
Modern Fairytale/Girl Cursed with a Pig-Like Face
This has the feel of a fairytale where Christina Ricci plays a girl who suffers from a hereditary curse that has left her with a pig-like snout
Paprika (2006)
Anime/Dream Therapy Device
A venture inside the dreamscape from anime director Satoshi Kon who creates a beautifully animated work even if some of the ideas become excessively convoluted
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Girl Discovers Magical Realm
Critically acclaimed Guillermo Del Toro film set during the Spanish Civil War where a young girl finds the entrance to a dark realm. This plays like a very dark version of the Narnia films
Over the Hedge (2006)
Animation/Talking Animals
Likeable DreamWorks animated film filled with much slapstick energy about a group of talking animals that venture into a housing estate in search of food
Out of the Blue (2006)
True Life New Zealand Killing Spree
Film based on a true-life shooting spree in the tiny nowhere New Zealand town of Aramoana