Ghost Month (2007)
Haunting
Low-budgeted independent US film that sets a ghost story around Chinese rituals. You can admire the serious ambition but the film only provides scares that are utterly tame
Films of 2007
Ghost Rider (2007)
Comic-Book Avenger/Demonic Superhero
Film adaptation of Marvel Comics’ demon superhero emerges as better than it had the right to be. The risibility of the image of a motorcycle-riding demon hero is made to work through some vivid and way-out effects
The Golden Compass (2007)
Epic Fantasy Adventure
The attempt to create another Lord of the Rings went astray with this adaptation of Philip Pulllman’s fantasy series, which cut many of the core elements of the books so as not to offend religious conservatives
Halloween (2007)
Slasher Film
Another inferior entry in the mid-00s fad remake of 70s/80s horror films. Whereas John Carpenter gave us Michael Myers as evil incarnate, Rob Zombie gives us Michael Myers as a misunderstood and unloved kid
Hannibal Rising (2007)
Hannibal Lecter Origin Story
Building on the successes of the Hannibal Lecter films, this is a prequel that goes back sets out to tell an origin story of how the young teenage Hannibal came to be who he was during World War II
Hansel and Gretel (2007)
South Korean Horror/Sinister House in the Forest
Confusingly, despite the title, this is not an adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairytale but a cryptic and often baffling South Korean horror film about people trapped by children at a sinister house in the forest
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Young Wizard
The fifth and in my opinion the best of the Harry Potter films. It is the first film where we see the darkening of emotions and the children growing up as storm clouds gather. Much of the show is stolen by Imelda Staunton
Have Mercy On Us All (2007)
Modern Day Bubonic Plague Killer
French thriller about police investigating a killer who is infecting victims with the bubonic plague and leaving Mediaeval clues, all part of an elaborate revenge scheme
Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron (2007)
Demon Superhero/Animation
The second of two animated Hellboy spinoffs, this renders what might have been impressive superheroics had they been conducted in live-action down at the level of children’s animation
Hellphone (2007)
Demonic Cellphone
A French film about a teenager who buys a demonic cellphone and is able to use it to enact comeuppances against the people in his life. A 976-Evil for the cellular era
Zodiac (2007)
True Life Serial Killer
David Fincher’s gripping investigation into the unsolved true-life Zodiac Killer case. Fincher’s stagings are exacting and the mystery he builds intensely absorbing