Category: Horror
-
Insidious: Further down the Poltergeist Road
Insidious – 2010 Directed by James Wan Starring Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Ty Simpkins, Barbara Hershey, Angus Simpson, Andrew Astor Written by Leigh Whannell Even before the credits start to roll, subtle signs creep their way through not so subtle music. Hints are given, locations revealed that are nowhere in the…
-
Red Riding Hood has a woman’s touch, but it ain’t enough
Red Riding Hood – 2011 Directed by Catherine Hardwicke Starring Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Julie Christie, Virginia Madsen, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Lukas Haas Written by David Johnson based on the Brothers Grimm tale Catherine Hardwicke must have high standards. She declined to direct Twilight: New Moon, which then made about a gazillion dollars.…
-
With Perlman, The Season of the Witch seems overcast
Season of the Witch – 2011 Directed by Dominic Sena Starring Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Claire Foy, Stephen Campbell Moore, Robert Sheehan, Ulrich Thomsen, Stephen Graham, Christopher Lee Written by Bragi F. Schut Like any red-blooded American male under 55, I like Ron Perlman a lot. His recent breakthrough with the Hellboy films and the TV…
-
The Rite is a decent passage from a stage actor to a screen presence
The Rite – 2011 Directed by Mikael Håfström Starring Colin O’Donoghue, Anthony Hopkins, Marta Gastini, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Toby Jones, Rutger Hauer, Alice Braga, Ciarán Hinds Written by Matt Baglio, Michael Petroni In the midst of an exorcism of a pregnant 16-year-old Italian girl, Father Lucas, plainly portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, receives a cell phone call. Quickly he asks his protegé,…
-
Drive Angry gives me a few good reasons I shouldn’t shoot it in the face
Drive Angry – 2011 Directed by Patrick Lussier Starring Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner, Katy Mixon, David Morse, Billy Burke, Tom Atkins Written by Lussier and Todd Farmer This film is bad in the most glorious way possible. It is offensive, crude, dumb, overly violent and wholly unbelievable. What else can one expect, though,…
-
Black Swan is not exactly Let’s Dance
Black Swan – 2010 Directed by Darren Aronofsky Starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey Written by Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin “Let’s Dance” – Lyrics by David Bowie “Let’s dance Let’s dance Let’s dance, put on your red shoes and dance the blues Let’s dance, to the song they’re playin’ on the radio…” Well,…
-
If you don’t count the special effects, Let Me In is a classic
Let Me In – 2010 Written and Directed by Matt Reeves Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Elias Kotas, Richard Jenkins Let Me In early on has a scene so unsettling that, left unexplained, would have led me to think of it as a very different movie. A boy, aged 12, sits alone in his room…
-
My Soul To Take moves around a lot but doesn’t go anywhere
My Soul To Take – 2010 Directed and Written by Wes Craven Starring Max Thieriot, Denzel Whitaker, Raul Esparza, Shareeka Epps, John Magaro, Zena Gray, Emily Meade, Jessica Hecht, Harris Yulin Harris Ulin is one of my favorite character actors. The first time I remember seeing him was as the grouchy Judge Stephen Wexler in…
-
Piranha 3D should not be taken seriously. Seriously.
Piranha – 2010 Directed by Alexandre Aja Starring Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Christopher Lloyd, Richard Dreyfus, Jerry O’Connell, Adam Scott, Steven R. McQueen, Jessica Szohr, Eli Roth Screenplay by Really? The best moment in the movie Piranha 3D (or just plain Piranha in 2D) happens early in the movie. Crusty old Richard Dreyfus climbs in…
-
The Night Chronicles: Devil is up a tick from expectations
The Night Chronicles: Devil – 2010 Director – John Erick Dowdle Starring – Chris Messina, Bojana Novakovic, Bokeem Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green, Jenny O’Hara, Geoffery Arend, Jacob Vargas, Matt Craven Screenplay – Brian Nelson Cinematography – Tak Fujimoto The name of M. Night Shyamalan is enough to evoke harmful images these days. Having a string of…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 