Let’s not mince words here: Sinister scared the fucking shit out of me, and that is not an accolade I hand out lightly. It’s rare to stumble upon a truly scary movie in this day and age; the horror genre has grown stale of late, with filmmakers constantly wasting our time with predictable jump scares…
For some, Christmas is a time to enjoy the company of friends and family. For others, it’s a time to kill in the most inhumane manner possible. Silent Night, the remake of eighties slasher flick “Silent Night, Deadly Night” recounts the instance when a sociopath, dressed as Santa Claus no less, brings his brand of…
Something is very wrong with Emily, the lead protagonist/antagonist in Steven Soderbergh’s new thriller Side Effects. What it is, we’re not quite sure of yet, but it has something to do with an experimental drug, a convicted husband, sneaky corporate execs and murder. Tying these facets together is a screenplay by Scott Burns and an…
How can you improve upon a horror classic like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?” By making it in 3D, of course! The movie is Texas Chainsaw 3D and it continues the rampage of the infamous Sawyer family. Thought to have been killed off, they’ve actually found refuge in the cellar of an old Victorian mansion —…
Not to be outdone by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s trailer for “The Last Stand,” Warner Bros. has released the first theatrical trailer for Sylvester Stallone’s Bullet to the Head. Based on a French graphic novel, it marries a hitman (Stallone) and a cop (Sung Kang) both of whom are out for revenge on the one who killed…
A few years ago, while reviewing Turkish film director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s 2006 great film, “Climates,” I wrote: [quote]“Climates” is a masterpiece, but it is more than that. It is also possibly an augur to even better things cinematically. It is not an overstatement to declare that Ceylan may be the best living filmmaker today….
In the opening shot of Richard Linklater’s Bernie, our eponymous protagonist (played by the infectious Jack Black), who is an assistant funeral director and mortician, warns that, “You can’t have grief tragically becoming a comedy.” Ironically, this dramedy based on a 1996 murder that shook the small town of Carthage, Texas does just that. Written…
