My life at the movies.
Directed by David Hackl. Starring Scott Patterson, Costas Mandylor, Tobin Bell, and Betsy Russell.
Picking up where part four ends, Scott Patterson returns as an FBI agent pursuing Jigsaw’s mystery accomplice. Spoilers follow. Continue reading...
Directed by Ulli Lommel. Starring Jack Palance, Tom Sullivan, and Suzanna Love.
I watched this before listening to the debut episode of Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary’s Video Archives podcast. The synopsis: A rock band is on the brink of superstardom, and all that stands in the way is a lost bag of cocaine worth two million dollars. Continue reading...
Directed by Neil LaBute. Starring Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy, Stacy Edwards, and Michael Martin.
Neil LaBute’s feature debut. A biting, subversive satire following executives Chad and Howard over a six-week business trip. Both abandoned by their significant others in the recent past, they hatch a plan to date and dump a deaf woman named Christine as a surrogate revenge. Continue reading...
Directed by Frank Henenlotter. Starring Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly Bonner, and Robert Vogel.
Frank Henenlotter’s debut. In New York City, Duane carries his mutant conjoined twin Belial around in a wicker basket as the pair hunt down the doctors who separated them. Continue reading...
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. Starring Tobin Bell, Scott Patterson, Louis Ferreira, and Costas Mandylor.
Jigsaw lies dead, but the games continue as the world’s most inept police detectives once again match wits with the criminal mastermind. Continue reading...
Directed by Mark Herrier and Alan Ormsby. Starring Jill Schoelen, Tom Villard, Dee Wallace, and Derek Rydall.
A group of film students stages a schlock monster movie marathon, only to fall victim to an unknown assailant capable of posing as anyone. Minor spoilers follow. Continue reading...
Directed by Robert Eggers. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, and Julian Richings.
In 17th century New England, a Puritan family exiled from their plantation for being too pious establishes a small farm outside a looming forest. Tragedies beset them. As the stress mounts, they turn against one another, unaware of the horror lurking in the nearby woods. Continue reading...
Directed by Adam Wingard. Starring Dan Stevens, Sheila Kelley, Maika Monroe, and Joel David Moore.
In a rural southern town, a family struggles with the grief of losing their oldest son, Caleb, in the war in Afghanistan. A man named David shows up on their doorstep. A fellow soldier just discharged, David’s fulfilling a deathbed promise to check in on Caleb’s family. Charming, polite, and quick to help, David wins the family over and they invite him to stay as long as he wants. But David harbors secrets the family discovers too late. Spoilers follow. Continue reading...
Directed by Larry Cohen. Starring Yaphet Kotto, Andrew Duggan, Joyce Van Patten, and Jeannie Berlin.
Larry Cohen’s directorial debut. A dark satire masquerading as a home invasion thriller. The film opens on a middle-aged Beverly Hills couple. He’s skimming leaves out of the pool, complaining about the help’s work ethic. She’s sunbathing. The sudden appearance of a large black man disrupts their routine. At first, they believe him an exterminator, but the couple soon finds themselves his prisoners. Continue reading...
Directed by Massimo Dallamano. Starring Fabio Testi, Karin Baal, Cristina Galbó, and Joachim Fuchsberger.
Elizabeth, a high-school student aboard a rowboat on a tryst with her professor, Enrico, glimpses a murder. Dismissing it as nerves, Enrico ends the outing and takes her home. But the next morning, while dressing with his wife, Enrico hears a news report on the crime. Soon the bodies pile up as Elizabeth, plagued by nightmares, struggles to recall more details of the killer’s identity. Continue reading...
