King Ralph (1991)
May 7, 2000American Slob Becomes the King of England Comedy
Comedy where the Royal Family is wiped out and vulgar American nightclub singer John Goodman inherits the crown
Joely Richardson
Loch Ness (1996)
Nov 24, 2002Quest for the Loch Ness Monster
Big-budget Loch Ness Monster film with a CGI creature made not long after Jurassic Park this only resorts to simplistic cliches
101 Dalmatians (1996)
Nov 22, 2001Live-Action Disney Remake/Dognapping Villainness
This live-action remake of the classic Disney animated film benefits from Glenn Close chewing scenery in grand style as Cruella De Ville but the latter half essentially degenerates into no more than a series of Home Alone-styled slapstick violence scenes
Event Horizon (1997)
Jun 29, 2008Haunted Spaceship
Paul W.S. Anderson puts together a well-produced and atmospheric copy of Alien, However, this also comes with a premise - spaceship returns after travelling through Hell - that is nonsensical
The Last Mimzy (2007)
Dec 27, 2007Toys from the Future
Adaptation of a classic SF short story about children's toys from the future that give them expanded mental powers. Much of the story has been dropped in favour of banal, New Age thinking
The Day of the Triffids (2009)
Jun 19, 2010The Downfall of Civilisation/Lethal Plants Amok
Disappointing tv mini-series remake of the John Wyndham novel about England overrun by killer plants. This abandons most of the book's sociological portrait for cliche melodramatics
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Dec 20, 2011Serial Killer Thriller
David Fincher's English-language remake of the Swedish film is capably made but a lesser shadow of something that worked perfectly the first time. In particular, Rooney Mara is no substitute for Noomi Rapace
Red Lights (2012)
Jul 9, 2012Psychic Debunkers
Strong, well-written film from Buried director Rodrigo Cortes about investigators of psychic frauds encountering a possibly real example. This takes a welcomely sceptical, rationalist perspective, has a great cast and fine build-up but alas falls apart in a lame twist ending
Vampire Academy (2014)
Feb 8, 2014School for Vampires
One has zero enthusiasm for this, which has been sold as Twilight meets Harry Potter. Defying expectation, it is written with a sarcastic amusement puncturing its own seriousness and has a great performance from its leading lady, if in the end it is too weighted down by story exposition needed to set up its sequels to ever open up dramatically
Maggie (2015)
Jun 8, 2015Zombie Film
If the phrase ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger zombie film' is not capable of getting you excited, then you're visiting the wrong site. This is surprisingly good, the complete opposite of anything we expect of either a Schwarzenegger or zombie film, where he can even be said to be giving a serious performance for once
Fallen (2016)
Apr 28, 2017Young Adult/Angel-Mortal Romance
Adaption of a Young Adult series of books – this is essentially Twilight but with angels instead of vampires. Another YA effort where we never saw successive chapters due to its box-office flop
Color Out of Space (2019)
Jan 24, 2020H.P. Lovecraft Adaptation/Mutations from Space
Richard Stanley made one of the most exciting directorial debuts with Hardware. Welcomely returning after a long absence, he is one of the few directors to mainline the essence of H.P. Lovecraft's cosmic horrors
The Turning (2020)
Apr 19, 2020Ghost Story
Henry James' The Turn of the Screw is considered one of the greatest of all ghost stories. This new film version has been placed in the hands of Floria Sigismondi, considered one of top contemporary music video directors. What could possibly go wrong?
Little Bone Lodge (2023)
Mar 25, 2024Home Invasion/House of Secrets
A thriller in which two brothers fleeing police take refuge at a farmhouse where it becomes increasingly apparent that there are dark secrets