Alien: Resurrection (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet): more a lame rehash than a revival
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, “Alien: Resurrection” (1997) The idea behind this movie was to give new life to the Alien movie franchise but despite some interesting ideas about…
nausika
American Psycho (dir. Mary Harron): compelling satire on Wall Street society
Mary Harron, “American Psycho” (2000) Based on the Brett Easton Ellis novel of the same name, “American Psycho” is a satirical survey of the people working at…
4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days: intelligent look at friendships under strain in a brutal mercenary society
Crisitan Mungiu, “4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days” (2007) A bleak and often heartbreaking offering from young Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, this movie about a…
Andrei Rublev: multi-layered film about art, faith and taking creative risks
Andrei Tarkovsky, “Andrei Rublev” (1966) Loosely based on the life of the eponymous 15th century Russian icon painter, “Andrei Rublev” examines the relationship of an artist…
Alien 3 (dir. David Fincher): potentially interesting psych horror / slasher flick in space is a mess
David Fincher, “Alien 3” (1992) At least in this third episode in the Alien series, people finally figured out a new original way of killing the…
Hitchcock gives plenty of “Rope” in excellent interior murder mystery
Alfred Hitchcock, “Rope” (1948) Adapted from a play by Patrick Hamilton and based on an actual murder case in which two young men strangled a teenage…
Nang Nak: ghost horror story of a love that transcends death and passage of time
A very moving and emotional story of a love that endures beyond death and time. A farmer fights in a war and leaves his pregnant wife at home. After a long recuperation from wounds and injuries, he returns to find his wife and newborn happy and safe ... not knowing that they are actually ghosts. The village endeavours to tell him the truth but his wife's ghost becomes angry and brings terror and death to the villagers.
Psycho (dir. Alfred Hitchcock): good psych horror thriller about predestination / free will and men’s oppression of women
Alfred Hitchcock, “Psycho” (1960) This movie is a good psychological horror thriller with excellent performances from its two leads Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates and Janet Leigh as…
Aliens (dir. James Cameron): overstretched plot meets redeemed heroine in Vietnam War fable
James Cameron, “Aliens” (1986) Sequel to Ridley Scott’s “Alien”, this is a very different movie: “Alien” is basically a haunted-house horror story with ordinary civilian worker…
The Host (dir. Bong Joonho): political and social commentary combine with strong characters in monster flick
Bong Joonho, “The Host” (2006) Often billed as a horror film, “The Host” actually has as much comedy, drama and suspense thriller as it has horror.…