The horror in THE BLACK PHONE, and very effective horror it is, comes not primarily from the serial child killer on the loose in a suburban enclave of Denver in 1978. Played with a geeky, creepy panache by Ethan Hawke, The Grabber, as he is dubbed by the police and the populace of this all-American… Read More »
DOCTOR STRANGE
DOCTOR STRANGE you ask? Let me sum up the latest cinematic offering from Marvel Comics in one word: spectacular. From a whiz-bang opening sequence where space folds in on itself as combatants hurl magical fire at on another, to the charismatic, ahem, marvel that is Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, this action film is… Read More »
SINISTER
SINISTER has the all too rare virtue of being a horror film with a fine gloss of originality and genuine surprise to it. Rather than going for the usual assortment of jump-and-scare tactics, it broods atmospherically on the evil that humankind is capable of, and not necessarily the gruesome acts of violence on which the… Read More »
THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE
THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE is overwhelmed with such an overweening sense of earnestness that one feels almost sinful for not being swept along with what its makers obviously consider a tale of great importance. The greater sin, though, is in taking a tale of exorcism, faith, and the law and not making it more… Read More »
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (2008)
There are many reasons for the temptation to remake a classic. There is the one about updating the theme to make it relevant to current events. There is the one about being able to do thematically or visually what one couldn’t have done in a previous era. There is the one about taking a known… Read More »