Dexter: The Seventh Season

There's no way to discuss the seventh and penultimate season of Showtime's hit Dexter without acknowledging how the previous year ended. Therefore, if you haven't finished the sixth season, stop reading now. You've got work to do.

05/21/2013 | Comments 0

Nightfall

As Simon Lam gets older, he gets better. The veteran actor has appeared in such in seminal HK action films of the 1990s as Once Upon a Time in China (opposite Jet Li) and Bullet in the Head (directed by John Woo); in the aughts, he graced audience and critical favorites Election and Ip Man.

05/20/2013 | Comments 0

Grand Duel

Lee Van Cleef enjoyed a secondary career in Italy cranking out spaghetti Westerns, with little regard to quality. However, 1972’s Grand Duel — aka The Big Showdown — is deserving of its Grand label. No wonder Quentin Tarantino borrowed its sweeping theme song by Luis Bacalov for Kill Bill; you'll recognize it in two notes.

05/20/2013 | Comments 0

The Last Stand

Early in The Last Stand, the small-town sheriff played by Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "It's my day off. Should be a quiet weekend." That's the new way of saying, "I've got one week to retirement," because it signals — with flashing neon and everything — that life is going to royally upend those plans.

05/17/2013 | Comments 0

Texas Chainsaw

One of the most inconsistent franchises in movie history is the one beget by Tobe Hooper's 1974 classic, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. How does one follow all those less-than-beloved sequels? Lionsgate's latest in the series — the seventh — has a solution: Ignore 'em.

05/17/2013 | Comments 0

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Horror

The Frankenstein Theory

The modern prometheus gets a modern movie update.

Horror
Rod Lott
The Frankenstein Theory is like no other Frankenstein film you've seen: rendered in found footage.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Sinister

Ethan Hawke finds something 'Sinister' in his new home, and it makes for ideal Halloween-season viewing.

Horror
Rod Lott
Although horror movies rarely scare me, I love them. The most I can hope for is to be creeped out sufficiently, and Sinister satisfies that bill.

Friday, October 12, 2012

The Human Centipede II

‘The Human Centipede II’ madman’s got legs, and he knows how to use them. You’ve been warned.

Horror
Rod Lott
Anyone who can recall our review last year of “The Human Centipede (First Sequence)” may remember an observation that the film’s events weren’t as graphic as everyone expected — that they could’ve been much worse.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’ reminds one of the superior scary movie.

Horror
Rod Lott

In general, I prefer the films of Guillermo del Toro that he doesn’t direct (“The Orphanage,” “Splice”) to the ones he does (particularly “Hellboy” and its sequel). That pretty much holds true for “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” which he only co-wrote and co-produced, ceding the director’s chair to newcomer Troy Nixey.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark

Don’t pass up the original.

Horror
Rod Lott
In general, I prefer the films of Guillermo del Toro that he doesn’t direct (“The Orphanage,” “Splice”) to the ones he does (particularly “Hellboy” and its sequel). That holds true for “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” which he only co-wrote and co-produced, ceding the director’s chair to newcomer Troy Nixey.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Final Destination 5

‘Final Destination 5’ has plenty of blood and nearly no brains. But as long as you know that …

Horror
Rod Lott
Last summer, the fourth “Final Destination” movie swapped a numeral for a definitive article, because producers figured the franchise had run its course. Then “The Final Destination” made $181 million worldwide, so this summer, we have another chapter, and the numbering system has been reinstated.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Scream 4

From a 'Scream' to a whisper

Horror
Rod Lott
To place "Scream 4" within its franchise, let's talk superlatives: It's the bloodiest, the shortest and the least satisfying.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Insidious

Some of the most effective scares I’ve ever seen on the big screen

Horror
Rod Lott
Having moved homes last month, I know the inherent horrors of settling in to a new residence. A gas leak forced us to go without heat and hot water for 10 days; once that was fixed, our sprinkler system would not shut off for three.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011