European Movie Reviews »
Secret Agents (2004) Movie Review
The French don’t generally do a lot of straight action movies, or if they do, you don’t hear a lot about them. “Crimson Rivers” (which starred “Secret Agents’” Vincent Cassel) was a stab at...
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Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) Movie Review
“Dead Man’s Shoes” has been playing at various international festivals, and has been described as revitalizing the slasher film in much the same way that “28 Days Later” recently did to the zombie genre....
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Cannibal Holocaust (1980) Movie Review
With all the recent hype and furor surrounding Asian gore films such as “Ichi the Killer” and more extreme fare like the “Guinea Pig” series, it’s sometimes easy to forget the wave of splatter...
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Cronos (1993) Movie Review
The Mexican movie “Cronos” is undoubtedly one of the better horror films of the 1990s. At times unsettling, at other times moving and compassionate, this is a vampire film that never conforms to any...
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Death Machine (1995) Movie Review
When you get right down to it, Stephen Norrington’s debut film, “Death Machine”, is pretty stupid. And I don’t even mean that in a disparaging way, because although it is without a doubt a...
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Ranarna (aka At Point Blank, 2004) Movie Review
It’s a mystery why the Swedes don’t make more action films like “Ranarna” or “Executive Protection”, when they seem to do it just as well as everyone else. Maybe it’s because the locals don’t...
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Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death (1999) Movie Review
The Doctor Who series has been many things over the past few decades, but funny has never been one of them. And while director John Henderson and writer Steven Moffat may have only a...
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Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time (1993) Movie Review
After a few years of no new Doctor Who, fans of the show would have been tickled to watch Tom Baker read from the Gallifrey dictionary for 2 hours. Instead, they got a 15-minute...
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Lighthouse (1999) Movie Review
There’s no doubt the British Slasher “Lighthouse” (aka “Dead of Night”) could have been much better. It has an interesting premise, but the execution lacks proficiency and there’s a dullness about the whole thing...
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Doctor Who: The Movie (1996) Movie Review
Ever since “Doctor Who” had its final sign-off in 1989, fans have been clamoring for its resurrection. They got their wish in May of 1996, when a joint BBC/Universal Films production was released on...
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LD 50 Lethal Dose (2003) Movie Review
For about 30 minutes, one almost believed “Lethal Dose” was going to become something great. Alas, an uninteresting Act 1 and a laughably absurd (not to mention wholly clich’d) Act 3 ruined the day....
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The Alzheimer Case (aka The Memory of a Killer, 2003) Movie Review
Cop films are cop films regardless of the accents of the cops. Rather it’s Dutch, as in the case of “The Alzheimer Case”, or an American product, you can expect the usual conventions of...
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The Locals (2003) Movie Review
The first thing you notice about Greg Page’s “The Locals” is this: cinematographer Bret Nichols has no idea how to light a movie, much less a horror film. Our New Zealand film opens with...
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Shaun of the Dead (2003) Movie Review
Who knew the Brits cared about making anything other than quirky romantic comedies, quirky gangster comedies, and quirky period comedies? Apparently there’s more to the British movie industry than yet another — and yet...
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Dead End (2001) Movie Review
“Dead End”, a French production by French filmmakers with an all-American cast, is all geared toward “getting” the audience with a slick Twist Ending. So, knowing that, your only recourse is to sit through...
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Fureur (2003) Movie Review
“Fureur” is one strange movie. It’s mostly in French, shot around the Chinatown community in France, and it counts among its cast members a variety of Asians, including but not limited to Chinese, Thai,...
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In America (2003) Movie Review
Irish writer/director Jim Sheridan’s “In America” is about a family haunted by a tragedy that seeks an unfamiliar environment with which to get lost in. As it so happens, Sheridan and his two daughters...
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High Tension (2003) Movie Review
The French Slasher movie “Haute Tension” has been re-titled “Switchblade Romance” for its North American release. Why? I don’t know. I suppose movie execs are talentless hacks whether they are in France or America....
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The Old Fairy Tale: When the Sun Was God (2003) Movie Review
The Polish movie “The Old Tale” reminds me not to take things for granted — although not in the way you might be thinking. Here’s why: the film’s script is oddly unconcern with imparting...
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Book of Fate (2003) Movie Review
Movie anthologies are very hard to critique. With some, like the Japanese “Twilight Zone”-esque “Tales of the Unusual”, I reviewed each segment as individuals, and that seemed to work. And so, with that in...
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