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Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) Movie Review
Rarely has a film started behind the eight ball as much as “Exorcist: The Beginning”. Original director John Frankenheimer died before filming started, and lead Liam Neelson departed soon after. New director Paul Schrader
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Arahan (2004) Movie Review
Have you noticed that in Korean comedies the main characters (usually the male) tend to give the impression that he is, shall we say, not “all there”? Take, for example, the hero of “My
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Entrails of a Beautiful Woman (1986) Movie Review
How on earth do you follow a film like “Entrails of a Virgin”? Surprising no one, director Gaira took the logical route and came up with “Entrails of a Beautiful Woman”. Genius. Even those
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Entrails of a Virgin (1986) Movie Review
What do you get for the exploitation fan that’s seen everything? Actually, that question might be better unanswered, but should the situation arise, consider “Entrails of a Virgin”. Although showing its age after nearly
Read More »Human Pork Chop (2001) Movie Review
“Human Pork Chop” is a certain type of film, for a certain type of viewer. Seriously, given the title and the Category III rating so proudly displayed on the box, I’m quite sure that
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Night Watch (2004) Movie Review
It’s interesting to see a movie like Timur Bekmambetov’s “Night Watch”, especially considering that my only exposure to Russian genre films has been two movies by Aleksei Balabanov. “Night Watch” is not like Balabanov’s
Read More »Samaria (aka Samaritan Girl, 2004) Movie Review
In addition to Chan-wook Park (“Old Boy”), South Korea has one of the most talented directors working in cinema today in Ki-duk Kim. Like his fellow countryman, Kim’s films are raw, emotional and uncompromising,
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Hypnosis (aka The Hypnotist, 1999) Movie Review
Hypnotism has a long history of being used as a plot device in cinema. Recently it was featured in several Asian “I see ghosts”-type films as a cheap explanation for supernatural occurrences. However, there
Read More »Dead Friend (aka The Ghost, 2004) Movie Review
If you’re not too hung up on originality, “The Ghost” isn’t too much a waste of time. Oh sure, it’s yet another Dark Hair Ghost Story, where the ghost at hand is a vengeful
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A.li.ce (1999) Movie Review
While the title isn’t exactly original, the premise certainly is. “A.li.ce” is an all-CGI feature and it’s a fairly impressive looking movie that gets points for innovative thinking. While not in the same class
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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
Read More »A Lamb in Despair (1989) Movie Review
At first glance, “A Lamb in Despair” appears to be every bit the typical Category III release. It certainly has a number of the genre’s expected elements: a suggestive title, a lurid cover, and
Read More »Halloween 4: Return of Michael Myers (1988) Movie Review
Sick of Freddy and Jason getting all the attention, the producers of the “Halloween” series decided to return Michael Myers to the big screen in 1988. Apparently, they also decided to be ambitious and
Read More »The Twins Effect 2 (2004) Movie Review
“The Twins Effect 2″ comes to us a year after the box office success of the “The Twins Effect”, a movie about vampires; the sequel, set in ancient China, is a sequel in name
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Appleseed (2004) Movie Review
“Appleseed” is a mixture of CGI and traditional anime, and is based upon an early manga by Masamune Shirow, creator of the seminal “Ghost in the Shell” and its sequel, “Innocence”, amongst others. The
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Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1998) Movie Review
Things weren’t always so good for Marvel Studios. Several years before they were making big budget blockbusters, they were reduced to cranking out television films for the Fox Network. A fair effort went into
Read More »Soul Survivors (2001) Movie Review
“Soul Survivors” comes to us with the all too familiar stench of an oft-mentioned, long delayed release. I first heard of this film a couple of years back, nodded with vague interest then completely
Read More »The Gift (2000) Movie Review
With “Spiderman 2″ cementing his reputation as one of Hollywood’s elite, I thought now would be a good time to check out “The Gift”, one of “Evil Dead” director Sam Raimi’s early studio films.
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Gonin 2 (1996) Movie Review
It’s difficult to say why writer/director Takashi Ishii (“Freeze Me”) decided to do a sequel to “Gonin”. While the original was a hit, moviegoers weren’t exactly rioting in the streets for a sequel, so
Read More »Elf (2003) Movie Review
“Elf”, as most people who have seen it will tell you, is pretty funny. And to make a long story short, it’s all due to Will Ferrell, who gives such an endearing and all-out
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