2005’s Isolation is a chilling Irish horror film written and directed by Billy O’Brien. Set on a desolate, run-down farm in rural Ireland, the story revolves around Dan (John Lynch), a farmer struggling to make ends meet. Desperate for money, he reluctantly agrees to let a mysterious doctor conduct secretContinue Reading
I’ve reviewed a few of Bert I. Gordon’s films on this site. Also known as Mr. BIG, Gordon wrote and directed a number of B-movies revolving around animals or humans made larger or smaller by radiation or environmental tampering. You can read my reviews of The Food of the GodsContinue Reading
When Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse rumbled into movie theaters in 2014 with Godzilla, it did so with an advertising campaign that emphasized the movie’s gravitas. Director Gareth Edwards conservatively doled out peeks at the titular creature for two-thirds of the movie. The series’ second movie, Kong: Skull Island, showed a markedContinue Reading
Jules takes place in a small Western Pennsylvania town named Boonton, which is located just south of Pittsburgh. It’s one of those communities that seems to only exist in the movies where everyone knows everyone else’s business. For some reason, the town holds counsel meetings every week. Milton (Ben Kingsley)Continue Reading
An atomic-age update of Frankenstein, 1958’s The Colossus of New York takes Mary Shelley’s concept of man resurrecting the dead and puts a 1950s spin on it. Directed by Eugène Lourié (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms,) the film has some visual panache, but is hampered by a weak script andContinue Reading
When I chose to review Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 2001 film, Pulse, I had no real idea what it was about. The title resonated because I had heard of a 2006 American remake. American remakes of Japanese horror films tend to remove most of the cultural elements that I find fascinating. ThisContinue Reading
In the 1970s, nature-runs-amuck movies became all the rage. One of the first of the decade, 1972’s Frogs, is not one of the better examples of the genre. Directed by George McCowan, who worked mostly in television, and scripted by Robert Hutchison and Robert Blees, Frogs revolves around a rich,Continue Reading