A.li.ce (1999)
Anime/Dystopian Future/Time Travel
This was the first anime film made in CGI, an ambitious SF film involving a time travel plot and a struggle against a machine-dominated future
Films of 1999
The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999)
SF Writer-Philosopher Biopic
Biopic about controversial philosopher/SF writer Ayn Rand or at least one that focuses on the extra-marital affair she had throughout her life. Given that the film is based on a book by other man’s wife, it does come with the odd axe to grind
Mystery Men (1999)
Bumbling Superheroes Comedy
A superhero parody about a group of reject superheroes with useless powers. Despite moments of amusement, this fails to quite come off
The Nameless (1999)
Occult Child Sacrifice Cult
The first film from Spanish director Jaume Balaguero, an adaptation of a Ramsey Campbell novel about a mother trying to rescue her daughter from a child sacrifice cult
Nang Nak (1999)
Love After Death
Beautifully made Thai film about a husband whose wife dies in childbirth but where he refuses to let go of her ghost
The New Adventures of Pinocchio (1999)
Living Puppet Boy
Sequel to the 1996 CGI The Adventures of Pinocchio, this is a shabby and drearily made piece of filler that unimaginatively shuffles around the basic elements of the first film without making an effort at all
The Ninth Gate (1999)
Quest for Occult Tome
Roman Polanski makes a return to Rosemary’s Baby territory in this work with Johnny Depp as a rare book collector on the trail of an occult tome. Polanski great a great sense of sinister forces surrounding Depp but the film reaches an unsatisfying ending
The Omega Code (1999)
Christian Anti-Christ Film
The Omen and imitators had been exploiting Biblical End Times prophecies for years but this is one that approaches it from a Christian perspective. The film also started a wave of serious faith-based films that employed name actors in order to carry them to crossover audiences
Oxygen (1999)
Psycho-Thriller
An abduction thriller that draws much influence from The Silence of the Lambs with Adrien Brody as a smooth criminal genius manipulating his interrogator
Phantom Town (1999)
Haunted Western Town
A quirkily enjoyable horror Western about children searching for their parents and ending up in a town that exists in an afterlife netherworld populated by an assortment of weird creatures
The Muse (1999)
Modern Muse/Hollywood Satire
Albert Brooks film with Sharon Stone as a Greek muse. This suggests a Woody Allen whimsy crossed with something of Robert Altman’s The Player and its satire on Hollywood with real-life celebrities playing themselves
Pokemon: The Power of One (1999)
Animation/Cute Creatures
The second of the animated films spun off around the Pokemon phenomenon and an altogether better film than its predecessor due to some imaginative animation
Possessed (1999)
Plague/Possession by the Devil
Early film from Danish director Anders Rønnow-Klarlund. This starts out as a plague outbreak drama and then does a bizarre mid-film twist to become a possession film
Princes and Princesses (1999)
Animated Fairytale Anthology
From Kirikou director Michel Ocelot, an anthology of animated fairytales that prove quite delightful
Prophet (1999)
Action/Psychic Powers
Fred Olen Ray and Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson combine forces on a low-budget action film about psychic powers. The action scenes are competent but the film lacking in the script department
The Prophet’s Game (1999)
Serial Killer Thriller
Dennis Hopper plays a retired detective brought in to hunt a serial killer who targets victims via a campus game
Puss in Boots (1999)
Animation/Fairytale
An obscure animated version of the classic fairytale that comes with excruciating puns, much slapstick and has clearly been animated on a low budget
The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
Telekinetic Teen
Misguided attempt to make a sequel to Carrie, this reduces that film’s cry of the downtrodden to petty teen bitcheries, while the psychic eruptions are absurd, the complete antithesis of anything Brian De Palma directed
Ravenous (1999)
Cannibalism
Film about the soldiers at a fort on the American frontier who have descended to cannibalism. A good set-up falls apart due to a comedy treatment
My Favorite Martian (1999)
Alien Visitor Comedy/TV Series Remake
Big screen remake of the 1960s sitcom about a wacky alien visitor that promptly gets buried under frenetic slapstick and cheap CGI gags
Muppets from Space (1999)
Muppet Movie
The third and one of the better of the generally insipid Muppet movies produced following Jim Henson’s death. This tells the story of Gonzo’s origins as an alien where the film borrows spoofs the then-popularity of tv’s The X Files
Resurrection (1999)
Serial Killer Thriller
Quite reasonable serial killer thriller, undeniably influenced by Se7en, with Christopher Lambert tracking a killer who believes he can resurrect Christ
The Magical Land of the Leprechauns (1999)
Leprechaun Fantasy
Lively and undeniably likeable Hallmark mini-series that celebrates Irish myth. Giddily silly nonsense conducted with a boisterous energy
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1999)
Underground Adventures/Jules Verne Adaptation
Hallmark TV mini-series version of the Jules Verne novel that keeps faith to the book for the most part before heading off on some colourfully exotic adventures
Kate’s Addiction (1999)
Psycho Stalker
A psycho-thriller with Kari Wuhrer stalking best friend Farrah Forke insisting they are meant to be together
The King and I (1999)
Animation
Animated remake of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Now with the addition of fantasy elements.
King Cobra (1999)
Giant Snake
Film in which Erik Estrada and Pat Morita face a giant animatronic snake
Komodo (1999)
Giant Lizards Amok
CGI monster movie with a family under attacks by over-sized komodo lizards
Lake Placid (1999)
Giant Killer Crocodile
David E. Kelley, better known as a high-profile tv producer, turns his hand to writing a killer crocodile film, although the result never ends up satisfying either as a monster movie or the jokey tone Kelley wants to take
The Last Train (1999)
Train Crash Survivors Emerge into a Post-Apocalyptic World
A mini-series where a group of people aboard a train go into suspended animation and emerge to find a devastated world
Lethal Target (1999)
Erotica/Alien Infection
Conceptually odd mix of an erotic film and a standard copy of Alien, which does have peculiarities of steamy encounters sitting alongside chestburster scenes
Magnolia (1999)
Interwoven Stories/Unexplained Phenomena
The third film from Paul Thomas Anderson, a series of occasionally interlinking stories and character sketches, featuring some great performances from name actors. Underlining everything is a fascination with the inexplicable and the works of Charles Fort
The Mummy (1999)
Revived Mummy/Adventure
Nominal remake of the Boris Karloff The Mummy, which has now been inflated into a big budget Indiana Jones adventure. Stephen Sommers lets the film overspill with CGI spectacle but the exercise is deflated by a jokey, unserious attitude
A Man Called Hero (1999)
Hong Kong Martial Arts Fantasy
Ambitious Wu Xia film set among Chinese immigrants to the US where director Andrew Lau takes to the fantastical action with some flair
The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999)
Alien Anthopolgist Studies Human Mating Behaviour
There is an appealingly satiric concept here – a parody of a nature documentary looking at human mating rituals from an alien perspective where everything is constantly being misinterpreted in terms of an animal behaviour – but what emerges is mostly a one-gag film
The Matrix (1999)
Virtual Reality
A film that was as groundbreaking when it came out as Star Wars was in its day. The Wachowskis create a defining work on Virtual Reality themes and do so with a sublime cool and a series of breathtaking action moves that blew everybody away
Me Myself I (1999)
Woman's Alternate Life Pathways
Australian variant on Sliding Doors where single woman Rachel Griffiths finds herself in an alternate timeline where she is married and has kids
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
Historical Epic
Luc Besson takes on the Joan of Arc story with then wife Milla Jovovich in the title role but in Besson’s hands it becomes a crazed historical action film that unquestioningly accepts Joan’s visions as real
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999)
Shakespeare Adaptation/Fairy Enchantments
Amid Kenneth Branagh’s dynamic cinematic revival of Shakespeare in the 1990s, there was this all-star adaptation of Shakespeare’s whimsy about fairy enchantments. An okay adaptation but it is eclipsed by other superior versions of the story
The Minus Man (1999)
Genteel Serial Killer
Standout film featuring Owen Wilson as a genteel serial killer
The Moment After (1999)
The Biblical Rapture
One of a cluster of faith-based films made around the turn of the millennium dealing with the biblical apocalypse and The Rapture, this has not dated well
Red Room: The Forbidden King Game (1999)
Japanese Torture and Degradation Reality TV Show
Extremely twisted Japanese film that plays out like a conceptual mix of Saw and Fear Factor (even though it predates either) wherein contestants are locked in a room and get to challenge each other to engage in more and more extreme acts against the other
Retro Puppetmaster (1999)
Toymaker Creates Living Dolls
This was the seventh of Full Moon’s most popular series, the Puppet Master films. This goes back to tell how young Andre Toulon (Greg Sestero) originally created the puppets
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999)
Children's Film/Small Furry Creature's Adventures
A rather slight film spinoff red-furred Elmo, the popular character from Sesame Street. A film designed for very young children.
Treasure Island (1999)
Surrealism
Unrelated to Robert Louis Stevenson, this is a bafflingly surrealist parody of a 1940s thriller
The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
Virtual Reality
Roland Emmerich produced Virtual Reality film that toys with some ideas that almost make it a great SF film before cliches and a bad twist ending take over
The 13th Warrior (1999)
Vikings vs Neanderthals/Michael Crichton Adaptation
Michael Crichton was hot as a result of Jurassic Park. Although mostly seen as an historical spectacle, this is an adaptation of his novel that attempts to retell the legend of Beowulf with Vikings against Neanderthals
Thrill Seekers (1999)
Time Travel
A throwaway direct-to-dvd release about time travellers come back to view famous disasters that rises above low expectations to develop an occasionally interesting plot
Tomie (1999)
Japanese Ghost Story
Another Japanese horror film that stands heavily in the shadow of Ringu. Directed without much style and often uninteresting to the point of being dull, it is hard to tell from this that you are watching a film that inspired eight sequels
Top of the Food Chain (1999)
Alien Invasion Spoof
Canadian-made parody of a cheesy 1950s SF film that emerges more wittily amusingly than most Deliberately Bad SF Films
Total Stranger (1999)
Psycho Tenant
Reasonable psycho-thriller where landlord Lindsay Crouse takes on increasingly deranged tenant Zoe McClellan
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Pixar Animation/The Secret Life of Toys
Pixar’s sequel to their first film and arguably an even better work where they get the plaintive emotion, character arcs and witty humour down perfect
A Twist of Faith (1999)
Catholic Serial Killer Thriller
Dull serial killer thriller with Andrew McCarthy tracking a killer that has a Catholic fixation
Terror Firmer (1999)
Movie Set Killer/Bad Taste Troma Comedy
Troma film in which Lloyd Kaufman turns his own autobiography into a Troma film where the results emerge as something akin to Ed Wood as remade by John Waters
Universal Soldier: The Return (1999)
Undead Super-Soldiers/Action
Sequel to Roland Emmerich’s Universal Soldier, this brings back Jean-Claude Van Damme but otherwise substitutes a brain dead plot that has him facing an evil A.I.
Virtual Sexuality (1999)
Teen Romance/Idealised Guy Manifest
Essentially a frothy British romantic comedy version of Weird Science where a girl manifests the perfect guy. The VR aspect is no more than a trendy buzzword appropriated as explain-all
Virus (1999)
Lethal Alien Bio-Machine
This has the novelty of a monster that is an evolving fusion of machinery and organics. While it is all directed with much noise and fury, it is ultimately no more than another copy of Alien
Warlock: The End of Innocence (1999)
Demonic Envoy
Third and final of the Warlock films where Julian Sands is replaced by Bruce Payne
Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999)
Coming of Age Story/Eccentric Psychic Father
Likeably eccentric Coming of Age story set in England during the 1970s at the height of the punk era where, among the usual other very funny travails, the protagonist’s father starts demonstrating unusual psychic abilities
Wild Wild West (1999)
Western Spy Film/TV Series Remake
The big screen remake of the 1960s Western/spy mashup tv series is transformed into an overblown and painfully unfunny Will Smith vehicle that loudly signals it is taking none of itself seriously
Wing Commander (1999)
Space Opera/Videogame Adaptation
Star Wars meets Top Gun – a concept it is surprising no one has thought of before – but alas this film adaptation of the popular videogame only regurgitates the cliches of either film
Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies (1999)
Evil Wish-Granting Djinn
The first sequel to Wishmaster and better than the ones that would follow but still not a patch on the imaginative makeup effects in the original
The Third Miracle (1999)
Catholic Sainthood and Miracles
Agnieszka Holland film with Ed Harris as a Catholic priest who has lost his faith who is asked defend the authenticity of a supposed miracle
Tell Me Something (1999)
Korean Serial Killer Thriller
Essentially a South Korean version of Se7en with police tracking a killer dumping severed body parts around the city, all of which lead to a mystery woman
Revelation (1999)
The Anti-Christ in Virtual Reality
The second in a series of Biblical End Times films from Canada’s faith-based Cloud Ten Pictures, this offers the peculiarity of the Anti-Christ appearing in Virtual Reality
Someone is Watching (1999)
Stalker Psycho-Thriller/Child's Sinister Invisible Companion
Okay psycho-thriller where Stefanie Powers is stalked in her new apartment while her son develops a mysterious imaginary companion
Ring 2 (1999)
Cursed Videotape/Haunting/Japanese Ghost Story
The second of the Japanese Ring/Ringu films where director Hideo Nakata improves over the original with a series of eerie scares if a frequently incomprehensible mishmash of story ideas
Roswell: The Aliens Attack (1999)
The Roswell Incident/Alien Visitors
Alien invasion film set around the so-called Roswell Incident. Faux science-fiction written by cliche the entire way
Shark Attack (1999)
Killer Shark Film
Killer shark from the 1990s heyday. This works passably as the B movie it is intended as, while the last third turns into the schlockily absurd with the insertion of two different corrupt conspiracy elements and action movie chases
Shikoku (1999)
Japanese Ghost Story
Spookily effective Japanese ghost story about a mother’s pilgrimage around a series of shrines to raise her daughter’s spirit from the dead
Simon Magus (1999)
Orthodox Jewish Village/Visions of the Devil
Film set in a small 19th Century Orthodox Jewish village struggling to deal with the modern world, featuring Noah Taylor as a fool troubled by visions of The Devil
Simply Irresistible (1999)
Magical Realism/Magical Cooking
Very silly romantic comedy in a Magical Realist vein where Sarah Michelle Gellar gains magical cooking abilities. Like Water for Chocolate did this better.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Child Medium
The film that made the name of M. Night Shyamalan and still a strong and spooky story despite the variability of Shyamalan’s offerings since then. What made the film a classic was its twist ending, something that has been relentlessly copied by numerous genre films since
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Headless Horseman Killings
Tim Burton adapts the classic Washington Irving ghost story, although throws most of it out, to make his own beautifully designed period piece spearheaded by another eccentric Johnny Depp performance
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
South Park Film/Absurdist Adult Animation
A theatrical release spun off from tv’s cult absurdist/scatological show. Not as sophisticated as later seasons of the tv series but with a raucously wacky bite that is frequently hilarious
Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999)
Pupils vs Teacher Psycho-Thriller
Scream writer Kevin Williamson’s one and only directorial outing, a playful thriller in which Katie Holmes and fellow students imprison a teacher who has marked down her grades
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
Space Opera
George Lucas’s return to the Star Wars series after a sixteen year absence and a build-up rivaled only by the Second Coming. Instead most audiences went away disappointed. Lucas has used the interim to push the technology to its heights but the story and characters are lacking
Stigmata (1999)
Possession/Catholic Conspiracy
This seems caught between being an earnest theological debate about Catholicism and a standard possession film. The results are not entirely uninteresting
Stir of Echoes (1999)
Man Develops Mediumistic Abilities
Enormously underrated directorial effort from screenwriter David Koepp in which Kevin Bacon gains the ability to see the dead. A film filled with some genuinely spooky moments
Storm of the Century (1999)
Stranger Manipulates a Small Town/Stephen King Mini-Series
One of the best Stephen King tv mini-series with Colm Feore as a mysterious stranger who manipulates and turns an entire town against themselves
Stuart Little (1999)
Mouse Boy
Taking its its cue from the mix of animatronics and CGI in Babe, this is a live-action adaptation of the E.B. White book. A sweet and charming film about a family that adopts a little mouse boy that proved an unexpected hit
Stuff (1999)
Resurrection Ring/Black Comedy
Canadian-made black comedy about a ring that can revive the dead
Summer of Sam (1999)
True Life Serial Killer/Urban Paranoia
Spike Lee film set during the Son of Sam killings, although Lee seems less interested in the true crime aspect than the social reaction and various storylines of his characters
Tarzan (1999)
Jungle Hero/Disney Animation
This Disney animated adaptation treats the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel with surprising respect and faithfulness for the most part where the addition of talking animals even works for it. Fun and with a great deal of creative energy, one of the better films from the 90s Disney renaissance
The Item (1999)
Hitmen Guard an Alien Creature
Affected indie film about hitmen guarding an alien creature that topples over with ridiculous effects and attempts to be cool
The Iron Giant (1999)
Animation/Friendly Giant Robot
The first animated film from Brad Bird is a sweet and lovely piece about the friendship between a young boy and a giant robot
Instinct (1999)
Killer Anthropologist
This makes all effort to sell itself as Anthony Hopkins in another Hannibal Lecter-like role. Rather than any Silence of the Lambs copy, this undergoes several bizarre dogleg turns to emerge more as The Shawshank Redemption by way of Gorillas in the Mist
Bridge of Dragons (1999)
Action Film/Atemporal Kingdom Setting
A Dolph Lundgren starring action film about a coup in a kingdom that exists as an oddly atemporal mix of clashing historical periods
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Found Footage/Backwoods Haunting
This shot-on-video film that became a word of mouth sensation with many people believing they were watching real video footage of a trio lost in haunted woods by a witch. Of course, what nobody knew at the time was this was creating the Found Footage film
Blast from the Past (1999)
Out of the Nuclear Fallout Shelter Comedy
A comedy with the amusing premise where Brendan Fraser is raised in a nuclear fallout shelter since the Cuban Missile Crisis and emerges into the present for the first time, mistaking it for a post-apocalyptic world
Blood Dolls (1999)
Demented Puppetmaster
Another of Charles Band’s doll horror films a la the Puppetmaster and Demonic Toys films. Here Band goes totally gonzo and makes one of the strangest films of his entire career
Bloody Murder (1999)
Slasher Film
A modern slasher film that slavishly rehashes Friday the 13th. Routine on most counts, excepting perhaps the oddity of it being made by a director/producer of Christian films
Bolt Neck (1999)
High School Frankenstein
The amusing idea of the Frankenstein story relocated to a modern high school – and with no less than later-to-be superstar Ryan Reynolds as the monster
The Bone Collector (1999)
Serial Killer Thriller
Serial killer thriller with Denzel Washington as Jeffrey Deaver’s quadriplegic profiler Lincoln Rhyme and Anjelina Jolie as a rookie cop who becomes his aide
Breakfast of Champions (1999)
Kurt Vonnegut Adaptation
Disappointing adaptation of the Kurt Vonnegut novel from Adam Rudolph that substitutes Vonnegut’s satire for clumsy, ham-fisted farce that never gives us any clear idea what it is satirising
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
Urban Hell/Haunted Ambulance Driver
Martin Scorsese returns to the vision of urban hell he gave us in Taxi Driver with Nicolas Cage as an ambulance driver haunted the dead he sees. Powerful, blackly funny at times, if not quite up there as another Taxi Driver
Beowulf (1999)
Epic Legend
An adaptation of the classic epic legend Beowulf that bizarrely recasts the story as a Christopher Lambert-starring action movie and sets it in a post-apocalyptic future
The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999)
Experimental Medical Treatments
This feels like a weepie Disease of the Week drama where Elijah Wood is an amnesiac placed in a hospital ward of terminal patients before the film arrives at an SF conceptual twist
Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999)
Boogey Man
The second and so far final of the Candyman sequels, a routine entry with Baywatch starlet Donna D’Errico as a descendant of Candyman who is pursued by Tony Todd
Chill Factor (1999)
Action Chase/Chemical Weapons
An inane action film that sets out to copy Speed with Skeet Ulrich and a motormouth Cuba Gooding Jr forced to drive an ice cream truck filled with chemical weapons