Progeny (1998)

Progeny (1998) poster
Rating: ★★
Alien Abduction and Impregnation

Horror director Brian Yuzna jumps aboard the alien abduction and impregnation theme that was popular at the time thanks to tv’s The X Files. All of Yuzna’s films have a fascination with sexual perversity so here the emphasis is placed on the impregnation

Psycho (1998)

Psycho (1998) poster
Rating: ★★
Psycho Remake

Over Gus Van Sant’s shot-for-shot remake of Psycho, there hangs the single question of “Why?” The result seems a futile conceit, one only designed to infuriate those who regard the original in such high esteem

Quest for Camelot (1998)

Quest for Camelot (1998) poster
Rating: ★★
Animation/Arthurian Fantasy

An Arthurian legends fantasy adventure made as part of the animation renaissance of the 1990s. Anything serious aspirations are wrecked by the insertion of inane popular culture in-jokes

Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish (1998)

Richie Rich's Christmas Wish (1998) poster
Rating: ★★
Comic-Book Rich Kid/Alternate Timeline

Cheaply made video sequel to the Macaulay Culkin Richie Rich based on the popular comic-book character, this steals the basic plot of It’s a Wonderful Life

Ring (1998)

Ring (1998) poster
Rating: ★★★
Cursed Video Broadcast/Japanese Ghost Story

Kaidan eiga (Japanese ghost story) that was a huge hit, spawning several sequels and an English-language remake, not to mention a horde of imitators. For all its reputation, the film is often crude nevertheless does evince an eerie atmosphere

Rub Love (1998)

Rub Love (1998) poster
Rating: ★★½
Korean Near Future Thriller/Amnesia Drug

Stylish but not always coherent South Korean near-future thriller about a comic-book artist, a hit woman and an amnesia drug

Small Soldiers (1998)

Small Soldiers (1998) poster
Rating: ★★
War Between Toys

Joe Dante had great success in the 1980s but his star started to pale into the 90s. Here he has resorted to a rehash of his biggest hit Gremlins, seemingly conceptually slung together with Toy Storyconcerning an army of malevolent toy soldiers come to life

Sphere (1998)

Sphere (1998) poster
Rating: ★★★★
Crashed UFO Underwater/Michael Crichton Adaptation

Michael Crichton was hot property after the success of Jurassic Park but this was one flop. A by no means uninteresting film about a group of scientists in an underwater habitat making contact with an alien lifeform

Spriggan (1998)

Spriggan (1998) poster
Rating: ★★★
Anime/Alien Artefact/Psychic Kid Amok

Katsuhiro Otomo overseen anime about the discovery of Noah’s Ark, an alien artifact that gives a child vast psychic powers in a swathe of destruction not dissimilar to Akira

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) poster
Rating: ★★½
Intergalactic Adventures

Third of the Star Trek: The Next Generation films has Jonathan Frakes back in the director’s seat where he again plays to his strengths with great visual effects scenes but the story feels like a filler episode

Temmink: The Ultimate Fight (1998)

Temmink: The Ultimate Fight (1998) poster
Rating: ★★½
Future Gladiatorial Combat

Dutch film set in a future where Jack Wouterse is a prisoner who is offered a chance to fight to the death in televised gladitorial combat

There’s Something About Mary (1998)

There's Something About Mary (1998) poster
Rating: ★★★★
Stalker Black Comedy

The Farrelly Brothers have become known for their crude and rude humour but this stalker comedy is one they hit with all barrels firing and has become regarded as a modern comedy classuc

A Town Has Turned to Dust (1998)

A Town Has Turned to Dust (1998) poster
Rating: ★★½
Post-Holocaust Racism

Adaptation of an old Rod Serling script about racial prejudice and lynch mobs. The original was a non-genre work that took place in a Western setting but this has transplanted the milieu to an alien planet.

Universal Horror (1998)

Universal Horror (1998) poster
Rating: ★★★
Classic Horror Documentary

Documentary about the Golden Age of Horror at Universal Studios during the 1930s and 40s (although it does touch on works from other studios too). The topic is covered with an impressive degree of detail

Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business (1998)

Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business (1998) poster
Rating: ★½
Undead Super-Soldiers/Action

he second of two cheap video-released sequels to the Jean-Claude Van Damme film. This has the novelty of featuring Burt Reynolds as the bad guy

Urban Legend (1998)

Urban Legend (1998) poster
Rating: ★★½
Slasher Film

Following the success of Scream, this was an attempt to make an upmarket slasher film based around the motif of urban legends in the same way that Scream used 1980s slasher films. It is a stretch to make urban legends fit in some cases but director Jamie Blanks delivers reasonable tension

Vampires (1998)

Vampires (1998) poster
Rating: ★★★½
Vampire Hunter

John Carpenter revitalises the vampire film with a sharp action edge as James Woods heads a team of vampire hunters. Woods gives a ferociously determined performance way above and beyond the call of duty

The Wall (1998)

The Wall (1998) poster
Rating: ★★
Belgian Dystopia/Magical Realism

Film made to celebrate the millennium where a totalitarian government creates a wall that divides Belgium along linguistic lines

The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)

The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998) poster
Rating:
Ray Bradbury Adaptation/Magical Suit

Stuart (Re-Animator) Gordon adapts a Ray Bradbury play about five men who buy a suit that has magical properties. Bradbury is a great writer but this drowns in overripe dialogue, bad racial caricatures and Gordon’s typically over-the-top propensities

The X Files (1998)

The X Files (1998) poster
Rating: ★★
The X Files Film Spinoff/Alien Invasion Conspiracy

Film spinoff from tv’s hit ultra-paranoid alien conspiracy drama. The film is caught in the unenviable position of trying to give fans what they want and reiterate the basics of the series for new audiences, while giving away no plot details in advance, and as a result ended up pleasing nobody