The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review
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
Okay sequel to the angel film The Prophecy. As in the previous film, a returning Christopher Walken steals the show and gets all the best lines
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
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
Modern vampire movie that aims for a chic sophistication amid poses borrowed from MTV and other films
Chris Sarandon is a writer who becomes embroiled in solving a series of murder that mimic his own books. An okay set-up that rarely moves beyond the unfolding of cliches
A reasonable arthouse hit, this tells the story of a cursed violin through five different periods of history
Strong and effective film set against the backdrop of The Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1970s depicting a gang of psychopaths that killed and tortured people on the streets
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
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
Stylish but not always coherent South Korean near-future thriller about a comic-book artist, a hit woman and an amnesia drug
The first film spinoff of the popular animated tv series Rugrats about infants observing the adult world
Tom Tykwer’s visually inventive variant on the alternate timelines theme with Franka Potente trying to replay events to save her boyfriend’s life
Uneven New Zealand-made film where a girl meets a mystery man who claims that he is Jesus Christ
Low-budget and fairly indifferently made sequel to David Twohy’s quite good alien invasion film
Comedy vehicle for Marlon Wayans in which he becomes a test subject for a sense-heightening drug. Marlon’s natural comic energy far exceeds the slightness of the premise
Gonzo comedy set in alternate world where a samurai-sword wielding Buddy Holly wanders through a post-apocalyptic present
Popular Gwyneth Paltrow hit that spawned a series of films that follow a woman’s alternate life pathways
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
Kurt Russell gives a fine performance as a programmed soldier who discovers emotions but under Paul W.S. Anderson the rest of the big-budgeted film collapses into over-inflated cliches
Sequel to Species that this time offers up the male of the species. The film feels put together as an exercise in makeup effects but their physiological absurdity causes the film to topple into silliness
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
The black sheep among the Japanese Ringu films. A sequel released the same time as the first film, this lacks the other’s uncanny atmosphere and was ignored as the other film launched a franchise
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
British tv psycho film that works through a multi-layered plot of dexterous twists and a handsomely engaging lead actor
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
Solid, epically plotted variant on the Hong Kong flying swordsman genre. This is the point where Wu Xia cinema discovered CGI effects
80s outrage rocker Dee Snider writes and stars in this horror film where he plays a freakish serial killer who is demonised by parents
Part of a late 90s spate of mummy movies, this effort from Highlander director Russell Mulcahy revives the genre with a modern arsenal of effects
Alien invasion tv movie that mostly consists of cliches borrowed from the then success of tv’s The X Files
German-made Tarzan film that resurrects most of the adventure film tropes to negligible effect. As Tarzan, Caspar Van Dien looks like an Ivy League college student in the jungle.
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
A retelling of the Shakespeare play, which had been updated to the midst of the American Civil War with some interesting results
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
Rather dull plague outbreak drama tv movie based around a deadly outbreak at a water filtration plant
An obscure joke from Alex Cox that has he and Miguel Sandoval as two businessman who go to dinner but keep passing through different cities
Quirky indie film where a man encounters various strange people after learning he has 24 hours left to live
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.
Ingenious film that predicted reality tv shows where Jim Carrey’s life has been a tv show since birth with him unaware of everything is staged
Appealing and well told fantasy in which a couple are each individually offered the opportunity to go back in time and change the circumstances that led to their breakup
A convoluted courtroom thriller where District Attorney Mädchen Amick is forced to team up with serial killer Chris Mulkey
A British mini-series that offers an ingenious modernised reconeptualisation of the vampire genre, depicting the activities of a secret agency of vampire hunters
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
The first of two cheap Universal Soldier sequels made in Canada with Matt Battaglia inheriting Jean-Claude Van Damme’s role
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
Ghost story effectively relocated to Glasgow apartment building with a solo mother terrorised by something supernatural. Filled with social realism
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
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
One of the numerous Virtual Reality films to come out in the mid-90s, this seems undecided whether it wants to be an SF or an erotic film
Film made to celebrate the millennium where a totalitarian government creates a wall that divides Belgium along linguistic lines
Vincent Ward is one of the least recognised great directors in the world. Here he creates an extraordinary vision of the afterlife in which he employs CGI to create a world that resembles classic artworks brought to life
A uniquely different take on the vampire film, directed with extraordinary stylism by Hong Kong director Po Chih Leong
British werewolf film that wittily uses being a werewolf as a metaphor for being gay
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
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