The Shout (1978)

4 / 5 Jan '10
Tagline: A film of intense perversity - the madness of the mind.
Directed by: Jerzy Skolimowski
Written by: Robert Graves, Michael Austin
Actors include: Alan Bates, Susannah York, John Hurt
Genre: Thriller, Horror, Drama
Length: 86 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Imagine if Robert Altman directed What About Bob?, only instead of a pesty Bill Murray insert some sort of intense demon like fellow who practices Aborigine magic. Like an Altman film this has absolutely beautiful scenery amidst the unusual psychological sort of horror. The evil fellow shows up in the lives of married couple Anthony (William Hurt) and Rachel (Susannah York) Fielding. Anthony plays the organ for church services and is obsessed with recording sound effects. Rachel is the devoted wife who seems drawn to this evil guy (or rather possessed by). When this new evil pest offers to show him a sound effect he'll never forget things are never the same. It really kept me guessing and the whole mood of the film is very uneasy, which I did like and the style was quite something too. I guess I wish it had a touch more clarity as id did leave several questions in my head anyhow. Still one of the more creative and strange thrillers one is likely to come across, definitely interesting. Thanks to cosmicnoiree for recommending it to me!

Availability:  On DVD in PAL format only

The Game (1997)

4 / 5
Tagline: Players Wanted.
Directed by: David Fincher
Written by: John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris,
Actors include: Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Debra Kara Unger
Genre: Thriller, Action, Adventure
Length: 128 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
For Nicholas' (Michael Douglas) 40th birthday his weirdo brother gives him a ticket for a game called CSR (see Nicholas is a bit of a recluse and his brother wanted to engage him in something). He goes to the company and soon after life becomes pretty ridiculously awful. See it's sorta like a conspiracy or some sort of nightmare that Nicholas can't wake up from. It's very much a psychological thriller, we really aren't handed the answers but we must piece this together as things get more and more twisted. It's actually rather fun to watch and to try to guess what's happening, it's not quite as tricky as some but it's rather well written and interestingly assembled. I guess my only advice is to watch it, but don't give up on it because of confusion...holding on will pay off big time so long as you are patient!

Availability:  On DVD

Raising Cain (1991)

3.5 / 5 May '10

Tagline: De Mented, De Ranged, De Ceptive, De Palma
Directed by: Brian De Palma
Written by: Brian De Palma
Actors include: John Lithgow, Lolita Davidovich, Steven Bauer
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Horror, Drama
Length: 91 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
It's not bad, though it's definitely not one of Brian De Palma's best. It features John Lithgow as Carter...and Cain and a few others. His Wife is concerned with the amount of time and attention he's giving to their daughter plus he's constantly monitoring him. When the wife meets up with an old boyfriend and sparks start flying things get rather dangerous. Especially when people warn her that her husband may be into recreating the experiments that his evil Father worked on. Lithgow is very over the top here yet he does a good job and really without him the movie would have very little. This does involve a few killings though we aren't exactly going to see much, it's more about the idea. It's also rather confusing in places as we see his hallucinations and various other things that we think are happening but later find out they aren't so. This leaves a slightly unsatisfying taste in the mouth yet at the same time...it's DePalma seemingly trying to borrow from Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch so of course it's weird. Oh well it could have been worse and at the end it made sense for the most part.

Availability:  On DVD

Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1969)

2.5 / 5 July '10
Tagline: What made you leave him, Cathy ... was it the way he made love, or why?
Directed by: Mark Robson
Written by: Larry Cohen
Actors include: Carol White, Paul Burke, Mala Powers
Genre: Thriller
Length: 108 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I was really looking forward to this as some talented filmmakers and so forth were at the helm here. The film is very nicely shot in San Francisco and I truly thought the concept was a good one. The story is about a young woman called Cathy who meets a young man, realizes he's mentally disturbed about the same time she finds out she's pregnant. She decides to have an abortion and tells the nutty father about it (big mistake!). Anyhow flash forward to later when she's met a new feller married and now with a baby and this is where the majority of the film takes place. The nutty fella turns up in her new life posing as a photographer and playing games with her. He wants to punish her and get revenge for the abortion but can she and her child be saved? What made this movie so awful was the actress playing Cathy, irritating, bitchy and whiny as heck, it's hard to feel bad for someone you hate. In fact there really wasn't much of anyone to try to root for in this, everyone was unlikable! The terrible theme song kept reoccurring (one of the worst I've heard yet), and most of the film dragged and dragged and was rather predictable. It's also the handling of the story was so overwrought and obnoxious it was difficult to even sit through. It's a shame because I feel this could have been something special if quite a few things changed.

Availability:  Not on DVD

Twisted Nerve (1968)

4.5 / 5 Aug '10
Tagline: Cleaver. Cleaver. Chop. Chop. First the mom and then the pop. Then we'll get the pretty girl. We'll get her right between the curl.
Directed by: Roy Boulting
Written by: Roy Boulting, Leo Marks
Actors include: Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett, Billie Whitelaw
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Length: 118 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This is one nifty psychological thriller that was instantly entertaining and loveable. Martin Durnley (Hywel Bennett) is a strange young man of 22. His Mother treats him like he's a little boy, and his Step-Father seems to hate his guts and desperately wants him out of the house. Martin's brother is a mongoloid in an institution, and well Martin seems to have an alter ego as a 6 year old named Georgie (which drove our cat Georgie insane). Martin meets a beautiful kindly young librarian named Susan (Hayley Mills) who he becomes obsessed with. When his Father forces him out of the house he goes to live in at the house of Susan under false pretenses. Things seem to get worse because Susan and the others only know Georgie...when Georgie doesn't get what he wants Martin is the one they'll have to deal with. Let's just say Martin isn't the type of person you want to say no to. It actually maintained a really good level of tension and the acting was really impressive too. Definitely one of the better little known thrillers from the '60s, very surprising and cool.

Availability:  On DVD region 2

The Terminal Man (1974)

3.5 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: Harry Benson is a brilliant computer scientist. For three minutes a day, he is violently homicidal.
Directed by: Mike Hodges
Written by: Michael Crichton, Mike Hodges
Actors include: George Segal, Joan Hackett, Richard Dysart
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
Length: 107 minutes
Banned: Finland

Review:
This was a rather strange adaptation of a Michael Crichton novel (that I've honestly not read) but I likely would after seeing this film. It's sort of trippy sci-fi with some definite lessons crammed into it. Harry Benson is an intelligent man, but from a result of a head trauma he suffers from paranoid delusions and seizures where he becomes extremely violent and attacks people. Doctors have figured out a way to correct this problem by toying with his brain, inserting some chips to shock the patient when the seizures come about. After the surgery Harry is getting frustrated with all of this nonsense and flees the hospital only for things to go from bad to worse. It's a very slow moving and deliberate piece, they could have whittled it down a bit and made a much more interesting movie but as it sits it's still quite worthwhile. The useage of colors (or rather white) and angles in the cinematography were fascinating, probably one of my favorite parts of the film. It also did make a few points and teach me a couple of things and it was very interesting to look at. It's sort of a psychological horror film in several ways, rather dark and depressing, best to watch on a gray or raining evening.

Availability:  On DVD

Black Swan (2010)

3 / 5 Jan '11
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Written by: Mark Heyman
Actors include: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Length: 108 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I was actually really excited about getting to see this, the first movie I'd seen in the theatre in a long time, but I thought it was quite disappointing. Yes, it's about ballet, lots of ballet, I now know the plot to Swan Lake (yay me). I seems like it's attempting to be like The Wrestler in that it's showing the dark side of ballet but this is more about obsession and striving to be perfect. Natalie Portman plays a ballerina selected to play the lead role of the swan both the dark sides and the light, the dark she has more trouble with. Mila Kunis plays another ballerina who is more on the dark side and is free spirited. The most interesting part was demented Mom to Portman Erica Sayers (Barbara Hershey who appears to have had bad plastic surgery), but it wasn't enough to keep it interesting. I do give credit for some of the effects in this, and conceptually it was kinda neat, it just didn't deliver and I thought it was insanely disappointing. Most people seem to adore this one, and I know I'm in the minority but I'd say if you want a good thriller this isn't it, if you want a strange ballet film then proceed.

Availability:  Not on DVD & Blu-Ray yet

3 Women (1977)

4 / 5 Jan '11
Tagline: 1 woman became 2/2 women became 3/3 women became 1
Directed by: Robert Altman
Written by: Robert Altman
Actors include: Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Janice Rule
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Length: 124 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This is a weird drama but great actresses and Robert Altman's surreal style make this more than worth a watch. It's very character driven, rather slow at first but it's captivating and purposeful. Pinky Rose (Sissy Spacek) is a new employee to the drab and depressing rehab/elderly patient center. She meets Millie Lammoreaux (Shelley Duvall) who she quickly idolizes. Millie has several male friends and seems to live in her own little bubble with style and personality. There is also a strange woman who paints grotesque figures in their pool. As the film goes on it becomes strangely obvious that Millie and Rose are switching personalities and everyone is sort of shifting until they find the lot in life they are happy with. It's not your usual film that much is for sure but if you are looking for something a little different and oddly satisfying this should work wonderfully for you. Thanks to cosmicnoiree for suggesting this to me.

Availability:  On DVD

El Maquinista (2004) aka The Machinist

4 / 5 Feb '11
Tagline: Trevor Reznick is four letters away from the truth.
Directed by: Brad Anderson
Written by: Scott Kosar
Actors include: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón
Genre: Thriller
Length: 101 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
The ultimate work safety video...or is it. It's one heck of a dark and fascinating character study, and Christian Bale really earned some respect from me here. He looks like a concentration camp victim he's so skinny, but that is sort of the point here. Bale plays Trevor Reznik, an insomniac who works as a machinist in a factory. He looks terrible and barely functions, and things go from bad to worse when he inadvertently causes an accident to happen at work. The story flips back and forth through time so it's a bit tough to follow at first, but it's not too difficult and well worth the effort. It's gloomy, somewhat disturbing and rather gripping as well. Quite the psychological thriller that I didn't even know existed until Kronz mentioned it to me. I certainly think numerous other films took influence from this one after and I'd definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a dark film.

Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray