It's understandable that Witchery didn't win any awards. Under a low-powered microscope, there are more than a handful of dialogue, logic and continuity problems, and there are some very bizarre performances (mainly Leslie Cummings, although personally, I enjoyed her ineffable weirdness). But as a whole, Witchery is not at all a bad film. It takes the right approach to the budget at its disposal, the premise is good and actually clever at times, it builds an effective if mild atmosphere and the special effects are respectable, even if half of the gore is only implied.(read more...)

The Astronaut's Wife wants it all. To be like a 50's sci-fi invasion flick, a demonic possession film, a psychological horror movie, and a Dario Argento-ish excursion into surreal dream images. Remarkably, it almost succeeds, but a few near-mortal wounds make it lumber.

Unfortunately, the first apparent flaw emerges almost immediately. The events of the beginning of the film seem rushed. The astronaut, Spencer Armacost (Johnny Depp), and his wife, Jillian (Charlize Theron), are in bed one moment, the next minute Armacost is in space, and the moment after that she's learning that there's been a problem-"there was an explosion and we (NASA) lost contact with them for a couple minutes."(read more...)

I'm usually not entirely enthralled by 80s teen moves and I like 80s teen horror even less. However, this enjoyable vampire romp proves to be the exception. Sure, it's not without its flaws, but it's hard to get into this movie and not have a little fun.(read more...)

Wicked Games is an amateur production in every sense of the word. At that, however, it is far from the worst film I've seen. Yes, the performances are terrible, the editing frequently nonexistent, the sound often difficult to hear, the poorly written score is performed on cheap keyboards, it's shot on video tape (which makes it look like a home movie), the lighting is bad, etc., but there are a few worthwhile elements here.

Director and writer Tim Ritter (who is persistent enough to have seven films behind him to date) has created a decent story that holds your interest and keeps you guessing until the end -- as long as you can stick it out for about the first 15 - 20 minutes. The beginning of the film looks more like a really bad, amateur porno with no pay-offs.(read more...)