STEPHEN KING OUTSIDERS

CUJO (1983)

Donna Trenton (Dee Wallace) is a frustrated suburban housewife whose life is in turmoil after her husband Vic learns about her having an affair. Brett Camber (Billy Jacoby) is a young boy and a son of a mechanic, Joe, (Ed Lauter) whose only companion is a St. Bernard named "Cujo." Cujo is bitten by a bat with rabies and his behavior begins to change. While the dog begins to succumb to the disease, Brett and his mother leave for Connecticut to visit his mother's sister. When Donna and her young son, Tad (Danny Pintauro), drive out to the home where Cujo and the Cambers live, the gentle Cujo has been driven insane by rabies and has killed Joe and the Cambers' neighbor. Worse, their car gives out near the Camber's house and Donna and Tad are trapped inside while the massive dog waits outside, attacking repeatedly, all while Vic is out of town on a business trip...

Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. "Cujo" is an ancient Indian word meaning "unstoppable force". Stephen King cites this film as having the most effective scare of any of the movies based on his works, referring to the jolting scare where Cujo first leaps at the passenger window of the car. The film was #58 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

Director: Lewis Teague
Writter: Lauren Currier, Book: Stephen King (novel)
Starring: Dee Wallace, Danny Pintauro, Daniel Hugh-Kelly, Christopher Stone, Ed Lauter
Running Time: 91min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0k21yeVMbM

Rating: 8.5/10

DOLAN'S CADILLAC (2009)

In Las Vegas, school teachers Robinson and his wife Elizabeth are trying for a baby. While horse riding through the desert one evening, Elizabeth witnesses the execution of two coyotes and an illegal immigrant by the human trafficker Jimmy Dolan and decides to report the incident to the police. However, she loses her cellular and Dolan finds it, tracks her address down and threatens her. Elizabeth goes to the FBI with Robinson and they move to a safe house under the protection of two agents. When Elizabeth sneaks from the house to buy pregnancy tests, her car explodes and she dies. Robinson decides to avenge Elizabeth's death...

Based on a short story of the same name by Stephen King. Sylvester Stallone was originally slated to play the role of Jimmy Dolan. He was later replaced with Christian Slater. In Vegas Dolan stays at The Montressor Hotel. This is a tip to the story that inspired Stephen King to write 'Dolan's Cadillac' - Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado'.

Director: Jeff Beesley
Writter: Richard Dooling, Book: Stephen King (short story)
Starring: Wes Bentley, Christian Slater, Emmanuelle Vaugier
Running Time: 105min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Mv-f_08j4

Rating: 8/10

NEEDFUL THINGS (1993)

Leland Gaunt comes to Sheriff Alan Pangborn's pleasant little New England town, and opens a store. What this kindly Satan sells is whatever you need, from a surcease from pain to an object which you have always coveted. The Faustian price is, of course, corruption, and soon the poor sheriff's town is wracked by jealousy, spite, and violence.

Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. The setting of Needful Things is a fictional town called Castle Rock, Maine - as in Stephen King's novel. The distribution company Castle Rock was named after it when it released Stand by Me (1986). Castle Rock was also the setting for The Dead Zone (1983), Cujo (1983), and The Dark Half (1993).

Director: Fraser C. Heston
Writter: W.D. Richter, Book: Stephen King (novel)
Starring: Max von Sydow, Ed Harris, Bonnie Bedelia, J. T. Walsh
Running Time: 120min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFfdgoGJeEI&feature=related

Rating: 7/10

SERIAL KILLING

MANHUNTER (1986)

Will Graham is a former FBI agent who recently retired to Florida with his wife Molly and their young son. Graham was a 'profiler'; one who profiles criminal's behavior and tries to put his mind into the minds of criminals to examine their thoughts while visiting crime scenes. Will is called out of his self-imposed retirement at the request of his former boss Jack Crawford to help the FBI catch an elusive serial killer, known to the press as the 'Tooth Fairy', who randomly kills whole families in their houses during nights of the full moon and leaves bite marks on his victims...

The film was originally going to use the novel's title, Red Dragon. When Year of the Dragon bombed at the box office in 1985, producer Dino De Laurentiis decided to change the title. The cinematographer was Dante Spinotti, who also served as the director of photography on Red Dragon, the 2002 film version of the novel. Despite generally positive critical reviews, the film performed poorly at the box office.

Director: Michael Mann
Writter: Michael Mann, Book: Thomas Harris
Starring: William Petersen, Kim Greist, Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan
Running Time: 120min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czVMfUd5dFI

Rating: 9.5/10


HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986)

Henry likes to kill people, in different ways each time. Henry shares an apartment with Otis. When Otis' sister comes to stay, we see both sides of Henry; the "guy-next-door" and the serial killer.

The character of Henry is loosely based on real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. In prison, Henry Lee Lucas confessed to over 600 murders, claiming he committed roughly one murder a week between his release from prison in 1975 to his arrest in 1983. The film was shot on 16mm in less than a month with a budget of only $110,000. A sequel, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Part 2, was released in 1996.

Director: John McNaughton
Writter: Richard Fire, John McNaughton
Starring: Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold
Running Time: 83min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU3P6WXzvXU

Rating: 8/10


AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000)

A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as mental instability and blood lust lead him to serial killing...

Based on Bret Easton Ellis's novel of the same name. The soundtrack for the film was scored by John Cale, with artists such as David Bowie, The Cure, and New Order.

Director: Mary Harron
Writters: Mary Harron, Guinevere Turner, Book: Bret Easton Ellis
Starring: Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Reese Witherspoon, Chloë Sevigny, Jared Leto, Justin Theroux
Running Time: 101min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU3P6WXzvXU

Rating: 8/10


PEEPING TOM (1960)

Mark Lewis, works as a focus puller in a British film studio. On his off hours, he supplies a local porno shop with cheesecake photos and also dabbles in filmmaking. A lonely, unfriendly, sexually repressed fellow, Mark is obsessed with the effects of fear and how they are registered on the face and behavior of the frightened. This obsession dates from the time when, as a child, he served as the subject of some cold-blooded experiments in the psychology of terror conducted by his own scientist father. As a grown man, Mark becomes a compulsive murderer who kills women and records their contorted features and dying gasps on film...

The title derives from the slang expression 'peeping Tom' describing a voyeur. Its controversial subject and the extremely harsh reception by critics effectively destroyed Powell's career as a director in the United Kingdom. However, it attracted a cult following, and in later years, it has been re-evaluated and is now considered a masterpiece.

Director: Michael Powell
Writters: Leo Marks
Starring: Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley
Running Time: 101min
Country: United Kingdom
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU3P6WXzvXU

Rating: 9/10

POOR POOR GIRL...

ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968)

A young couple move into a new apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins controlling her life...

Based on the bestselling 1967 novel by Ira Levin. The film received mostly positive reviews and earned numerous nominations and awards. The American Film Institute ranked the film 9th in their 100 Years…100 Thrills list. The official tagline of the film is "Pray for Rosemary's Baby."
For the scene where Rosemary is raped by Satan, Rosemary's Baby ranked #23 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments. Contrary to an urban legend, Anton LaVey did not play the role of Satan in the rape scene of Rosemary's Baby. In fact it was actor Clay Tanner, and no technical advisor was used.
Thirty years after he wrote Rosemary's Baby, Ira Levin wrote Son of Rosemary, a sequel which he dedicated to the film's star, Mia Farrow.
A 2009-2010 remake of Rosemary's Baby was briefly considered. The intended producers were Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller.
The remake fell through in 2008.

Director: Roman Polanski
Writter: Roman Polanski, Book: Ira Levin
Starring: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy
Running Time: 136min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otPyEsObI1M

Rating: 10/10


THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (2007)

Inspired by true events, the film is set in 1958 and follows the story of two adolescent girls (Blythe Auffarth and Madeline Taylor) who, upon losing their parents in an accident, are sent to live with their Aunt Ruth (Blanche Baker), a sadistic psychopath. Unbeknownst to the residents of the small New Jersey suburb, the girls endure brutal punishment and torture at the hands of their aunt and three cousins.

Film adaptation of the 1989 novel of the same name by Jack Ketchum. It is loosely based on the true story of the murder of Sylvia Likens.
See also:
"An American Crime", which leans more in the direction of a documentary telling of the Likens story was scheduled for release at roughly the same time, but not released until a Showtime premiere in mid-2008.

Director: Gregory Wilson
Writter: Screenplay: Daniel Farrands, Philip Nutman, Novel: Jack Ketchum
Starring: Daniel Manche, Blanche Baker, Blythe Auffarth, Madeline Taylor
Running Time: 97min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=typY725pjZ4

Rating: 7/10


I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (2010)

New York short story writer Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton) rents an isolated cottage by a lake in the countryside to write her first novel. The arrival in town of the attractive and independent young woman attracts the attention of Johnny (Eron Tabor), the gas station manager, and Stanley (Anthony Nichols) and Andy (Gunter Kleemann), two unemployed youths who hang around the gas station. Jennifer receives a grocery delivery from Matthew (Richard Pace), who is shy and apparently mildly mentally retarded, and befriends him. Matthew is friends with the other three men and reports back to them about the beautiful woman he met, claiming he saw her breasts...

A remake of the controversial 1978 cult classic of the same name.

Director: Steven R. Monroe
Writter: Jeffrey Reddick
Starring: Sarah Butler, Chad Lindberg, Daniel Franzese, Rodney Eastman, Jeff Branson
Running Time: 107min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3zDSzULMqM

Rating: 6/10


ORPHAN (2009)

Kate and John Coleman are rebuilding their troubled marriage. Kate had a drinking problem, but is in therapy and is doing well. She has been sober for one year. The couple decides to adopt a child. When they meet the nine-year-old Russian girl, Esther, at the St. Marina Orphanage, they immediately fall in love with the well-educated orphan...

The film's content, depicting a murderous adopted person, was not well received by the adoption community. The controversy caused filmmakers to change a line in one of their trailers from "It must be difficult to love an adopted child as much as your own," to "I don’t think Mommy likes me very much."

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writter: David Leslie Johnson, Story: Alex Mace
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder, Jimmy Bennett
Running Time: 123min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ywOPNNii9w

Rating: 8/10

FOUND FOOTAGE GENRE TIMELINE

1980 CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST

A New York anthropologist named Professor Harold Monroe travels to the wild, inhospitable jungles of South America to find out what happened to a documentary film crew that disappeared two months before while filming a documentary about primitive cannibal tribes deep in the rain forest. With the help of two local guides, Professor Monroe encounters two tribes, the Yacumo and the Yanomamo. While under the hospitality of the latter tribe, he finds the remains of the crew and several reels of their undeveloped film...

Cannibal Holocaust achieved notability because its graphic violence aroused controversy. After its premiere in Italy, it was seized by a local magistrate, and Deodato was arrested on obscenity charges. He was charged with making a snuff film, due to rumors that some actors were killed on camera.

Director: Ruggero Deodato
Writter: Gianfranco Clerici
Starring: Robert Kerman, Carl Gabriel Yorke, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, Luca Barbareschi
Running Time: 96min
Country: Italy
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ-Xp6VC7RQ

Rating: 6,5/10

1999 THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

Three film students travel to Maryland to make a student film about a local urban legend... The Blair Witch. The three went into the woods on a two day hike to find the Blair Witch, and never came back. One year later, the students film and video was found in the woods. The footage was compiled and made into a movie. The Blair Witch Project...

The film relates the story of three young student filmmakers (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams) who hike into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch, and subsequently go missing. The viewer is told that the three were never found, although their video and sound equipment (along with most of the footage they shot) was discovered a year later. This "recovered footage" is presented as the film the viewer is watching.

Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Writter: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Starring: Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams
Running Time: 86min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZu1cTg-xUM&feature=related

Rating: 9/10

2007 PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

In 2006, Katie (Katie Featherston) and her boyfriend, Micah (Micah Sloat), are a young couple who recently moved into a two-story tract house in suburban San Diego, California. Katie claims that a ghostly presence has haunted her since her childhood and believes that it has followed her to their new home. She hires a psychic, Dr. Fredrichs (Mark Fredrichs), who assesses that she is being haunted not by a ghost, but by a demon...

Originally developed as an independent feature, the film was acquired by Paramount Pictures after representatives attending to a screening were impressed by it.

Director: Oren Peli
Writter: Oren Peli
Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Running Time: 86 min., 99 min.(Director's cut)
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074

Rating: 8/10

2010 THE LAST EXORCISM

The evangelical Reverend Cotton Marcus was raised by his father to be a preacher. He agrees that the filmmaker Iris Reisen and the cameraman Daniel Moskowitz make a documentary about his life. Cotton tells that when her wife Shanna Marcus had troubles in the delivery of their son Justin, he prioritized the doctor help to God and since then he questions his faith. Further, he tells that exorcisms are frauds but the results are good for the believers because they believe it is true. When Cotton is summoned by the farmer Louis Sweetzer to perform an exorcism in his daughter Nell, Cotton sees the chance to prove to the documentary crew what he has just told. They head to Ivanwood and they have a hostile reception from Louis's son Caleb. Cotton performs the exorcism in Nell, exposing his tricks to the camera, but sooner they learn that the dysfunctional Sweetzer family has serious problems...

It was announced that a poster for the film was banned in public UK places, due to the nature of the poster (described as "offensive", "distressing", and "unsuitable for public viewing") which received 77 complaints, of which two people claimed the girl in the poster seemed to have "suffered a sexual assault". It was then decided the advert was not allowed to be seen again in that format.

Director: Daniel Stamm
Writter: Huck Botko, Andrew Gurland
Starring: Patrick Fabian, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum
Running Time: 87min.
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NcYXzZCQsE

Rating: 7/10

LATEST OBSSESSIONS (7)

SAUNA (2008)
As a 25-year war between Russia and Sweden concludes, two brothers who are part of an effort to outline new border accords become undone by their actions, and their mistreatment of a young woman during their journey.

Director: Antti-Jussi Annila
Writter: Iiro Küttner
Starring: Ville Virtanen, Tommi Eronen, Viktor Klimenko
Running Time: 83min
Country: Finland
Official Web Site: http://www.bronsonclub.com/sauna/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si8IqpZc8Fo

Rating: 9/10

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 (2010)

In 2006, a "burglary" occurs at the home of Kristi (Sprague Grayden) and Dan Rey (Brian Boland). Every single room is completely trashed except for their infant son Hunter's bedroom. The only thing stolen is a necklace that Kristi's sister, Katie (Katie Featherston), had given to her. Dan installs a number of security cameras throughout the house to watch over their baby son, Hunter. The family starts to hear noises and see items fall or move on their own. Martine (Vivis Cortez), the family housekeeper and nanny, believes evil spirits are the cause and attempts to cleanse the house of "evil spirits," and Dan fires her after catching her burning sage. Katie and Kristi talk about being tormented by a demon or unknown spirit when they were children. Dan's daughter, Ali (Molly Ephraim), begins investigating the mysterious happenings. She discovers that on occasion, a human can make a deal with a demon for wealth or power by forfeiting the life of their firstborn son...

The film is a parallel prequel to the 2007 film Paranormal Activity, beginning two months before and following up with the events depicted in the original film.

Director: Tod Williams
Writters: Michael R. Perry, Christopher Landon, Tom Pabst, Oren Peli
Starring: David Bierend, Brian Boland, Molly Ephraim, Katie Featherston, Seth Ginsberg, Sprague Grayden
Running Time: 91min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07XbSk7Rjt4

Rating: 9/10

BURIED (2010)

Paul Conroy, a US truck driver, awakens buried alive, bound and gagged, with only a Zippo and a BlackBerry. Although he initially has no idea as to how he got there, he soon starts to piece together what has happened to him. Gradually, Paul remembers that he and several other convoys were ambushed by insurgents, then all the other truck drivers were killed shortly before he blacked out. After finding the cellphone, Paul attempts to contact his wife and his employers (who gave him a safety number if anything like this should occur) but is able only to leave a message for both of them...

Director: Rodrigo Cortés
Writters: Chris Sparling
Starring: Ryan Reynolds
Running Time: 94min
Country: Spain, United States, France
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Yyhxq56Xg

Rating: 9/10