SCIENCE FICTION TERROR

ALIEN (1979)

When a mining ship lands on a planet to investigate upon a suspected SOS, the entire crew are unaware of the terror which they would unleash upon their ship. When a alien life-form attach's itself to the face of a crew member, the rest of the team act fast to try and separate the two organisms. Unbeknownst to everyone, this is the start of the terror which would affect every member of the seven person crew...

Dan O'Bannon wrote the screenplay from a story by him and Ronald Shusett, drawing influence from previous works of science fiction and horror. Producers David Giler and Walter Hill made significant revisions and additions to the script. The titular Alien and its accompanying elements were designed by Swiss surrealist artist H. R. Giger, while concept artists Ron Cobb and Chris Foss designed the human aspects of the film. Giger's designs were changed several times because of their blatant sexuality. He would successfully sue 20th Century Fox 18 years later over his lack of screen credit on Alien: Resurrection. The success of Alien spawned a media franchise of novels, comic books, video games, and toys, as well as three sequel and two prequel films.

Director: Ridley Scott
Writter: Dan O'Bannon
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm
Running Time: 119min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojhGdRSkiUw

Rating: 10/10


CUBE (1997)

Six different people, each from a very different walk of life, awaken to find themselves inside a giant cube with thousands of possible rooms. Each has a skill that becomes clear when they must band together to get out: a cop, a math whiz, a building designer, a doctor, an escape master, and a disabled man. Each plays a part in their thrilling quest to find answers as to why they've been imprisoned...

This film was shot in twenty days and the majority of it was shot with a hand-held camera. To show their support for the Toronto film industry, the special effects company C.O.R.E. did the digital effects for free. All of the characters are named after prisons: Quentin (San Quentin, California), Holloway (England), Kazan (Russia), Rennes (France), Alderson (Alderson, West Virginia), Leaven and Worth (Leavenworth, Kansas). An episode of the original The Twilight Zone television series, "Five Characters in Search of an Exit," was reportedly an inspiration for the movie. Despite its low budget, the film achieved moderate commercial success and has acquired cult status.
Cube is followed by the sequel Cube 2: Hypercube (2002) and the prequel Cube Zero (2004).

Director: Vincenzo Natali
Writters: André Bijelic, Graeme Manson, Vincenzo Natali
Starring: Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, David Hewlett, Andrew Miller
Running Time: 90min
Country: Canada
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01hUyIrubWE

Rating: 9/10


EVENT HORIZON (1997)

In the year 2047 a group of astronauts are sent to investigate and salvage the long lost starship "Event Horizon". The ship disappeared mysteriously 7 years before on its maiden voyage and with its return comes even more mystery as the crew of the "Lewis and Clark" discover the real truth behind its disappearance and something even more terrifying...

The Event Horizon was named after the theoretical boundary surrounding a black hole, within which gravitational attraction is so great that nothing, not even radiation, can escape because the escape velocity is greater than the speed of light.

Director: Paul W. S. Anderson
Writters: Philip Eisner
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones, Jack Noseworthy
Running Time: 97min
Country: United Kingdom, United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd0nQUF00Sg

Rating: 8/10

BLOOD LUST

NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (1979)

Jonathan Harker is sent away to Count Dracula's castle to sell him a house in Virna, where he lives. But Count Dracula is a vampire, an undead ghoule living of men's blood. Inspired by a photograph of Lucy Harker, Jonathan's wife, Dracula moves to Virna, bringing with him death and plague... An unusually contemplative version of Dracula, in which the vampire bears the cross of not being able to get old and die...

Film's original German title is Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht ("Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night"). It was conceived as a stylistic remake of the 1922 German Dracula adaptation, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens.The film also marks the second of five collaborations between director Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski, immediately followed by 1979's Woyzeck. The movie was shot simultaneously in German and English. An almost completely unrelated sequel, Vampire in Venice, was released in 1988 by director Augusto Caminito, with only Klaus Kinski returning to reprise his loosely connected role.

Director: Werner Herzog
Writter: Werner Herzog, Bram Stoker (novel)
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz
Running Time: 107min
Country: West Germany, France
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeYpGsEdEZU

Rating: 9.5/10

MARTIN (1977)

Martin (John Amplas) sedates women with a syringe full of narcotics and then slices their wrists with a razor blade so he can drink their blood. Martin, who comes to live with his granduncle and cousin in the dying town of Braddock, Pennsylvania, has romantic monochrome visions of vampiric seductions and torch-lit mobs, but it is impossible to tell how seriously he takes them. Martin's granduncle, the superstitious old Tada Cuda, has reluctantly agreed to give Martin room and board as he is the closest living relative. Cuda is very much a Lithuanian Catholic who treats Martin like an Old World vampire and tries unsuccessfully to repel Martin with strings of garlic bulbs around the home and a crucifix...

The original cut of the film ran nearly 2 hours 45 minutes. Romero has confirmed that there is no known existing copy of this legendary cut at a recent screening of the film in New York City. Tom Savini also did the stunts (and special makeup effects) in the film. George A. Romero originally wanted the entire film to be in black and white, but the producers didn't want to risk this experiment and insisted that the majority of the film be in color. Much like Romero's Dawn of the Dead, Martin was edited for the European market, under the title of Wampyr. This version is only available in an Italian dubbed version. This version's score was performed by the band Goblin.

Director: George A. Romero
Writter: George A. Romero
Starring: John Amplas, Elyane Nadeau, Tom Savini
Running Time: 95min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SwXSiGpCxc&feature=related

Rating: 8/10


THIRST (2009)

Sang-hyun, a priest working for a hospital, selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine development project intended to eradicate a deadly virus. However, the virus eventually takes over the priest. He nearly dies, but makes a miraculous recovery by an accidental transfusion of vampire blood. He realizes his sole reason for living: the pleasures of the flesh...

Film is loosely based on the novel Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola. It is the first mainstream Korean film to feature full-frontal adult male nudity (but not the first-ever commercially-released South Korean film to do so) The film won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Director: Park Chan-wook
Writter: Park Chan-wook, Jeong Seo-Kyeong
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Shin Ha-kyun
Running Time: 133 min, S. Korea: 145 min (director's cut), Canada: 148 min (Blu-ray)
Country: South Korea
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksHBkbERaJI

Rating: 8/10

THE KIDS ARE ALLRIGHT

THE OMEN (1976)

Robert and Katherine Thorn seem to have it all. They are happily married and he is the US Ambassador to Italy, but they want more than to have children. When Katharine has a stillborn child, Robert is approached by a priest at the hospital who suggests that they take a healthy newborn whose mother has just died in childbirth. Without telling his wife he agrees. After relocating to London, strange events - and the ominous warnings of a priest - lead him to believe that the child he took from that Italian hospital is evil incarnate...

Two endings were filmed. The original ending featured a child's casket with Robert and Katherine's, indicating Damien was also killed. But the studio head, Alan Ladd, Jr., said whilst The Omen was a great movie the first ending was a mistake: you cannot kill the devil! He gave Donner additional funds to refilm the ending. The site used for the Megiddo archaeological dig is a real dig, just not in Megiddo. It is located in the Old City of Jerusalem, on the southern end of the Temple Mount. An original score for the film was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, for which he received the only Oscar of his long career.
A remake, The Omen, was released on June 6, 2006.

Director: Richard Donner
Writter: David Seltzer
Starring: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw
Running Time: 111min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PuIBNLOeEU

Rating: 10/10


THE ORPHANAGE (2007)
(Spanish: El Orfanato)

Laura, a former orphan, raises her adopted son Simón together with her husband Carlos in an old house and former orphanage where she was raised. While at the orphanage Simón tells Laura that he has five invisible friends which she believes are a product of his active imagination. Laura decides to reopen the orphanage to cater for disabled children and throws a party. During the party Simón tries to persuade Laura to go and take a look at his friends cabin but she's too busy. Later on she sees a mysterious masked boy and realizes that Simón has also disappeared...

The film's script was written by Sergio G. Sánchez in 1996 and brought to the attention of Bayona in 2004. Bayona asked his long-time friend, director Guillermo del Toro, to help produce the film and to double its budget and filming time. Bayona wanted the film to capture the feel of 1970s Spanish cinema; he cast Geraldine Chaplin and Belén Rueda, who were later praised for their roles in the film.
It received critical acclaim from audiences in its native Spain, winning seven Goya awards. New Line Cinema bought the rights to the film for an American remake.

Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Writter: Sergio G. Sánchez
Starring: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep, Geraldine Chaplin, Montserrat Carulla
Running Time: 105min
Country: Spain - Mexico
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUZQgqxIZ6s

Rating: 9/10


HANSEL AND GRETEL (2007)

When Eun-soo gets lost in a country road, he meets a mysterious girl and is led to her fairytale ike house in the middle of the forest. There, Eun-soo is trapped with the girl and her siblings who never age. Eun-soo finally discovers a way out which is written on a fairy tale book. But the book tells a story of none other than himself!

Director: Yim Pil-Sung
Writter: Kim Min Suk
Starring: Cheon Jeong-myeong, Eun Won-jae, Shim Eun-kyeong, Jin Ji-hye
Running Time: 117min
Country: South Korea
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlfnhVsbyeQ&playnext=1&list=PL8E4BCAB3B615465E

Rating: 7/10


THE OTHER (1972)

In the summer of 1935, 9-year-old twins Niles and Holland Perry live with their family on a Connecticut farm. Their loving grandmother Ada has taught them something called "the game." A number of accidents begin happening, and it seems to Niles that Holland is responsible. It is Ada who begins to see the truth, and she is the only one who can stop this macabre game of murder...

Adapted for film by Tom Tryon, from his bestselling novel. This is the only movie appearance by the twins Chris and Martin Udvarnoky, the featured stars. Despite the grotesque nature of the plot, composer Jerry Goldsmith elected to give the film a mostly upbeat score to reflect the childish innocence of its main character. More often than not, the film's darker scenes feature no music at all. Goldsmith's compositions for the film can be heard in a 22 minute suite found on the soundtrack album of The Mephisto Waltz. This CD was released 25 years after the release of the film.

Director: Robert Mulligan
Writter: Tom Tryon (also novel)
Starring: Uta Hagen, Diana Muldaur, Chris Udvarnoky, Martin Udvarnoky
Running Time: 108min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMmMqWkudgA

Rating: 8/10