Directed by John Frankenheimer Seconds is a deeply paranoid film, rightly so since it's the third in John Frankenheimer's "paranoia" trilogy, following The Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May. Where those two films dealt with paranoia in the pursuit of power, however, this one deals with paranoia in the quest for freedom. Filmed in distorting wide angles … Continue reading Seconds (1966)
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Trouble Every Day (2001)
Directed by Claire Denis Vincent Gallo can really act with his eyes, maybe not quite as much with his voice, but holy sh*t those eyes are at times frightening and magnetic. Claire Denis takes advantage of it in this moody, disturbing, sensual cannibalistic daydream of a movie. It's not exactly overtly frightening but rather deliberate … Continue reading Trouble Every Day (2001)
Greta (2018)
Directed by Neil Jordan Greta is a modern, dark fairytale as well as a stylish stalker-thriller, though maybe those things now go hand in hand. It's pulpy, sensational, absurd and all around pretty wonderful, a genre movie with modest ambitions that delivers on what is promised. It starts bright and beautiful, with two friends, Frances … Continue reading Greta (2018)
Charade (1963)
Directed by Stanley Donen Charade was released to a shell-shocked audience a month after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. To some it might've felt suddenly outdated, the bankable Hollywood stars and happy ending proving to be out of touch with an increasingly grim reality, and to others it might've been a soothing sense of … Continue reading Charade (1963)
Mother! (2017)
Directed by Darren Aronofsky In Mother! an idyllic countryside home is descended upon by unwelcome outsiders. Inside the home live a man and a woman (Javier Bardem, Jennifer Lawrence), a happy young (when you average their ages) couple. He is a poet struggling with writer's block, and she is the one putting the once decrepit house … Continue reading Mother! (2017)
A Quiet Place (2018)
Directed by John Krasinski A Quiet Place was quite the buzzed about movie for a little while there, and it only took me about half a year to catch up. I avoided the movie in theaters because, frankly, I'm terrible at watching horror movies. Every jump scare terrifies me, and this movie about deadly blind … Continue reading A Quiet Place (2018)
The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
Directed by Terence Fisher The Man Who Could Cheat Death is pure, delightful pulp outside of a long conversation on the morality of immortality. It's actually quite a good movie, one whose selling points indicate none of the real quality of the film. This is a horror movie that is never quite horrifying, a drama … Continue reading The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
The Ring (2002)
Directed by Gore Verbinski The Ring is much more of a detective story than a true horror film. Sure, I found particular moments a little terrifying, but most of the horror comes from the eerie atmosphere and a sense of dread that hangs over the entire movie. When a young girl dies in the cold … Continue reading The Ring (2002)
The Shining (1980)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick The Shining is so famous, so analyzed, so iconographic that it's hard to have an original opinion about it. I assume I like it, because I do, but is that belief really my own or did I know I had to like it going in? This is a chilling horror film, … Continue reading The Shining (1980)
The Spiral Staircase (1946)
Directed by Robert Siodmak The Spiral Staircase takes place almost entirely within a large manor on a stormy night. Helen takes care of the bedridden Mrs. Warren within the estate. She wanders among the help and the other Warrens, all upper class elites. Helen is also mute, and so she silently observes the ways all … Continue reading The Spiral Staircase (1946)
