Duma (2005)

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“Duma” is basically the sort of film children can watch without damaging messages, and I’m all for that. These days it’s impossible to find watchable children’s films, but “Duma” treats its audience with consideration presenting heroes that are relatable, and an animal character that’s never goofy. “Duma” is an epic story about a father and son whom discover a baby Cheetah on the side of the road one night in their homeland. They take the baby back home with them and decide to raise it until its old enough to go on its own. But when young Xan’s father dies (Campbell Scott), Xan is forced to move back to the city with his mother along with Duma who can not adapt to his urban settings.

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The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

2006_hills_have_eyes_wallpaWhen news broke out Craven was producing a remake (yes, another fucking remake) to his classic “The Hills Have Eyes” I groaned. I’ll admit, I’m not a fan of the original film that’s still branded a classic. I saw it twice and it just didn’t resonate with me. The cannibals looked like cavemen/WWE wrestlers, the acting was horrible, the plot dragged, and I just wasn’t satisfied. While I can and do appreciate its importance in horror (hence the collective groan after the remake news) I just didn’t care for it. I was weary of this remake since about 95 percent of modern horror remakes are terrible (i.e. House of Wax, TCM), but two words instantly turned me in to someone really anxious to watch this. Alexandre Aja.

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The Cave (2005)

thecaveApparently, the hype from “The Cave” and the proceeding negative reviews for it really were up to par with what the film had to offer. As always, in spite of bad reviews, I put up hope that “The Cave” would turn out to be a fun, exciting, tense film, but I was proven wrong again. And let me tell you, after “The Descent” this is nothing but child’s play, a recreation in spite of coming out almost at the same time as Marshall’s horror fest.

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Cube Zero (2004)

cubezeroJust so we know where we stand, I disliked Cube, and hated Cube 2: Hypercube, both films that made the basic horror/science fiction fan cream their pants. Though the concepts were original, the writers and creators did very little with it and thus we were given much repetition in both. One is about a bunch of people in a cube maze with death traps, Cube 2 was just basically a lot more of the same thing, and it seems to me the creators figured out that they needed to change it or else continue repeating the same old stuff, so they created this prequel/semi-sequel called “Cube Zero”.

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Fortress (1986)

If you’re a fan of “Lord of the Flies”, “Battle Royale”, or just hostage thrillers in general, that is a very rare film to find, one that may be lost if time has its way. The film, based on a true story, is not only just a hostage thriller reminiscent of stories like “The Most Dangerous Game”, but in the end, ends up becoming a truly cautionary tale on what kids, with the right influence from adults, and pushed far enough to the edge, are capable of without conscience. Directed by Arch Nicholson, this is a very tense and engrossing thriller that calls for the wits of a young teacher named Sally, played by the decent Rachel Ward. Sally is a character that never really loses her cool in the face of danger and ends up becoming a very primal influence on the children she teaches, whom in the end, end up becoming deadlier than they seem.

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The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Roland Emmerich can pretend “The Day After Tomorrow” is more than a movie but also an attempt to show the government what may happen and all that jazz, but in the end it’s really just a creepy science fiction tale with a lot of special effects and that’s all, not to mention it’s really good popcorn cinema. If one went to the theaters during its run for a good time, they may have gotten just that, because I had a good time. In “The Day After Tomorrow”, Emmerich this time focuses on the apocalypse through an array of characters as is always the formula with him. Jake Gyllenhaal takes a leap into the mainstream as Sam Hall, a high school student coming to New York with his two friends to compete in a school competition; Sam isn’t close with his father Jack because he’s barely ever around due to his scientific work, but Jack, while in the Antarctic discovers a massive decrease in polar ice caps melting and discovers that the worlds temperatures are dropping thus causing cataclysmic results and will bring the world to a new ice age.

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Dawn of the Dead (2004)

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In 1978, George A. Romero followed up his classic “Night of the Living Dead” with an even bigger horror hit known as “Dawn of the Dead” this time showing the world only weeks after the outbreak where society is now overrun by the undead and carnage ensues as people struggle to comprehend what is happening and how it happened. True, director Zack Snyder’s re-working of “Dawn” is a lot slicker than the original, but ultimately it lacks the truly sick and sometimes twisted satire and jabs at pop culture and the consumer era.

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