Tag Archives: Thriller

Sleepers (1996)

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Director Barry Levinson’s 1996 “Sleepers” is a rich and compelling movie that straddles many genres from the coming of age, to courtroom, to the thriller, to revenge. “Sleepers” is a movie for anyone with a taste for cinema that explore childhood innocence and the end of it at the hands of pure evil. Director Levinson’s film tells the story of young boys in the 1960’s slums of Hell’s Kitchen in Queens. Bonded due to their religious loyalties and their relationship with patriarchal Father Bobby (DeNiro in one of the last great roles of his career), they often find themselves constantly walking the line between saintly and pure criminal.

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American Mary (2012)

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The crux of “American Mary” depends on the performance by Katharine Isabelle. While the film itself is a unique and very entertaining tale about revenge, madness, and masochism, the lead performance of Mary is most important. Almost any other actor probably would have played the character of Mary Mason completely over the top, but Katharine Isabelle’s turn as a slowly unraveling sadist with revenge on her mind is incredible. Even brilliant.

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Juan of the Dead (2011)

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“Juan of the Dead” is a silly and occasionally creepy zombie movie, but one that also dares to have a brain and display some very volatile commentary about the state of Cuba, and the inherent poverty that runs rampant. Though Juan lives in poverty and is mostly considered a loser by most in his neighborhood, he’s managed to carve out a comfortable existence for himself, and is something of a saving grace for neighbors. After Juan and his friend Lazaro come across a rotted corpse while fishing that attempts to bite them, they kill it and then decide never to talk about it again. What’s funny is that most of the situations may seem like a warning sign to most, but director Brugués comments on the state of Cuba through it.

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Assault On Precinct 13 (1976): Collector’s Edition [Blu-ray]

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Almost forty years later, director John Carpenter’s “Assault on Precinct 13” is still an excellent and mean contemporary western that never lets up on its audience. Director Carpenter has a knack for lensing the world to look like an alien habitat filled with despair and evil, and “Assault” is no exception. What begins as moving day for a local precinct descends in to violence, chaos, and murder with an enemy that will stop at nothing to quench its thirst for vengeance.

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Body Bags: Collector’s Edition (1993) [BluRay/DVD]

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What began as a concept for an anthology series was formed to become a pretty solid anthology horror film that has the advantage of director John Carpenter under its wing. Surely, it’s not the best anthology movie ever made. It’s not even in the top ten anthology horror movies ever made, but it promises a decent horror trip with three stories varying in quality and often jarring changes in tone. Director John Carpenter comes out of his shell as a decrepit and demented coroner who brings us in to his morgue to gander at the bodies in his care. Every corpse has a story to tell, and he brings us the tale of three unfortunate souls.

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Demonic Toys 2: Personal Demons (2010)

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Well, one thing I can say about “Demonic Toys 2” is that it at least tries to feature the monsters from Demonic Toys. It avoids bringing back the laser shooting robot, and the evil teddy bear for obviously budgetary purposes, but it seems to try. There are moments even when we see the demonic toys in full form. But that’s rare. Basically “Demonic Toys 2” can’t hold a candle to the original. Which is sad considering the original was barely mediocre to begin with.

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