This chapter finds a virus loosed on the public that turns them into vampires and lycans upon infection. With no cure in sight, martial law has been declared, with a “mass cleansing” immediately following. Amid this chaos, vampire super heroine Selene (Beckinsale, Contraband, Whiteout) is captured, only to awaken in and escape from a high-security […]
thriller
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Haywire
Similarly, he’s now built a movie around MMA fighter Gina Carano. The difference is that Haywire is no throwaway, for-the-fun-of-it flick, but a legitimate art film and literate espionage vehicle. Double-crossed in a Barcelona job, “company” agent Mallory Kane (Carano) finds herself set up — by her boss and lover, no less (Ewan McGregor, Beginners) […]
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The House Across the Street / Homicide
House is the better of the two, opening on the suburbian utopia of Hopkins Street on the morning of April 20. It’s a placid existence, complete with home delivery from the milkman. But when a phony postal worker knocks off a would-be trial witness on the watch of a rookie cop, there goes the neighborhood. […]
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Mother’s Day / 11-11-11
Produced in part by Brett Ratner and ostensibly a remake of a same-named piece of Troma trash from 1980, Mother’s Day is one of the better thrillers I’ve seen in recent memory, anchored by an honest-to-God great performance by Rebecca De Mornay as the mad matriarch of the title, as good as her celebrated comeback […]
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The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Despite leaving The Mystery of Edwin Drood incomplete when he died in 1870 (of all the nerve!), the book has hit the screen about half a dozen times since, most recently this two-hour version from the BBC, now on Blu-ray fresh from airing on PBS’ esteemed, enduring Masterpiece Classic showcase. Edwin Drood (Freddie Fox, The […]
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While the Patient Slept
The MOD DVD has the Federie clan gathering again on a dark and stormy night at the behest of patriarch Richard (Walter Walker, Dangerous) “to watch me die.” But first, he has something to say to everyone. Before he can, however, it’s R.I.P. via gunshot — oh, not for Richard, but one of his sons […]
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The Red House
Then one night after joining the Morgan clan for post-labor supper, Nath mentions something about cutting through Ox Head Woods on his walk home, prompting the farmer to bark warnings about a supposedly cursed and evil piece of property deep within. Mr. Morgan begs Nath and Meg to stay away, to not go near that […]
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Dark Tide
In South Africa, Berry (New Year’s Eve) unconvincingly plays Kate, a shark expert and pro diver reduced to running ship tours for tourists, however few there are, after more or less turning one of her fellow divers to chum a year beforehand. Guilt keeps her from getting back into dangerous waters until her old flame, […]
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The Divide
No sooner as the movie opened than a nuclear bomb has dropped. The precious few apartment building residents with the most recognizable, screen-friendly faces are those who conveniently find shelter in the basement, barricaded by a huge steel door that the supe, Mickey (Michael Biehn, Take Me Home Tonight), seals to keep out any radiation. […]
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The Case of the Black Parrot
Aboard an ocean liner depicted by really rough stock footage, intrepid journalist Jim Moore (William Lundigan, The Sea Hawk) and his ukulele-strumming cameraman/war buddy, Tripod (Eddie Foy Jr., The Pajama Game), are on a doozy of an assignment when they’re told about an impending strike of The Black Parrot, Europe’s master criminal. Explains old rich […]