One of the greatest Sci-Fi films ever created! Most of you have probably already seen this film at least once. For those of you that have not, see it!

The most profound ending in a film ever, still raises my neck hairs!

"Planet of the Apes" 1968

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjcpRHuPjOI

Terry Gilliam does it again!

"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jU3AimFaz0

Carpenter and Russell need to make Escape from Earth before its too late! And it would be really cool if they did it old school sans CGI!

Not a true horror film per verbatim, but it sure is a nightmare!

"Lost Highway" 1997

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMWMCbQxEsE

I'd see it!

I'd say Inception and District 9 perhaps?

Not to say D9 was dead serious, but it still presented some serious dilemmas and commentary.

Not really anything to do with what you just wrote, but I said earlier, "Monsters," which is a huge allegory to illegal Mexican immigrants (aliens) invading our border, & Mexico pretty much feeling helpless against the USA's all encompassing economic & military power. Also, Americans feeling the prejudice/resentment of Mexicans in power taking advantage of what they see as rich Americans.

A surrealistic, hallucinatory, little horror fable from the mind of director Ken Russell.

How did Mary Shelly come up with the idea of Frankenstein?

Ken Russell has always been a love it, or hate director of films. This movie is no different. There is no middle ground, only, love or hate.

"Gothic" 1986

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2hl5Ee5_1E

4 Stars = Classic

This thought provoking Sci-Fi film, is not for the person who wants a fast moving shallow story, but for the person who likes a movie deeper than the average water puddle. A film to reflect on. A film that rewards the viewer with enlightenment with each consecutive viewing.

If your looking for "Star Wars" (I love "Star Wars"), then this is not your space ship, but if your looking for a deep story about the inner workings of a man's mind, & possibly, the beyond, then this is your passport for thought.


"Solaris" 2002

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4sJA-E51bQ

Planning on watching this one and the Tarkovsky one soon. Both seem really good.

Hope you like them!

Very dark Sci-Fi film, almost verging in to the horror genre too. If you like a good mind fuck film, then give this one a chance!

"Dark City" 1998

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSpowoKqSzc

Rented this a couple years ago, looked promising but it was so damn cheesy and juvenile. I had to turn it off about 30 mins in, maybe it gets good after that?

4 1/2 Stars = Minor Masterpiece

Here is a great one for you Pacino fans!

Al is infatuatedly hypnotizing as Satan (the supernatural Godfather), undercover as the head of a large successful lawyer's firm in NYC. Pacino is funny, charming, & devious, as he weaves & woes his victims in this film, with devilish glee! He recruits Keanu Reeves to be his next big hot shot lawyer, or at least that is what Keanu thinks. What follows is taught, surrealistic ride, where everything is not as it seems, & Satan has plans to challenge God one more time for the world of man.

Shades of "Rosemary's Baby," saturate this film, but it is not a knock off, but a heavily influenced film of that great movie, that can stand on it's own two cloven hoofs. It is, in my opinion, the best film influenced by Roman Polanski's masterpiece, & though a lesser film, it's not by much!

The cast, direction, editing, & script are all superb, as Pacino orchestrates his agenda on those who would be his soldiers, or victims, whichever way you prefer to interpret it, to do his bidding in his war with God.

"The Devil's Advocate" 1997

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpkTjtmuNA4

4 1/2 = Minor Masterpiece

Dark, dark, movie, set aptly in the Dark Ages.

There are murders going on in a monk monastery. A Franciscan Monk (Sean Connery in a dark ages Sherlock Holmes role)) & his aid (A very young Christian Slater) are there to investigate the murders.

Great atmosphere, dripping with dread & suspense, fill this film with foreboding. Very realistic sets, costumes, make up, & the cinematography is absolutely beautifully bleak! The cast is uniformly excellent in their roles. Ron Pearlman exudes pathos & malevolence at the same time, as the deformed hunchback, who is one of the suspected murders, maybe his best role as far as stretching his acting abilities. F. Murray Abraham exudes malicious sadistic intent, as the Spanish Inquisitor. Sean Connery & Christian Slater are a perfect paring of master & apprentice.

A portrait of the total iron fisted rule of the Catholic Church in the Dark ages, where no one dare utter a progressive, scientific thought. A portrait of the miserable, masochistic, sadistic, & isolated life's of the monks, who haunt more than inhabit this film!

Highly recommend for those who love the bleakness of a time where a wrong word could make you a heretic, or worse, a witch, fictionalized in a movie very accurately, very, entertaining!

"The Name of the Rose" 1986

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsjKsl1bY0Y

I know, this is a very well known film, but it's my favorite horror film. Just indulging myself a little today.

I love to read what others say about "Hellraiser," but it never fails to amaze me, even in regards to people who love this film, how much many misunderstand it. People write on & on what great horror icons the "Cenobites" are, & yes this is true, they have made a huge impact to cinema horror, but the "Cenobites" are not what this truly intelligent horror film is about...no, not at all!

This is a film about Frank & Julia. Frank will stop at nothing to find the next thrill, even if it means his physical & metaphysical destruction. Julia is the cool aloof wife of Larry, Frank's brother. Julia is seduced by Frank's dark & sadistic sexual aura, though that same aura lay dormant in Julia until Frank awakened it by seducing Julia before her wedding to Larry. "I'll do anything," Julia desperately confesses to Frank to keep his affection. Little does Julia dream that in the future that will be exactly what she has to do to keep Frank, after he unleashes "the Box," & its horror, the Cenobites. In what is truly an Oscar worthy performance, Julia (Claire Higgins) the aloof, but so far non-threating wife transforms into the murderous, cold, calculating queen bitch, to ressurect & have Frank. To bad we've not seen more of her in other films.

Yes, "Hellraiser" is about treachery in the family, the worse sort, deception & murder. "Hellraiser" is about blind love. Larry's unswerving devotion to Julia, which makes him the last to know, & seals his doom. "Hellraiser" is about the tragic plight of Kristy trying to save her father. What could be worse than knowing a loved one is going to be murdered & you could not stop it? "Hellraiser" is about real life plausible situations that are better off left alone, the darkest part of the human psyche, to want something so bad you're will to sacrifice anything & anyone to achieve it, maybe even your self. "Hellraiser" aptly uses the theme of don't tempt fate ("the Box"), unless your prepared to be taken by it, as the "Cenobites" so profoundly demonstrat.

So yes, the true monster of this story is ambition & want. The "Cenobites" are just a cataclysmic vehicle (a very disturbing one) to carry Julia & Frank to their just deserts in the end. "Hellraiser" made the "Cenobites" seem like ultimate bogeymen by giving them little screen time & keeping them mysteriously cryptic to the audience, something later films could've benefited from. Thus "Pinhead" & crew were much more menacing & potent in this first, & by far the best, most intelligent film of the series, & in horror cinema.... But again, it was Julia & Frank, & their ambition & want that were the true terrors here. Nothing is more disturbing & horrific than discovering someone(s) you love & trust will eventually murder you.

Chilling!

"Hellraiser" 1987

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAx34IZ8bTk

For those of you that love the old Amicus Studio's horror anthologies, you could do a lot worse than this little gem. Worth the price of admission alone, for the Christopher Lee segment of a disembodied hand stalking him for revenge!

"Dr. Terrors House of Horrors" 1964

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCaq5Oh8Clc

A direct ancestor to "the Re-Animator."

"The Frozen Dead" 1967

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owk9CNzi2o8

Well, it's hard to improve on what's already a great movie by that point, but it does get better, yes.

Stuart Gordon's (the Re-Animator) remake of the Roger Corman classic that starred Vincient Price.

Lance Henriksen gets to sink his teeth in his part, in this one!

"The Pit & the Pendulum" 1991

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm1E-tMPniw

I think this movie gets a bum rap. Sure, it's not perfect. It has flaws, some gaping, but it's a hell of a ride, & Gabriel Byrne as Satan, is brilliant casting!

"End of Days" 1999

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzkwtbyiaME

Am I the only one that reads jim's posts starting from the end?

Sorry bro, but if i dont happen to like the movie, I don't wanna read a paragraph about it before i figure out what movie yer talking about

Thanks for the comments!

Yep, you got to read the bottom first!

Very funny black comedy about inky dinky spiders who invade the country side from South America.

John Goodman is hilarious as the know it all, inept, pest control man.

"Arachnophobia" 1990

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aQ6vg3JB2U

With the excellent prequel to John Carpenter's, "The Thing," & of course, "The Thing" it's self, I think many have forgot about the original. A classic film it's self, but quite differnt than the remake & prequel.

Little movie trivia here. James Arness, "Matt Dillion" of "Gun Smoke," plays "the Thing."

"The Thing From Another World." 1951

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5xcVxkTZzM