A movie about childhood nightmares that plays too much like an actual, incoherent nightmare to make a good movie, Intruders is a psychodrama divided against itself. Little kids don’t need a reason to get worked up about what’s in their closet, or to be told to worry. When it comes to being scared their imaginations are half cocked at all times, more than prepared to fill every blank with the bogeyman. Although Intruders, much like last year’s Insidious, is framed as a sins-of-the-father spook-fest, it assumes too little of its audience — specifically that we too need only contemplate a darkened wardrobe or the outline of a giant, grabby dude to want to jump out of our skin.
more »
Film festivals have emerged as one of the best, most fertile grounds for discovering new voices in genre filmmaking, so much so that just about every fest these days has a midnight sidebar for edgier, darker fare. Among the just-announced midnight selections at this year's SXSW Film Festival (held March 9-17 in Austin, TX): Tales of killer lady bartenders, faceless spooks, space-traveling Nazis, a deadly virus, VHS tapes, and the most evil kind of nightmare-inspiring villain imaginable, feral children. (Shudder.) Let's rundown the freakiest-sounding offerings of the SXSW Midnight slate!
more »
In director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's horror tale The Intruders, Clive Owen investigates spooky happenings at home and discovers that something supernatural may be haunting his young daughter. How scary is this mystery perpetrator who makes things go bump late at night? Well, just hit the jump to get a good look at what it did to poor Owen's handsome face.
more »
Surprises too are often tied to expectation, or lack of it. The first film I saw in 2011 surprised me in part because it was the first film I saw in 2011 -- that is, a film shunted onto the whistling heath of the January release schedule.
more »
Is it a monster movie? A ghost tale? A demonic thriller? Clive Owen's battling something in the new international trailer for Intruders, but what they are, exactly, remains to be seen. Suffice to say, he's not going to let these shrouded, hooded figures mess with his daughter (Ella Purnell, who played the young Keira Knightley in Never Let Me Go) for long. Hit the jump to see what director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) has up his sleeve.
more »
Not even yesterday's first look photo of Robert De Niro and his great big bushy beard could prepare us for the non-stop macho action in the trailer for the Jason Statham-Clive Owen starrer Killer Elite, which hit the web today. After the jump, watch the wealth of punches, power kicks, explosions, gunshots, inventive action moves, and unabashed man love on display in the span of a minute and forty seconds. Then mark your calendars for September 23.
more »
