2000s
Plot: journalist investigates mysterious going-ons in a remote village. Viy (1967) is the quintessential Russian folkloric horror that every serious fan of the genre at least should have a passing familiarity with. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s novel Viy served as an inspiration to Mario Bava for his classic gothic horror
2000s
Plot: comrade Ivan will have you for breakfast… and today he’s very hungry. Back in the Golden Age of exploitation the bootleg remake, imitation or sequel was an art form mastered almost exclusively by the Italians and the Filipino. In times like these it’s nigh on criminal that
2000s
Plot: lovelorn office worker is seduced by his nubile neighbor… or is he? Described by Variety as, “an homage to Roman Polanski with nods to David Lynch” Norwegian-Swedish-Danish co-production Naboer (or Neighbor, for some reason released internationally somewhat awkwardly as Next Door) is indeed a solid thriller. The comparisons to
2000s
Plot: 42 students, 3 days, 1 winner. Let the games begin. Even more than twenty years later Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル) has lost none of its inherent power. It was, is, and remains a milestone, a worldwide phenomenon that Japan hasn’t been able to match nor surpass to this
2000s
Plot: in a post-apocalyptic wasteland two starlets seek a sacred stag reel. John Michael McCarthy is probably the closest America has come to having a Josh Collins. Collins was the master of ceremonies behind Pervirella (1997) (with Emily Booth) and Superstarlet AD is cut from a very similar cloth. Pervirella
2000s
Plot: two news anchors unite to exonerate an innocent man… and find love. Not everything that the “King Of Bollywood” touched turned to gold instantly, or was a sure-fire hit for that matter. Case in point and with the benefit of twenty years of hindsight is Phir Bhi Dil Hai
2000s
Plot: inflatable doll is given sentience and is in awe of the world around her. Air Doll (空気人形) is a Japanese fairytale with a pronounced South Korean magic realist bend. As an elegant mix of drama, romance, and comedy that blends the joie de vivre of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie
2000s
Plot: Tokyo is threatened by the Panther Claw. Can Cutie Honey save the day? The Far East has a long and storied history for being a haven for some of the strangest, wackiest cinematic outings of the past several decades. Whether they are the fantasy wuxia / martial arts romps from
2000s
Plot: clumsy student meets a girl who might, or might not, be a cyborg. The early 2000s were a particular rich time for epic romances of various kind, especially in the Asian regions. Bollywood had the Shah Rukh Khan spectacular Om Shanti Om (2007), in Japan there was the modern
2000s
Plot: alien lifeform rids the Earth of politicians, lawyers, and corporations. I Am Here…. Now is the second of Neil Breen’s religious-patriotic-jingoistic supernatural thrillers and the one where all beloved Breenisms coagulated into their known form. As a faux-New Age spiritualist interpretation of The Day the Earth Stood Still
2000s
Plot: supernatural murderer spreads terror in metropolitan Newcastle. Great Britain has a rich and storied history in horror and cult cinema spanning several decades. In the fifties and sixties Hammer Film dominated the market. Amicus and Tigon came close behind but only flourished when Hammer began ailing in the seventies.
2000s
Plot: terminally ill adventurer attempts to catch snake to attain immortality. Hisss is one of those beautiful trainwrecks that can only happen (and will continue to do so) when producer and director don’t see eye to eye on the fundamentals. The Asian snake goddess myth continues to fascinate Westerners.