Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

The ‘90s were a decade of self-conscious irony, but this wonderfully silly homoerotic vampire film is one of the few pieces of true camp from the era. Brad Pitt stars as a brooding nightwalker whom we are supposed to sympathize with, despite the fact that he was a slave owner in his previous life and turns into a mopey jackass once he crosses over.

Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers (1988)

This good-enough Halloween iteration is competent as far as slasher sequels go, but completely lacking in the directorial flair and craftsmanship of the first two entries (as well as the absolutely confounding absurdity which I love, but many hate, about Halloween III).

The Void (2016)

A seemingly straight-forward premise is given unexpected and often downright bizarre  treatment in this gory, gooey horror movie. The Void is heavily indebted to the genre classics of John Carpenter; the set-up, reminiscent of Assault on Precinct 13, finds a group of people taking refuge in a rural hospital from a mysterious group of white-hooded, knife-wielding maniacs. In execution, however, The Void has more in common with the gruesome body horror of Carpenter’s The Thing, including a litany of deformed monstrosities, exploding heads, and disgustingly effective practical effects.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Blade Runner 2049 is a fitting sequel to Ridley Scott’s cult classic: somber, speculative sci-fi closer in tone and pacing to Solaris than Star Wars. Like the original, Blade Runner 2049 is not a commercial film: like the replicants that populate its story, it’s cold, strange, only vaguely human.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

The most glaring critique of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is that it’s not only beneath the caliber of the first film, but the very kind of horror movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre exposed as mainstream garbage. While Tobe Hooper’s original was a terrifying low-fi grindhouse masterpiece, the follow-up, even at its best, is goofy and campy.

Game Night (2018)

Game Night is more than adequate, but not as good as you may have heard. Call it Apples to Apples – it’s a reasonably entertaining way to pass the time and your mom would probably like it.

City Of The Living Dead (1980)

This off-the-wall nonsensical Italian horror film from giallo master Lucio Fulci is just an excuse for some bizarre and excessive gore sequences, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

The Iron Man films are consistently flawed, but this conclusion is probably the most faulty. There’s plenty to praise, but, as Iron Man 3 labors to its overblown, special-effects laden finale, it unfortunately emphasizes the series’ glaring weaknesses (failed third acts, uninteresting mech battles, corny one-liners).

Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man gets credit for going first: the inaugural entry in the massively successful Marvel Cinematic Universe, it showed us just how fun these movies could be. And the first half hour of this film, a brilliantly structured piece of immersive storytelling, is among the studio’s best work.

Arena (1989)

Arena is an awesome idea told with the iffy-at-best execution you’d expect from B-movie factory Empire Pictures. The set-up is a perfect genre elevator pitch: Bloodsport set on a spaceship, featuring a brutal fighting tournament between alien species (not dissimilar from Mortal Kombat, though this came several years earlier). We follow Steve Armstrong (Paul Satterfield), the first human in many years to compete in the dangerous (and very crooked) event.