The V/H/S/ series is a fairly reliable found-footage anthology franchise that has its hits and misses, and this time out is no different. A wrap-around narrative loosely connects four other stories that show up on video throughout the main plot line. The wrap-around story I found really interesting (tracking issues and all) until its final…
Tag: cult
Sherlock Holmes (2009) – Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie brings his trademark rough and tumble style to the iconic Arthur Conan Doyle creation, Sherlock Holmes. Robert Downey Jr. steps into the titular role, and while the script plays with the literary canon and text, it remains a fun interpretation of the character. Jude Law plays the loyal Doctor John Watson, Rachel McAdams…
TAD 2022: The Lair dir. by Neil Marshall
Neil Marshall brings us another bad-ass woman named Sinclair with his latest effort The Lair. Marshall’s films have been much loved by After Dark audiences having previously delivered such solid fare as The Descent, Doomsday (the other Sinclair), Dog Soldiers. Pairing with his lead actress Charlotte Kirk, they penned the script that sees the true…
Mission: Impossible (1973) – The Question, and The Fountain
The IMF get back to spycraft this week with The Question. Written by Stephen Kandel it first aired on 19 January, 1973. When a foreign assassin, Nicholas Varsi (holy crap, it’s Gary Lockwood!) defects, the IMF is unsure if he’s legit or a mole, so they are tasked with kidnapping him from his safe house,…
The Facts of Death (1998) – Raymond Benson
James Bond is back. Building off his previous short story, Blast From the Past, the novel, Zero Minus Ten, and his adaptation of Tomorrow Never Dies, author Raymond Benson thrusts 007 into another globetrotting adventure that takes him from London to Texas, and Cyprus in an attempt to stop a viral outbreak and a growing…
House II: The Second Story (1987) – Ethan Wiley
While Friday the 13th franchise producer Sean S. Cunningham returns for House II, he and composer Harry Manfredini seem to be the only connective tissue to the first film. And while the first film was able to walk a bit of the cult line of camp, horror, comedy, and flat-out silliness, House II most assuredly…
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) – Planet of the Slave Girls
It’s been forever since I watched this short-lived series, but alongside Star Wars, Star Trek, and Galactica, Buck Rogers was an integral part of my youth. I had previously written about the pilot episode, released theatrically, before airing on network television on 20 September, 1979, so I moved right on to the next episode in…
The X-Files (2018) – Nothing Lasts Forever, and My Struggle IV
The series penultimate episode, written by Karen Nielsen, and first airing on 14 March, 2018, is a bit of a monster of the week episode, while also pontificating on aging, belief and faith. And the fact that the I Want To Believe tag is removed from the opening credits and changed to I Want to…
Lord of Illusions (1995) – Clive Barker
I remember discovering the writings of Clive Barker, and how his writing actually got under my skin, and freaked me out a bit. He definitely won a fan in me, and then the film, Hellraiser, wow! And while Nightbreed garnered itself a bit of a cult following, Lord of Illusions never seemed to, which bums…
The X-Files (2000/2001) – Via Negativa, and Surekill
Agent Doggett (Robert Patrick) takes on a killer who can seemingly murder his victims via dreams, while Scully (Gillian Anderson) undergoes some medical tests – is it her cancer? it it the pregnancy? We don’t know yet. Via Negativa was written by Frank Spotnitz, and first debuted on 17 December, 2000. Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) pairs…
The Mind Reels 