MACABRE
This gruesome and depraved yet subtle, atmospheric Italian horror fest was the directorial debut of Lamberto Bava, son of the legendary “Father of Italian horror” Mario Bava
SUMMER OF SAM
From Spike Lee, a wildly overbaked yet vital account of the seventies-era “Son of Sam” killings. The film has much to say about the effects of fear and paranoia, none of it comforting
STUCK
Based on a real-life incident in which a man was hit by a woman with her car and ended up stuck in the windshield for the next two days, STUCK is darkly funny, gory and horrific
SMOOTH TALK
A seminal ’80s indie that still holds up as a provocative and disturbing psychological horror story
SISTER MY SISTER
A terrific British film about the notorious Papin sisters, French maids who in 1933 murdered their female employer and her daughter while carrying on a torrid incestuous relationship
AN AMERICAN CRIME
A dramatization of the 1965 torture murder of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens, and about as good as can be expected of a true crime drama from the director of ELLA ENCHANTED and the star of JUNO
ZODIAC
I can’t imagine a better movie about the still-unsolved “Zodiac” killings that plagued San Francisco during the late sixties and early seventies
POLANSKI UNAUTHORIZED
The life of Roman Polanski is great material for a horror film without question, but this cheesy 2009 biopic is far from a great movie
PATTY HEARST
The 1974 abduction and brainwashing of Patty Hearst reconfigured as a CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI-esque horror show
GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED
A trashier-than-average Jim Jones cash-in, directed by Rene Cardona Jr. and featuring several slumming movie stars