My DVD Collection (or at least most of it)

It looks so stunning that you (or at least I) can take it seriously or not on whim.

I liked this a lot. I believe this film influenced the Korean horror film Phone, which is one of my favourites, and this one gets added too. Not much different from the standard ' j-horror' fare, except in the motivation of the ghost, which was welcome.

Somehow this film manages to tie itself into the first and have an almost completely different plot, especially in terms of the ghost's M.O. I enjoyed it, but the first is, as usual, superior due to novelty and slickness (it was a Miike film, what do you expect?).

Great film, full of black comedy, catchy songs and vibrant characters. I love the Audrey II puppet and Bill Murray's turn as a maschochistic dental patient. It's so much more engaging to me than the Black and White original.

I really thought I wouldn't like this, but I did. A very novel take on vampire movies - I especially liked the aged hippy Van Hellsing riding around on a scooter. However, the way it is shot probably puts people off. I'm okay with black and white films but to keep flicking from colour/highlights to black and white can be rather distracting.

Loved the idea, and while the computer graphics are outdated they look very DOS (and colourful).

Although I wasn't exactly thrilled with the X-files slant, it was certainly entertaining and well written enough for an action film. It loses half a star for the nuclear testing scene though, for reasons I won't go into.

So much fun, it's trashy but you can't help loving it. It probably helps that Elvira is stunning.

Enjoyed it more than the first film. More detail coming when I've read the book.

While the first was entertaining but not that engaging, this really delivers for me. Sure, some plotlines seem arbitrarily picked up and discarded before they develop into anything more - they could've made a whole separate film about Hellboy and Abe's conflicting emotions towards humanity and the 'monsters'. Instead all the strands organically come to a close rather than having artificial closure - a bit like life really. To me that makes the plotline and character dynamics seem more believable, which is perhaps needed to balance out the incredible cast of 'monsters'. Some of which are excellent in conception and visuals; the elves that turn to stone, the Tooth Fairies, whatever the hell Wink was - and my personal favourite, the Angel of Death (who I feel needed more screen time, if it could somehow have been worked in).
On a side note, my initial DVD could've done with some goblin craftsmanship; it was damaged before I even opened the damn thing.

The plot was fair enough I suppose, but what really made this for me was the robots. Not just Wall-E and Eve, but all the faulty bots, and especially MO. I'm not sure that Auto Pilot was an effective enough villian/obstacle though, it was just following orders.

I admit I wasn't suprised that I loved it. It had all the ingredients. Some people get put off by musicals, I like singing in random places. And okay, Mr. Depp is no (insert bland, warbling male pop singer's name here), but he had a kind of rock styling that the role demands (a bit like Butler's Phantom).

Magnificent, though I grew restless during the battle scenes. Not sure I would watch it again in one sitting though.

I thought The Trickster was a great charcter. He sure entertained me. Also, the idea was well concieved and illustrated, especially as the idea of violence in entertainment affecting your behaviour is a very current one even now.

Yes, I really enjoyed it, and I'm not ashamed. It reminded me a lot of Clueless in style, which for me is a good thing. The trio dance is in the running for some of the campest things I've ever seen. It may not be challenging but it's a hell of a movie to watch when you need cheering up.

I rather enjoyed this - possibly because I felt sorry for Natre. It does seem to rely a little more on jumps than 'scares' (ironically, I fell for the same jump twice when I rewound to catch something I'd missed, despite knowing it was coming) but that really didn't hinder my enjoyment that much. Neither did the impromptu comedy transexual.

Quirky. It has shades of Phantom, Faust and The Picture of Dorian Grey fused with a killer 70s wardrobe. I find it a bit strange how it was overlooked for so long.

Do I even need to put anything here? Excellent!

Unsurprisingly, it appears I was part of this film's target audience. A musical for the industrial music generation; it looks great, and the plot is interesting with some real black humour, but the songs can be a bit hit and miss (my favourite was axed from the main film, which is a bit of a shame). I could write an essay on its treatment of 'the death of the real'. It's definitely a grower, but if you're not really into rock/industrial music, or unusual musicals then it may not be for you. Sure, there is gore, but horror fans aren't necessarily going to get the body part orgy they were hoping for.

The key to understanding what this film is about is in the title. It's set in Tokyo (albeit a rather nightmarish 20 min-into-the-future Tokyo), there are lots of policepeople, and lots of gore. It's primarily a showcase for gore, weird and often sexually themed mutants, and the lovely Eihi Shiina. There is a plot, but it's not the strong point of the film. That would be Ms. Shiina in a police uniform. Yum.

One of the strangest premises for a horror film I've seen, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The begining is an interesting view of an artistic obsession spiralling out of control, but I feel the ending was somewhat lacking in punch despite how graphic it was.

Okay, so this isn't Ring. It treads no new ground in the Onryou (vengeful ghost)film genre. What it does have is a low budget, a fairly solid plotline, some reasonably decent actors, and a showdown with a very pissed off and crazy ghost. It won't win an Award for 'best foreign film'. But, if you're a bit of an Onryou fan like me, it'll be a good way to spend an hour or so. Watch out for the showdown. It's a bit of a corker.

The action scenes are rather manga-styled (in fact I suppose you could extend that to the entire film) and I found them visually interesting. The ending made me cry.

Incredibly confusing, this film twists and turns all over the place. However, with this film it isn't necessarily a bad thing, it keeps you guessing far longer than most, more straightforward plots - giving the final revelations far more of a punch. It also has the creep factor evident in many asian horror films, which gives it a thumbs up from me.

"Kiri kiri kiri...."
I adore this film, the character of Asami and Eihi Shiina. True, the film does take a while to build up to the brutal climax, but I think it's worth waiting for.

My favourite of the Batman films. Looks wonderful and has substance too.

Brutal, gory yet at times poingnant. A masterpiece. Shame about the sequal though.

Okay, so it's not as creepy as it was when you thought it was real. Still, you've got to admire the uniqueness of the idea. and I love to watch the smug characters get more and more afraid.

Great adaptation of the novel, though some may find it drags a little in places. Gary Oldman is a great count!

Great adaptation of the Stephen King novel.

Very stylistically beautiful in a cyberpunk manga way. Every shot is a work of art, scenes have strict colour schemes that put Hero to shame. The score is also rather magnificent. In terms of the plot, it is either philosophically profound or pointless pretentious waffle. Take your pick.

the plot of this film appealed to me because I hadn't before seen a reworking where they integrated the teller(s) of the tale into it.



The plot in itself was reasonable. While I'd never before imagined the Grimm Brothers as traveling con men it seems reasonably justified within the film. I was slightly less happy about the presence of the 18th Century French army, and I'm pretty sure that they could've found another way to bring the Brothers to the actual enchanted forest and keep them there. I'm guessing the French were there in order to be little more than a figure of fun, the Americans not being too fond of the French at the point the film was made.



Just about every fairy tale cliche was shoehorned in to the plot: wicked queen, glass slippers, kissing Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood, werewolf (less common but is there), trail of breadcrumbs...I could go on. This overpopulation of fairy tale cliche didn't really hurt the film that much in my opinion, but made it fit more into the canon that it was involved with. All these competing images make for some very nice visuals - but also create two of it's biggest flaws. The Gingerbread Man, for example, was ridiculous and not in keeping with the tone of the film (which was trying to take itself seriously despite the content and occasional comedy). I could say the same for the horse swallowing the girl, but aside from the clumsy after-effects I thought the idea was actually a pretty good one.

There was also an overabundance of rooks, which could produce part of the Brothers Grimm Drinking Game: down a shot every time you see one. Of course this encounters problems as in a couple of scenes there are at least 10 in a group (so maybe only take a drink when you see less than three in shot, or a close up of a lone rook).



Acting was fine. A lot of the actors I recognised, and were all well versed enough to know what they were doing (or at least look like it). I would like Mackenzie Crook to do something other than be part of a common comedy double act though, I like him.

I shouldn't have those kind of thoughts about a cat. It's wrong. But dammit, Baron is such a genteel and dapper gentleman.

Slick graphic novel adaptation. Plot isn't that bad, but not brilliant either.

I like this even more than Nightmare Before Christmas (though people will hate me for saying so). Corpses, Victoriana, Johnny Depp and Helana Bonham Carter...what could be better?

I used to love this. A 'homage' to the horror anthology films of the 70s and 80s, it's not meant to be taken seriously. It's so bad it's good!

One of the best Hammer horror films in my opinion.

Good teen-orientated version of Dangerous Liasons. Not as good as the adult film adaptation though.

Great adaptation of the Koji Suzuki short story.

A tragic love story is universal.

Ah Dead or Alive. Being a fan of the games I wasn't looking to expect much from this in terms of accuracy or plot. However, aside from Helena (who is given characteristics more like Hitomi than her game self) and Hayabusa's costume all the back stories, clothing and personalities were pretty accurate. Of course, even in the game the plot is thin but this delivers a reasonable mix of comedy and the martial art action. Not enough Ayane for my taste though.

Brilliant low-budget take on a werewolf movie.

Makes you think about what you would do to be/stay young, slim and beautiful. A great shock film for the modern age, not only showing 'women's vanity', as some would put it, but the reason most become so obsessed - the love and attentions of men. And as in real life, it shows how easily it is lost.

Weird, beautiful looking but with some clunky effects. There's also a rather sad backstory between the female protagonist and the 'girl in red'. The ending always threatens to make me cry, because I'm soppy like that.

Great although the Alcatraz opening is not.

I've never played the game, but found it easy enough to understand and good enough to stand as a film in its own right.

Excellent take on a classic fairy tale.

Confusing plot, but decent effects and interesting ideas on identity.

Awesome take on the werewolf movie.

I love this and the original, but it's certainly not a modern masterpiece of cinema. Also, because I am a complete nerd, I bought the special edition for the extra 5 mins of footage and Takashi Shimizu's two short films (His short films in the Japanese anthology Tales of Terror was great, I loved them). Hoping to do the same with the Japanese version at some point.

Quite happily takes elements of musicals, romance, family drama and horror, puts it together with comedy and clay animation and uses it all for a very bizzare purpose. This film is quite possibly one of the strangest I've ever seen, but it beats tons of regular films in terms of enjoyment and entertainment value.

Funny enough, but I watch it for Nathaniel Parker and the house. It could've been so much better...

Looks slick but plot is questionable. Still, it has Occult Nazis, which keeps me happy.

This looks stunning. The cast do the best they can, which is very good, but of course very little beats your imagination when reading the book. Also, in film you lose most of the commentary which sadly means the adaptation is less funny. However this can stand alone in its own right if you give it a chance (and stop thinking about the bits they missed out, like the pencil-eating bird (my personal favourite of the created creatures)). Notable performances for me were Michelle Dockery, Ian Richardson's vocal talents, and Marc Warren's mental case of an assassin (an almost perfect portrayal of what one would expect the character to be from the book).

Looks stunning, amazing fight sequences but the confusing plot may put some people off.

I like this film, but for all the wrong reasons. It's reasonably engaging as slasher movies go (Paris Hilton dies, of course it'll be enjoyable) - but don't confuse this with the earlier version. Aside from the wax museum aspect (and the killer's related M.O) the two have very little in common.

I think this just ousted My Neighbour Totoro as my favourite Studio Ghibli film. It looks beautiful (well, mostly) and at times is unashamedly romantic. However, after reading the book (yes I know it's a children's book, but so what?) I think I prefer the less political plotline to this one, though it's still excellent.

Fantastic adaptation of an Anne Rice novel (way better than Queen of the Damned). You wouldn't think Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise could pull it off, but they can. My only fault is with Antonio Banderas - he's a brilliant actor but the character is meant to be very young. This doesn't really harm the film if you take it on its own, but a hardcore fan of the novels might find it difficult to adjust from the previous portrayal.

This is a strange film. Although ghosts and spirit gods abound, they are treated in the most perfunctory of ways - they're not the plot, but what moves it. What the film is is more a human drama concentrating on rural life, superstition and incest than an out and out supernatural thriller or horror - though there are a few lurid deaths.

Not quite what I was expecting, though to be honest I wasn't at all sure what to expect. The fact that Salvation Films picked this up in the UK did give me some ideas.

Very atmospheric and visually beautiful (they are in a graveyard for most of it after all), with some lovely if bizarre dialogue. It's just as well that they never got out, I expect their bikes probably got nicked. There's no one like the French to have a fight, fall in a hole and then have sex (at least, I assume that's what all the writhing and hair mussing was about).

Plot is kind of convoluted, but not as much as A Tale of Two Sisters. It also gives less of an overtly supernatural vibe throught the majority of the film, unlike many other Japanese horror films such as Ringu or Dark Water. Personally, I think the acting is rather good, but that is my own non-professional opinion. It's probably not going to scare you, and it's not going to win anything, but for some reason I like it. Probably because I like ghosts and mental people. Go figure.

Kayako's creepy. I love her.

Some excellent moments (like the photocopier), but other effects are a bit silly and amusing. I like how each of the seperate story threads make a reasonable amount of sense on their own as well as when part of the whole.

Fantastic. Second one was tedious though.

A classic film, essential viewing - although it is quite dated and so may not appeal to everyone.

Great premise. It takes a long time to get into the gore, but that time is more than worth it in character development. The only thing I didn't really like was the ending - it was good but it could've been better.

I love this. I like that it doesn't focus on King Arthur for once (Merlin is a much more interesting character), and Miranda Richardson and Helena Bonham Carter look fabulous. The downside is the 'modern' humour of Frik, which ruins the effort to make it look ancient and sumptious.

Starring two of the most beautiful asian actresses ever (Zhang Zi and Gong Li), this film looks beautiful. Of course, it's not as good as the novel, which isn't entirely accurate anyway, but still very good. I do wish that they had chosen Japanese actresses though, and maybe do it in subtitles just to add to the feel - although that would've at least halved their audience...

Like Labyrinth, but darker - just what you would expect from a piece of Neil Gaiman's work.

Fun video game adaptation.

Not as good as the first but worth watching.

So sweet it'll give you cavaties.

Excellent film, though many may find it rather slow.

I could rave about this film forever. Excellent

Okay version of the tale. I watch for Jason Isaacs.

Dramatic doomed love story, tortured villian (which every movie should have...IMO), looks beautiful and has a great soundtrack.

It is duly noted that Gerard Butler should be seen and not heard in films like this, but his Rock stylings at least add a different slant. And I suppose, just because the Erik in this film doesn't go around singing Opera it doesn't mean he can't teach Christine how to do it, but there we are. If you want accuracy, go watch the 1925 original adaptation, if you want pretty show tunes then watch this and be quiet.

Although the beginning seemed cluttered and the two story branches didn't seem to fit together properly, it all makes sense at the end. Also features one of the most visually interesting corpse discovery scenes I've seen in a long time.

Mediocre sequel to a great original. The whole of the plot is geared around a very shaky plotpoint though.

Not as good as the first but better than the second.

Some parts are genuinely creepy. The music really makes the film. I liked the begining but I'm not sure about the end. Unlike many Asian horror films (and most horror films in general), there doesn't seem to be much of a resolution or explanation - but that perhaps makes the film more unsettling.

One of those films that's so bad, it's good. The acting is quite bad and the plot is barely worth mentioning, yet it still has a certain charm that many horror lovers will pick up on.

One of the video game adaptations which is actually pretty good, although the plotline is a bit over-complicated. It does make a great film to switch your brain off and then watch.

As with the first Resident Evil, watch for the action, not for the plot.

Good remake of the Japanese original, with enough changes to keep it fresh. Like the faded blue/grey watery tones the film is shot with.

I love this series. It's a great adaptation of Koji Suzuki novel, with just enough details changed to make it fresh. Plus, the way 'the video' is shot looks like any home movie at the time, rather authentic.

I would love to compare this to the very first adaptation, the TV series, but sadly it doesn't seen to be available.

Noble is a genius. Love it!

Lovely adaptation of an Austen classic.

Atmospherically creepy, this film will keep you guessing. Those of you with a short attention span may want to avoid it though. Whichever of the two main interpretations you take at the end, it still works.

The production values aren't excellent, though some of the effects are reasonable (particularly in the second story). However this adds to its charm, and the plot(s) are rather engaging.

Good ghost story, a little similar to Ringu in style.

Good for an adaption of a computer game (they usually seem to be adapted quite badly), but drags a bit in places.

Inspired, creepy, it packs a punch on first viewing and stands up to rewatching despite the ending being ruined.

A rather fun fantasy film, though with deep emotion, and presents an interesting view on death and the afterlife.

Perhaps one of the best fairy tale adaptations ever made. This is a truly Grimm Fairy tale - atmospheric, dark and sinister. Not for kiddies.

I had hoped that this would do justice to the novel, and personally I think it has. When I heard about the Robert de Niro character I was really apprehensive but he did well and although the character was used for comedy he wasn't too over the top or actively ridiculed for being that way, which I was pleased about. The visuals are spectacular, and personally I felt that all the actors not only suited the part they were playing but also enjoyed playing them. I could be wrong, but that was the impression I had.

A classic, one of the staples of my childhood. Sure it's not for everyone, but everyone should see it at least once - you may be suprised.

The best of the Star Wars trilogy/series.

Enjoyable, if slightly overlong. Some great sequences and effects too (esp. the statue), but I wasn't too keen on the white ghost effect.

Begins well, but the ending is a disappointment.

A good adaptation, but I felt that the inculsion of peril from which Nan had to be resuced by Diana rather unnecessary.

Eye candy, questionable plotlines, sometimes downright horrible dialogue (though only sometimes)...It challenged what I thought I liked in a film. Still, it could be much worse...

Good premise reasonably explored.

Love Vampire Hunter D. Considering how old this is (made in 1985), the animation stands up really well. Also, the commentary is one of the funniest and most informative I've heard so far.

Somewhat more psychological than some Asian Horror films, the body count in this is low - though some of the effects are quite creepy. The plot is convuluted like A Tale of Two Sisters, though not as much, and clearly 'resolves' itself in the end.

Rats, you say? Yes, lots of them. As people say, rats aren't necessarily scary, but what makes this so entertaining (and yes, frightening) isn't the animal talent but Crispin Glover's performance. You get to watch an isolated and initally rather sweet man go slowly insane and indirectly homicidal.

Biopic of a genuis, starring a genius.

Slow to start, though when it gets going has effective 'scares'. I especially liked the use of ballet within the plot.

Not as cheesy as I was expecting it to be, and some of the special effects are actually pretty, well, effective.

Lady Deathstrike was the highlight of this film. Other than that I'm not sure I care for it that much, despite the appearance of Nightcrawler (who I loved in X-men: Evolution), even despite him being played by Alan Cumming. Must've been the script then.

Love this, particularly the extended show in with Cosmic Jam.