Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, Seymour Cassel, Brian Cox, Mason Gamble
When a beautiful first-grade teacher (Olivia Williams) arrives at a prep school, she soon attracts the attention of an ambitious teenager named Max (Jason Schwartzman), who quickly falls in love with her. Max turns to the father (Bill Murray) of two of his schoolmates for advice on how to woo the teacher. However, the situation soon gets complicated when Max’s new friend becomes involved with her, setting the two pals against one another in a war for her attention.
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, William Petersen, Amy Brenneman, Alyssa Milano
It might be an unorthodox choice for an erotic thriller series, but Fear fits nicely in the subcategory of teen psychosexual titillators such as Poison Ivy and Wild Things, with an added rarity in the genre – the fabled homme fatale!
When Nicole (Reese Witherspoon) gets an eyeful of bad boy David (Mark Wahlberg), she can’t help but be charmed by his bulging muscles and chivalrous manners. But daddy Steven (William Petersen) is less trusting, so while he starts digging into his background, David’s true self emerges, and no amount of self-mutilation in her name can win Nicole back. Along the way, we get a Seattle rave, some smoldering dad-boyfriend eye contact, a thoughtfully assembled shrine and a memorable roller coaster ride.
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Starring: Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., Charles S. Dutton, John Carroll Lynch, Bernard Hill, Penélope Cruz
The life of psychiatrist Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) is derailed after she nearly hits a girl with her car one night. Later, Miranda wakes up in her own mental hospital under the care of her peer, Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.). Completely disoriented, Miranda is accused of killing her own husband, but she has no memory of anything after she encountered the girl. Slowly Miranda begins to uncover what happened, but she has to escape the asylum to solve the mystery.
Starring: Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt, Paris Hilton, Jared Padalecki, Robert Ri’chard
With a cast mostly made up of pretty TV actors and, of course, Paris Hilton, House of Wax is more of an entry in the teen slasher genre than a remake of the 1953 Vincent Price vehicle of the same name. The tropes are there: broken down car, middle of nowhere, couples splintering off, weirdo locals – but the inventiveness comes from the wax museum set up, and the creepy villains, providing plenty of fun scares and memorable set pieces. The directorial debut of Jaume Collet-Serra, who would later make the very good Orphan and the best of the Liam Neeson actioners, House of Wax is an amusement park ride worth taking.
Starring: Nita-Josee Hanna, Owen Myre, Adam Brooks, Alexis Kara Hancey, Matthew Ninaber, Rick Amsbury
Siblings Mimi and Luke unwittingly resurrect an ancient alien overlord who was entombed on Earth millions of years ago after a failed attempt to destroy the universe. They nickname the evil creature Psycho Goreman (or PG for short) and use the magical amulet they discovered to force him to obey their childish whims. It isn’t long before PG’s reappearance draws the attention of intergalactic friends and foes from across the cosmos and a rogues’ gallery of alien combatants converges in small-town suburbia to battle for the fate of the galaxy.
Starring: Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tiio Horn
Tasya Vos, an elite, corporate assassin, takes control of other people’s bodies using brain-implant technology to execute high-profile targets.
Starring: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, Andrew Bryniarski
Accepting as fact that measuring up to Tobe Hooper’s masterpiece is impossible, approach the 2003 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as its own object and you will be rewarded with an entertaining horror spectacle that is somehow as slick as it is grimy. This mirrors the characters – the hip, attractive road trippers who are eventually ensnared by the unsightly locals, including an effectively menacing R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket) and Andrew “I was born to wear the mask” Bryniarski as Leatherface. Soppy with sweat and blood, it’s maximum excess, a true Michael Bay production stylishly directed by the guy who made the C+C Music Factory music videos.
Starring: Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Robert Musgrave, Andrew Wilson, Lumi Cavazos, James Caan
In Wes Anderson’s first feature film, Anthony (Luke Wilson) has just been released from a mental hospital, only to find his wacky friend Dignan (Owen C. Wilson) determined to begin an outrageous crime spree. After recruiting their neighbor, Bob (Robert Musgrave), the team embarks on a road trip in search of Dignan’s previous boss, Mr. Henry (James Caan). But the more they learn, the more they realize that they do not know the first thing about crime.
Starring: Mariah Carey, Maxton Beesley, Da Brat, Tia Texada, Valarie Pettiford, Ann Magnuson
Music legend Mariah Carey makes her feature film debut in this love story set against the backdrop of the New York club scene. Carey plays a young singer who overcomes a turbulent childhood and begins an exciting but often volatile and precarious journey to superstardom.
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Yolande Moreau
Amélie is a fanciful comedy about a young woman who discretely orchestrates the lives of the people around her, creating a world exclusively of her own making. Shot in over 80 Parisian locations, acclaimed director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen; The City of Lost Children) invokes his incomparable visionary style to capture the exquisite charm and mystery of modern-day Paris through the eyes of a beautiful ingenue.
