Movieline Online

By 1989, slasher tropes were nothing but healed over scar tissue on cinema screens. Audiences knew exactly what to expect and had generally moved on to other genres.  So  Cutting Class  must have felt like a particularly strange exercise in deja-vu.  With its high school setting, blasé characters and subdued kill scenes there just wasn’t enough  there  there to be of much interest.  But as with so many horror films, it was the launching pad for cheap talent to make a first impression.  And in this case, that happened to be one Brad Pitt. Left alone for the weekend, Paula (Jill Schoelen) is torn between her feelings for high school hunk Dwight (Pitt) and the creepy new kid, Brian (Donovan Leitch).  As they spar over her affections, a series of murders take out random teachers and students, with most of the suspicion falling on Brian, who’s just been released from a mental institution.  But something just...

While Peter Jackson’s  Lord of the Rings  adaptations have stolen most of the glory of late, John Milius take on  Conan the Barbarian  (1982) remains a politically-incorrect masterpiece of fantasy filmmaking.  Based on Robert E. Howard’s novels, Oliver Stone’s script is a pumped-up celebration of brutality and honor elevating a twisted tale of fathers and sons into something suitably epic, all set to one of the most memorable militaristic scores in cinematic history.  And we haven’t even  mentioned  Arnold yet! After being orphaned by the exploits of Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), young Conan is sold into slavery and trained for the gladiator arena.  Eventually winning his freedom, the now adult warrior goes on a quest for revenge, leading his team of thieves and outlaws against the power of Doom’s mysterious cult of snake worshippers.   Lifting the general theme of his own script for  Apocalypse Now , Milius is the ...

One of the unexpected consequences of the cinematic digital revolution is that it doesn’t take much to look  epic  anymore.  Films like  Fitzcarraldo  and  Apocalypse Now , produced under extreme conditions and reaching the finish line by sheer force of will, could now shave months off the production schedule with a competent visual effects team.  In short, there’s no longer any reward for doing things the hard way.  But that’s  exactly what’s so appealing about  Murphy’s War  (1971), a mixed-message anti-war film shot in Venezuela that hearkens back to an era when making movies wasn’t just a financial challenge – but a physical one as well.  After surviving a U-boat attack, Murphy (Peter O’Toole) is rescued by a strong-willed female doctor (Sian Phillips) and nursed back to health at her missionary hospital.  Even though the war is near its end, Murphy insists on destroying the German sub by any means ...

With his black cape, top hat, full beard and dangerously long fingernails, Coffin Joe, the alter ego of Brazilian actor Jose Mojica Marins, cuts quite an amusing figure.  Obviously modeled after classic horror film icons like Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price, the character was the star of two '60s feature films, a TV series and a 2008 entry that completes the trilogy that began as Brazil's first horror film.  Despite the borrowed costume and colorfully villainous affectations, Coffin Joe and his films are pretty nasty at heart, full of angry atheistic rants, rampant misogyny, rape, torture, whippings, snakes and spiders.  Of course, these shock tactics are nothing new to fans of the genre; but what's interesting is Marin's twisted take on the traditional  "mad scientist" story...replacing lab equipment and test tubes with a wonky breeding program designed to create a superior race, if he can just find the proper mate! In that sense, the first two fil...

’50 sci-fi and horror films had some high-highs and low-lows; there wasn’t much in-between.  Much like today’s streaming channels, producer Roger Corman was challenged to provide as much “content” as possible, even if that meant pasting films together with recycled scripts and a misleading poster.  So, it’s a pleasant surprise to discover  The Devil’s Partner  (1960) is a more-than-competent piece of Faustian horror with a cast that doesn’t seem anxious to move on to the next shot. After a prologue in which ornery hermit Richard Evans sells his soul to the devil, a stranger pops up in the town of Furnace Flats, New Mexico.  Nick Richards (Ed Nelson) is the amiable – but somewhat unsettling – nephew of the deceased whose appearance kicks off a series of terrible accidents.  He takes a romantic interest in Nell (Jean Allison), whose fiancé becomes understandably suspicious, launching an investigation into Nick’s late-night shenanigans invo...