Posts tagged thriller.

Peeping Tom (1960)

“Peeping Tom” also known as “Face of Fear” (a movie way ahead of its time), directed by Michael Powell and written by Leo Marks, was released in theaters a month before Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”. Both are about men killing off beautiful women in horrific ways.

While Psycho maintains some suspense over the nature of the killer, Peeping Tom has him front and center, presenting a compelling and conflicting examination of his mind. Starring Karlheinz Böhm as Mark Lewis, a shy, lonely and quiet man with a dark secret, on his off hours, he supplies a local porno shop with cheesecake photos and dabbles in filmmaking, at night he’s killing young women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions.

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAqEn6JS-oM

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Hellraiser (1987)

A film directed and written by Clive Barker (based on his novel “The Hellbound Heart”), starring Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Sean Chapman, and Ashley Laurence. Barker has delivered us a real horror story, packed with intensity, both emotionally, as well as physically, also with a great/scary soundtrack. Though the special effects from the 80’s make you smile a little, “Hellraiser” can be pretty revolting, so I don’t recommend this to everyone!

Clive Barker’s feature directing debut graphically depicts the tale of a man and wife who move into an old house and discover a hideous creature - the man’s half-brother, who is also the woman’s former lover - hiding upstairs. Having lost his earthly body to a trio of S&M demons, the Cenobites, he is brought back into existence by a drop of blood on the floor. He soon forces his former mistress to bring him his necessary human sacrifices to complete his body.

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddGQiiNzF84

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Le passager de la pluie (1970)

I personally love to watch movies, that I cant figure out immediately, and “Le passager de la pluie” also known as “Rider on the Rain” is one of them, and it’s so different, that some people probably won’t even like it. 

The film starts with a beautiful young woman in the South of France, played by Marlène Jobert, who is stalked, then raped by, a mysterious masked assailant. She shoots him dead soon afterwards and dumps his corpse in the sea. Later an American investigator, played by Charles Bronson, turns up, and to her horror he seems to know everything about what she has done. No matter how hard she tries, he’s always one step ahead. Only at the end, we learn what he really wanted from her.

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUAZP-gx3iE

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Alien (1979)

Thanks to “Prometheus” I remembered one of the greatest Sci-Fi thrillers of all time, “Alien”. Directed by Ridley Scott, starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. After you watched this, I would also recommend “Aliens” the continuation, directed by James Cameron. It’s nearly perfect in every way, storyline, characters, menacing threat, suspense, action, music, emotion, etc…both are with good reasons classics.

The crew of the deep space mining ship Nostromo are awaken from hypersleep to investigate a strange signal from a nearby planet. While investigating the signal, they discover it was intended as a warning, and not an SOS.

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEVY_lonKf4

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Sissy Spacek and John Travolta in “Carrie” (1976)

Cape Fear (1991)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A film by Wes Craven, that was a mega success in the 80s starring Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. The power of this movie lies in the fact that this kids get killed while asleep, and sleep cannot be avoided. In so many other horror movies, the victims are nothing more than vapid cattle wandering dumbly up the slaughterhouse chute and calling out: “Is anyone there?” as they go up. They purposefully get themselves into stupid and dangerous situations and therefore we feel no real pity for them when they are eviscerated. However, in “A Nightmare On Elm Street” all the characters have to do to endanger themselves, is to go to sleep.

The teenagers of Springfield, Illinois - On Elm Street- are having nightmares. Tina and her best friend Nancy learn that they’re dreaming about the same creature, a hideously burned man in a dirty red and green sweater who bears an odd weapon; a glove with razor fingers. When Tina is brutally murdered in her bed one night, suspicion falls upon her volatile boyfriend Rod, who was the only other person in the room with Tina when she died. But Rod swears he didn’t do it, and tells Nancy that he too has been suffering from terrible nightmares in which a knife- fingered man is trying to kill him. Nancy begins to suspect that something evil is happening within their dreams, and that perhaps the boogeyman is real. When Rod turns up dead in his jail cell, Nancy is convinced that a ghostly killer is stalking them in their sleep. Nancy must think quickly, as Freddy tries to pick off his victims one by one. 

Trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1214775321/

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Mystic River (2003)

Based on the novel of Dennis Lehane directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon.

Childhood friends Jimmy Markum, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle reunite following the death of Jimmy’s oldest daughter, Katie. Sean’s a police detective on the case, gathering difficult and disturbing evidence; he’s also tasked with handling Jimmy’s rage and need for retribution. A great thriller, you don’t know who the “Murderer” is until the end.The acting is flawless and believable through out the whole film. “We bury our sins, we wash them clean. Here in Mystic River. “

Won 2 Oscars (Penn and Robbins)

Trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1956118809/

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Sissy Spacek on the set of “Carrie” (1976)

Sissy Spacek on the set of “Carrie” (1976)

Alfred Hitchcock & Anthony Perkins on the set of “Psycho” (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock & Anthony Perkins on the set of “Psycho” (1960)

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

Some maybe know the book by Lionel Shriver, Lynne Ramsay directed this film with actors like Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly and Ezra Miller. Swinton is just AMAZING in this movie, she plays the mother of a teenage boy and knows her child is not ‘normal’. The young Kevin is played brilliantly by Jasper Newell, he is abusive and manipulative. Swinton thinks it’s her fault, because mothers who do not bond with their children are generally made to feel at fault - and this issue is very well conveyed. Everyone seems to condemn her and she appears at surface level to accept this, except we also see that she doesn’t! I’m sure you won’t be disappointed by this drama/thriller combination, you should check out the trailer!

Trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi566533657

Brain Dead (1990)

This movie is so confusing, crazy, weird, it’s basically one long chaotic nightmare. A real head trip where one is constantly questioning the sanity of the main characters. Brain Dead is not easy to follow but if you do, it’s a great thriller, with a fantastic cast!

Plot:

A psychological thriller from the writer of the original “Twilight Zone!” In a showdown of man vs. machine, Martin plunges into a chaotic nightmare trying to save his mind from the megalomaniacal corporation!

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT3bhZiN3mY

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

The Constant Gardener (2005)

A widower is determined to get to the bottom of a potentially explosive secret involving his wife’s murder, big business, and corporate corruption. The cinematography is fantastic. Directed by Fernando Meirelles, who also directed “City of God”, with actors like Ralph Fiennes, Danny Huston and Rachel Weisz, who won an Oscar.

Plot:

In a remote area of Northern Kenya, activist Tessa Quayle is found brutally murdered. Tessa’s companion, a doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Members of the British High Commission in Nairobi assume that Tessa’s widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle, will leave the matter to them. They could not be more wrong. Haunted by remorse and jarred by rumors of his late wife’s infidelities, Quayle surprises everyone by embarking on a personal odyssey that will take him across three continents. Using his privileged access to diplomatic secrets, he will risk his own life, stopping at nothing to uncover and expose the truth - a conspiracy more far-reaching and deadly than Quayle could ever have imagined.

Trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3035693337/

Dream House (2011)

Finally a Horror film I’m looking forward too. The story sounds good and the actors are great: Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts.

Plot:

Some say that all houses have memories. For one man, his home is the place he would kill to forget. A family unknowingly moves into a home where several grisly murders were committed…only to find themselves the killer’s next target. Successful publisher Will Atenton (Craig) quit a job in New York City to relocate his wife, Libby (Weisz), and two girls to a quaint New England town. But as they settle into their new life, they discover their perfect home was the murder scene of a mother and her children. And the entire city believes it was at the hands of the husband who survived. When Will investigates the tragedy, his only lead comes from Ann Paterson (Watts), a neighbor who was close to the family that died. As Will and Ann piece together the disturbing puzzle, they discover that the story of the last man to leave Will’s dream house will be just as horrifying to the one who came next.

Trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi64658457/