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Before creating the horror icon Freddy Kruger, Wes Craven launched his career with two gritty horror films — THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972) and THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977). In HILLS, we learn right from the start that there are dangerous people leaving in the hills of an abandoned nuclear test site in the desert.

The Carter family is heading out that way to see an old silver mine that’s been in the family for years. The old gas station owner Fred (John Steadman, THE LONGEST YARD) warns them not to go out there, because he knows the secret that the wild people in the hills are hungry cannibals. As the Carters head for the mine, they get into a car accident, stranding them in the middle of nowhere. Angry ex-cop and patriarch Big Bob Carter (Russ Grieve, FOXY BROWN) and his no-good son-in-law Doug Wood (Martin Speer) head out into the night to find help.

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Paris Hilton gets killed in the most poetic way in this film and that gains my respect right from the start. This horror flick is really not a remake of the classic Vincent Price horror film. The similarities are only in name and the fact that both films do feature wax museums.

Carly Jones (Elisha Cuthbert, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR) and a bunch of her friends are heading out on a road trip to see a big football game. Her boyfriend Wade (Jared Padalecki, CRY_WOLF) has a very combative relationship with Carly’s tough-guy brother Nick (Chad Michael Murray, FREAKY FRIDAY). Dalton (Jon Abrahams, PRIME) is a white guy, hip-hop wanna-be, who idolizes Nick. Also along for the trip are football fanatic Blake (Robert Ri’chard, COACH CARTER) and his girlfriend Paige (Hilton). Most of the cast is really just there to pad the body count.

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This fun entertainment’s only flaw is that it’s too fun. Set in a Nazi prison camp, a legion of soldiers from the British and American armies make it their mission to escape and/or cause the most disruption for the Nazis as they can.

Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett (Richard Attenborough, JURASSIC PARK) leads the major escape effort, which will tunnel under the guarded fence and allow for 250 prisoners to flee. Capt. Hilts (Steve McQueen, BULLITT), like any typical American character, wants to escape on his own, which is approved by Roger to throw off the enemy. Joining Hilts is the nervous Archibald Ives (Angus Lennie, OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR). After each of their escapes, Hilts and Ives are recaptured and thrown into the cooler for months at a time.

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Based on a play by Patrick Hamilton and following the respected British version by only four years, George Cukor’s GASLIGHT is a classic psychological thriller, starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotton.

Paula Alquist (Bergman, CASABLANCA) is taken away to study as a singer after her aunt and only caretaker Alice Alquist — a world-renowned stage actress and singer — is murdered in their London home. Twenty years later, she falls in love with the pianist Gregory Anton (Boyer, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK), who tells her of his dream to live in London. Because she loves him so, she agrees to move back to her old home in London and confront her demons. However, we become quickly suspicious of Gregory when Paula finds a letter addressed to her aunt delivered two days before her aunt’s death. Soon Gregory convinces Paula that she is forgetting things and doing things that she cannot remember. Is he deliberately trying to drive her mad? But why?

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The character of John J. Rambo as played by Sylvester Stallone has become an icon, especially of the era it came from. The Green Beret superhero tapped into the lingering resentments of the Vietnam era and blew stuff up real good like. The best part about the film is its set up, however it changes gears into brainless zone.

Rambo comes to a small mountain town to visit an old friend from Nam, but discovers the man has died of cancer related to Agent Orange. He goes into town to get something to eat and because of the haggard way he looks is literally driven out of town by the sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy, ROMEO + JULIET). After refusing to be treated like a bum, Rambo is arrested and while in police custody is abused to the point where he snaps, beating up all the officers single-handedly as he escapes. This begins the cat and mouse chase pitting the survival skills of Rambo against the backwater police.

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Here’s the plot — a lunatic killer stalks a sorority house. You’re probably moving onto the next review right about now. If not, then you might learn more about one of the most underrated horror films of all time.

Just off the top of my head the film clearly influenced HALLOWEEN and WHEN A STRANGER CALLS and horror fans will also see parallels to NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and FRIDAY THE 13TH as well. And let’s not forget all the SLUMBER PARTY and SOROITY HOUSE MASSACRE-type films that ripped off the film’s premise. When it comes to slasher films, this is one of the all-time best.

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Director Bob Fosse (LENNY) wrote and directed this semi-autobiographical fictional musical about a film/stage director, whose life spirals out of control because of his boozing and womanizing ways. The film also serves as an ode to the backstage politics of the theater industry.

Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider, JAWS), a star choreographer on Broadway, is casting his new project. We know early on that his health is fading. In interspersed fantasy segments, Gideon reflects on his ways with an angel of death named Angelique (Jessica Lange, BLUE SKY). His ex-wife Audrey Paris (Leland Palmer, VALENTINO) is a star dancer, who obviously loves Gideon, but loathes the way he acts. Kate Jagger (Ann Reinking, ANNIE) is his long-suffering girlfriend, who has found a way to deal with Gideon’s behavior. Gideon’s young daughter Michelle (Erzsebet Foldi) looks up to him, even though he lets her down at every turn.

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Lasse Hallstrom is a director I admire a great deal, because he made two of my favorite films — MY LIFE AS A DOG and WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE. I also really like his ONCE AROUND and CIDER HOUSE RULES. However, I really don’t like SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT or THE SHIPPING NEWS and felt CHOCOLAT was okay. The fact that AN UNFINISHED LIFE stat on Miramax’s shelves for two years didn’t increase my confidence that he had returned to his earlier form. However, the film is definitely his best film since CIDER HOUSE and warranted more respect that being dumped into theaters with little fanfare.

Jean Gilkyson (Jennifer Lopez, THE CELL) has finally gotten the nerve to take her daughter Griff (Becca Gardner) and leave her abusive boyfriend Gary (Damian Lewis, KEANE). She has no place to go, so she makes the hard decision to move back to her hometown and ask to stay with her dead husband’s father Einar (Robert Redford, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID), who blames her for his son’s death. Einar is a crusty old SOB, who cares for his ranch hand, Mitch Bradley (Morgan Freeman, MILLION DOLLAR BABY), who was recently mauled by a bear. Jean, who has a habit of jumping from man to man, rekindles an old fling with the sheriff Crane Curtis (Josh Lucas, HULK) much to the chagrin of Griff, who up until know didn’t even know that her grandfather was alive.

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This Oscar nominee for best foreign language film from the Palestinian Territories deals with the motivations of suicide bombers. Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) are best friends, who have been called into service as suicide bombers. They work as auto mechanics and live with their mothers. Both of their fathers have been killed in some way.

Early in the film, Said develops a relationship with Suha (Lubna Azabel), a beautiful young woman who has recently moved back from living abroad. Through the course of the preparation for the bombing, the men discuss their reasons for taking their lives in an effort to take other lives. Said is bitter about the occupation of his people, especially in light of the military might of Israel. He believes that a Palestinian only has his body to donate to the resistance because there is no other reasonable choice for freedom. Killing Israelis is a reasonable response to Israel’s aggressive treatment of his people. The promise of instantly going to heaven seems to be a vague thought to strengthen their nerve, not a hard felt belief.

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This indie drama follows the title character, played by David Schwimmer, as he deals with the break-up of his marriage and his denial that he has a drinking problem. I’ve not been a fan of the FRIENDS star, but this is the kind of performance that redefines the way you look at an actor.

The film begins with Duane being pulled over for a DWI. He might have gotten off this time, but he had his young daughter in the car with him. As a result he loses his license and must ride his bike to his job as a casino pit boss on the Atlantic City boardwalk. His ex-wife Linda (Janeane Garofalo, THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGS) is afraid that he will hurt the children because he’s a drunk, but he doesn’t like that word “drunk.” Duane has a problem dealing with his situation, which leads to outbursts of frustrated anger, which don’t help his problems anymore.

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