Simon Oakes Movies

Recently separated from her husband and seeking to start a new life in the city, single doctor Juliet (Hillary Swank) rents a spacious apartment in Brooklyn and finds herself beset on all sides by a mysterious, unseen force of evil. Is there a rational explanation behind the unsettling events unfolding all around Juliet, or could it be that she is being pursued by forces beyond human comprehension? From acclaimed horror studio Hammer Films (Let Me In, The Woman in Black) comes this unrelentingly tense thriller co-starring Christopher Lee and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

John Ajvide Lindqvist's celebrated vampire novel makes the leap to the big screen once again with the second feature adaptation in so many years (Tomas Alfredson's critically acclaimed 2008 hit Let the Right One In, being the first). The sensitive target of vicious bullying at school, 12-year-old Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a social misfit from a broken home. By day Owen dreams about laying waste to his classroom tormentors; by night his attentions turn to his reclusive neighbors in their austere apartment complex. One evening, as Owen takes out his pent-up aggressions on a tree, his new neighbor Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz) appears over his shoulder. A young girl wise beyond her years, Abby just moved in next door to Owen with her stoic caretaker (Richard Jenkins), who seems to harbor a sinister secret. Compelled by Abby's apparent imperviousness to the harsh winter elements, her frail disposition, and the fact that she's nowhere to be found before the sun falls, Owen senses a kindred soul, and strikes up a friendship with the girl, despite her repeated attempts to maintain an emotional distance. Simultaneously, their community grows vigilant following a series of vicious murders, and Abby's caretaker vanishes without a trace. Later, as Abby begins to grow vulnerable, her bond with Owen strengthens. By the time Owen begins to suspect that his evasive new friend is something other than human, it starts to seem as if Abby could use a good friend after all. Given that his bullies are growing more emboldened by the day, so too could Owen. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A chase forms the basis of this Hitchcockian comedy thriller from Great Britain. Petty con-man Johnny Ryan makes a scant living playing three-card Monte on the streets of Bath. At the same time, Beatrice Baxter, a drug runner learns that she has a terminal illness and will die in six months. She decides she will go out with a bang and steals two million pounds from her dealers. While hiding out in a posh hotel, she involves herself with Johnny who is on the lam from the cops. Later the girl leaves him and takes off with Jennifer. Beatrice does this so she can set Jennifer up to replace her when the boys from the drug cartel come. But Jennifer is no fool and does a switcheroo of her own. She and Johnny leave Beatrice, whom they think is dead, and hightail it out of town with the police and the crooks in hot pursuit. Mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi