Peter Block Movies

Photographer and filmmaker Larry Clark, who made a controversial feature debut with the disturbing drama Kids, returns with another disquieting look at amoral and sexually precocious youth. Bobby (Nick Stahl) is a high school student growing up in southern Florida in the early '90s. Bobby is also a borderline psychotic; he frequently lashes out with brutal violence against those around him and especially enjoys humiliating his best friend Marty (Brad Renfro). While Bobby professes to hate and fear homosexuals, he goads Marty into performing phone sex with men, makes Marty and his friends watch hardcore gay porn films with him, and may have sexually abused Marty. But Marty is hardly the only victim of Bobby's abuse; Bobby has sexually assaulted Marty's girlfriend Lisa (Rachel Miner) and more than once has barged in on the couple while they were making love. Lisa's best friend Ali (Bijou Phillips) has also been raped by Bobby, and he has mistreated nearly everyone in their circle of friends. One night, Marty, Lisa, Ali, and several others decide Bobby's cycle of abuse must stop. But their solution is as ugly as the problem -- the teens stab Bobby, slit his throat, crush his head with a baseball bat, and throw his body into the bay, where the remains will be eaten by alligators. Bully is based on a book by journalist Jim Schutze, which recounted the facts of the 1993 murder of Bobby Kent, who after years of abusing his friends and classmates, was killed by seven of his acquaintances in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. As with Kids, Larry Clark's startlingly graphic depiction of sex, violence, and drug use among teenagers crossed the boundaries of what the MPAA could permit in an R-rated film, and the picture's distributors chose to release the film without a rating. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

James Cox directs the sleazy Hollywood murder tale Wonderland, starring Val Kilmer as legendary porn star John Holmes. Using a non-linear plot structure, the film explores different perspectives of the quadruple homicide that occurred on July 1, 1981, in the Hollywood Hills. At the lowest point of his career and the height of his drug addiction, Holmes was implicated in the murders of the Wonderland gang: Ron Launius (Josh Lucas), Billy Deverell (Tim Blake Nelson), Barbara Richardson (Natasha Gregson Wagner), and Joy Miller (Janeane Garofalo). Launius' wife, Susan (Christina Applegate), was the only survivor. Led by Detective Sam Nico (Ted Levine), the police investigation reveals a dark criminal underworld surrounding Holmes, his disapproving wife, Sharon (Lisa Kudrow), and his innocent teenage girlfriend, Dawn Schiller (Kate Bosworth). Eric Bogosian stars as notorious Hollywood nightclub owner Eddie Nash. Wonderland premiered at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

The sixth movie in the seemingly endless Leprechaun series finds the title character revisiting the territory he menaced in the fifth outing. This time around, a group of inner-city friends go from rags to riches when they stumble upon some treasures. Little do they know that the booty belongs to the terrifying little green man and he wants it back. Decked out in bling-bling and smoking chronically, Leprechaun dispenses with the unsuspecting pals one by one. Warwick Davis once again reprises the title role, which he's assumed throughout the series, and instead of Ice-T, who co-starred in Leprechaun in the Hood, another rapper, Sticky Fingaz of Onyx, is onboard for this blood bath. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

The feminist horror film genre might not have very many prominent entries, but the critically acclaimed 2000 film Ginger Snaps was just that. A darkly humorous chiller that drew parallels between menstruation and a werewolf curse, the John Fawcett picture garnered several Canadian Genie Award nominations and a loyal cult following. Four years later, Brett Sullivan, the film's editor, made his feature directorial debut with this sequel, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed. Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins reprise their roles from the first film as sisters Ginger and Brigitte, respectively. This time around, Brigitte is found by the police after being attacked and taken to rehab when it's assumed that the wolfbane serum that keeps her from turning into a monster is a narcotic. Once inside the facility and denied the substance, Brigitte must strike deals with one of the orderlies to obtain it; meanwhile, she is pursued by another werewolf, and escapes with Ghost, another female patient, to that girl's vacant old house, which sets the stage for a brutal showdown -- made even nastier when the orderly, a hospital doctor, and the elderly Barbara show up and decide to intervene. Also starring Tatiana Maslany, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed was followed only a few months later by Ginger Snaps Back. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Kevin Spacey serves as both director and star for this biopic based on the life and career of legendary entertainer Bobby Darin, which moves back and forth between his childhood and adult selves to tell the tale of his remarkable life. Born Bobby Cassotto and raised in the Bronx, young Bobby (played as a child by William Ullrich) was raised by his mother, Polly (Brenda Blethyn), his brother-in-law, Charlie (Bob Hoskins), and his sister, Nina (Caroline Aaron). At the age of 15, Bobby contracted a severe case of rheumatic fever, which was expected to take his life; while it left him with a weak heart, Bobby beat the odds and survived. Buoyed by a love of music passed along by his mother, Bobby learned to play several instruments and began singing as he recovered. Displaying a confidence and drive which stopped just short of arrogance, he adopted the stage name Bobby Darin and set his sights on becoming a star. After a string of hits as a rock & roll singer, Darin (played as an adult by Kevin Spacey) takes another gamble, and with the help of manager Steve Blauner (John Goodman) he reinvents himself as a supper-club vocalist in the manner of Frank Sinatra. All the more remarkably, he succeeds, and his swinging version of "Mack the Knife" tops the charts. Now a major singing star, Darin decides to take up acting; on the set of his first movie, he woos his female co-star Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth), and despite the stern objections of her mother (Greta Scacchi), Bobby and Sandra wed. But after a string of successful movies for Dee and hit records and an Oscar nomination for Darin, the shifting tastes of the 1960s throw their careers off-track. Bobby cautiously embraces the new sounds of the day, but his old fans don't want to hear him cover Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones, while the younger audience isn't interested in his new sound, leaving Darin in a difficult place to make his way back to stardom. Kevin Spacey did his own singing for Beyond the Sea, recreating Bobby Darin's vocal style with uncanny accuracy. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Forty-years after a group of frightened villagers convinced authorities to build the dam that would flood the village of Marinbad and drown the evil that lurks therein, a village built next to the reservoir that sits placid over the cursed ground begins to experience a series of mysterious deaths. Decades ago a curse consumed Marinbad, and as the evil threatened to expand into the surrounding land the villagers successfully lobbied to have their once-peaceful hamlet flooded in hopes of keeping the malevolent spirits contained. Two decades have passed since that fateful attempt to wash away the sins of the land, and now something unspeakable has surfaced in the waters that cover Marinbad. When numerous area people go missing and scores of citizens perish under strange circumstances on the fortieth anniversary of the dam, it begins to appear as the one who was left for dead has risen from the depths. Director Brian Yuzna teams with The Fantastic Factory to adapt an original novel by author Matthew Costello. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Directed by the prolific Rob Zombie, The Devil's Rejects is a sequel of sorts to 2003's House of 1000 Corpses, and picks up several weeks after House left off. This time, the clash revolves around the tribe of violent lunatics and decidedly valueless family members of the original film, who have come to be known as the "Devil's Rejects." After learning of the extended family's horrific attacks, a SWAT team is sent to take them into custody; all but their crazed Mama escape. In addition to creating a full-fledged media circus, this sends the sociopath housemates on the run, and they initiate a deadly road trip. Meanwhile, Mama has to deal with a violent, vengeful sheriff (William Forsythe). The Devil's Rejects features Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Sheri Moon, Michael Berryman, and Ken Foree, among other cult horror regulars. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

The producers of Saw shine a little darkness on the City of Lights in this grim thriller about a naïve American visiting her sister in Paris, and the horror that unfolds as they descend into the city's vast Catacombs for a wild underground rave. Victoria (Shannon Sossamon) has never been to Paris, but when her sister Carolyn (Pink) invites her to an upcoming party, the prospect of living it up in the most romantic city on Earth proves too powerful to resist. Shortly after arriving in Paris, Victoria and Carolyn venture deep into the 200-mile limestone labyrinth constructed with the bones of seven million Parisians. Later, after getting separated from her friends, the frightened American can't help shake the feeling that someone - or something - is stalking her every move; just waiting for the perfect moment to spring forth from the darkness. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A crack commando squad investigates a college campus inflected with a zombie virus in House of the Dead 2, a film that boldly continues where Uwe Boll's inept first film left off. When a demented professor (Sid Haig) starts to conduct experiments on fresh corpses, all hell breaks loose at Cuesta Verde University as hordes of undead college kids roam the secluded school. Now it's up to government agents Alex (Emmanuelle Vaugier) and Ellis (Ed Quinn) to find the zombie blood strain that initially started the epidemic so that a cure can be discovered. In their way are a student body of flesh-eating zombies and an inexperienced army unit headed by Dalton (Sticky Fingaz) that is assigned to aide them. Broadcast as a Sci-fi Channel exclusive in early 2006, the film was released to DVD in all its gory goodness shortly thereafter. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

In a 1950s-era alternate universe where domesticated zombies play a functional role in society by delivering the milk, carrying the mail, and even helping out with household chores, one boy is about to find out just how big of a personal responsibility "pet" ownership truly is. When the Earth passed through a cloud of space dust and the dead arose from their graves to devour the flesh of the living, it first seemed that all hope for humanity was lost. Society's rapid slide into chaos, however, was soon halted when scientists at a company called ZomCom created a special collar that turned the rampaging animated corpses docile. Now, thanks to ZomCom, everything is under control -- or is it? Timmy Robinson (K'Sun Ray) isn't quite convinced. Quiet and withdrawn, the skeptical young boy spends so much time locked away in his room that he's almost become invisible around the household. His mother Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss) has recently purchased a zombie to help keep things tidy around the house though, and when the creature attempts to engage the curious youngster in a game of catch, a friendship is forged between boy and zombie that finds the amiable gut-muncher nicknamed Fido (Billy Connolly) practically becoming a part of the family. Things take a turn for the worse however, when Fido's collar malfunctions and Timmy's neighbors begin dying in droves. When ZomCom's top zombie control specialist Mr. Bottoms (Henry Czerny) moves in across the street from Timmy, the increasingly complicated situation threatens to place a serious stumbling block in the path of human-zombie relations. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Writer-director Lawrence Malkin's thriller Five Fingers casts Ryan Philippe as Martijn, a gifted Dutch jazz pianist who flies to Morocco to set up a food assistance program. On Middle Eastern soil, however, he and his security person, Gavin (portrayed by Colm Meaney) are promptly kidnapped by terrorists, dragged to a warehouse, chained down and blindfolded. The captors promptly kill Gavin and then begin systematic attempts to extract information from the pianist (about where he obtained the money to set up the program) - by cutting off his fingers one at a time. Martijn insists on his own ignorance, though in time it becomes clear that all is not what it seems. Laurence Fishburne portrays the head terrorist, Ahmat, Said Taghmaoui his sidekick, Youseff. Malkin co-authored the script with Chad Thurman. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

WWE superstar "Stone Cold" Steve Austin stars as a death row inmate who gets a rare second shot at life in director Scott Wiper's adrenaline-charged action thriller. Jack Conrad (Austin) is a dangerous convict currently awaiting execution in a corrupt Central American prison. "Purchased" by a wealthy television producer and transported to a deserted island, the formidable inmate is offered the opportunity to avoid capital punishment and win back his freedom by fighting to the death against nine other condemned criminals in an illegal game to be broadcast uncensored over the Internet. Rick Hoffman and Vinnie Jones co-star in a brutal battle royal of non-stop carnage. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi