Angus MacInnes Movies

Mike Mignola's acclaimed comic book series about a creature from Hades who joins the battle against evil arrives on the screen in vivid form in this adaptation directed by distinctive horror filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. During World War II, the Third Reich has joined forces with the evil Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden), who has used his occult powers to summon up a young demon from the depth of Hell to be used as the ultimate Axis weapon. However, the demonic creature is captured by American forces, and put in the care of Professor Broom (John Hurt), the founder of a top-secret organization called the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. Under Broom's tutelage, the creature develops empathy and a desire to do good while his physical powers and paranormal talents are honed to a fine point. Sixty years later, the demon, now known as Hellboy (Ron Perlman), is part of an elite secret defense team alongside Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), a beautiful young woman who can create fire with her mind, and Abe Sapian (Doug Jones), an aquatic humanoid with the power of telepathy. Despite his many years of fighting for right, Hellboy finds himself facing his greatest challenge when the powerful Rasputin returns, determined to bring the demon back to the forces of darkness so that evil may finally rule the world. Hellboy's supporting cast also includes Jeffrey Tambor, Rupert Evans, and Brian Steele. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The final work of legendary director Stanley Kubrick, who died within a week of completing the edit, stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, at the time Hollywood's most bankable celebrity couple, and was shot on a open-ended schedule (finally totaling over 400 days), with closed sets in London standing in for New York City. Cruise and Kidman play William and Alice Harford, a physician and a gallery manager who are wealthy, successful, and travel in a sophisticated social circle; however, a certain amount of decadence crosses their paths on occasion, and a visit to a formal-dress party leads them into sexual temptation when William is drafted into helping a beautiful girl who has overdosed on drugs while Alice is charmed by a man bent on seduction. While neither William and Alice act on their adulterous impulses, once the issue has been brought into the open, it begins a dangerous season of erotic gamesmanship for the couple, with William in particular openly confronting his desire for new sexual experiences. What didn't make the final cut of Eyes Wide Shut may have been as fascinating as what finally appeared on screen: Harvey Keitel was replaced almost immediately by Sydney Pollack, while Jennifer Jason Leigh was replaced by Marie Richardson after she had shot all her scenes and left town. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A violent, effects-heavy science fiction adventure, Judge Dredd depicts a nightmarish future in which overcrowded cities are terrorized by brutal gun battles and policed by "Judges," law officers who act as judge, jury, and executioner. Sylvester Stallone stars as Judge Dredd, a punishing enforcer with an unswerving dedication to law and order. Little does Dredd know that a nasty villain (Armand Assante) and a corrupt Judge (Jurgen Prochnow) are plotting to take over the city and plan to frame Dredd for murder in order to prevent him from interfering. Dredd winds up in prison, but he fights back with the help of Judge Hershey (Diane Lane), his partner and romantic interest, and Fergie (Rob Schneider), his friend and comic relief, developing a plan to clear his name and stop the bad guys. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Peter Medak directed this fact-based drama, chronicling the lives of the infamous Kray Brothers, notorious celebrities in 60s London. The Krays were twin gangsters who ruled London's stylish East End club scene, staking out their territory by committing the most violent crimes imaginable, preferring to perform the most torturous acts themselves. The film stars Gary Kemp and Martin Kemp, founding members of the pop group Spandau Ballet, as Ronald and Reginald Kray. The film opens as their mother Violet Kray (Billie Whitelaw) recalls a dream in which she is a swan from which two beautiful babies have hatched. She can't tell if the swans are angels or demons, but the film soon answers that question for her. Brought up in London's East End in the 1930s, Ronald and Reginald Kray are raised in the resentful world of Violet, who is hateful of her lot in life and bitter at the control men have in running the world ("Housework is a lethal business," she says). The twins react to each other almost telepathically and they take out their anger by clogging the nose of their sleeping father (Alfred Lynch), pushing around fellow schoolboys, and even beating each other to pulp at a boxing match. When her mother chastises them for their fight in a fairground boxing ring ("You fight them up, but you don't fight each other"), the twins veer into the London underworld. In their self-contained world of Us-Against-Them, the Krays rapidly rise to the height of power, first taking over the territory of a petty mobster by violent means and then putting together an underworld empire of posh clubs, cars, and fancy suits. But at the height of their fame, the twins begin to break from each other. Reginald falls in love with Frances (Kate Hardie), while Ronald gets involved in a homosexual relationship with one of his underlings. Ronald, in a jealous rage over Frances stealing his brother away from him, becomes even more brutal in his crimes and while the brothers' backs are turned, a group of older mobsters challenge the Krays' authority, invoking a horrible bloodbath that effects not only the two brothers but Frances and Violet as well. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Made for television, A Father's Revenge stars Brian Dennehy as a high school basketball coach. When terrorists pull off a political kidnapping in West Germany, Dennehy's stewardess wife Joanna Cassidy is among the hostages. Fed up with the apparent foot-dragging of the authorities, Dennehy takes personal action in effecting Joanna's rescue. He hires Ron Silver's band of mercenaries, then heads to Germany to bring back his wife himself. Credibility is stretched to the limit at times, but the three stars are at their peak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Horror fantasist Clive Barker, director of the original Hellraiser, maintained creative control over this worthy sequel as executive producer, but was unable to occupy the director's chair due to his involvement on other projects. His creative touch is still quite evident here, as the original film's story is expanded in scope and intensity. The story picks up immediately after the events of the original, with the mentally unbalanced Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) confined to a mental hospital after her experiences in the hellish domain of the grotesque Cenobites, which included the gruesome death of her father. Her case attracts the attention of hospital director Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham), whose marked interest in her story has more than a little to do with his research into the occult. The chief focus of this extracurricular activity seems centered on his impressive collection of puzzle boxes, many of which are versions of the Lament Configuration -- the device which opens the gateway to the Cenobites' dimension. To further realize his diabolical obsession, Channard conducts grisly human sacrifices to resurrect the body of Kirsty's evil stepmother, Julia (Clare Higgins) -- who has literally been through hell and back. He also recruits mute autistic patient Tiffany (Imogen Boorman), an expert at solving puzzles, to decipher the correct version of the box.

Haunted by visions of her mutilated father suffering in hell, Kirsty joins Tiffany in hopes of rescuing him from the Cenobites' dimension. Tiffany gains them access to the portal, and they make the nightmarish journey down the corridors of hell. Narrowly escaping the diabolical Pinhead (Doug Bradley), they come face to face with Julia, who has already handed Dr. Channard over to the Cenobites to be transformed into a hideous new creation. First-time director Tony Randel acquits himself nicely, and seems to have a real flair for the surreal material; the script by longtime Barker collaborator Peter Atkins elaborates on elements only hinted at in its predecessor. It should follow that the slightly larger budget would allow ample room for this expansion, but the production values actually appear somewhat slimmer. What the film lacks in refined style it makes up for in utter dementia, particularly in its depiction of graphic bloodletting -- numerous scenes were trimmed or deleted altogether in order to obtain an R rating from the MPAA. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Based on Paul Theroux's Doctor Slaughter, Half-Moon Street is motivated by the moneymaking schemes of the heroine, PhD researcher Laura Slaughter (Sigourney Weaver). Stuck in a low-paying government job in London, Laura decides to increase her bank account by working for what is euphemistically termed an "escort service." It is understood that her duties go above and beyond mere handholding, and Laura has no problem with this. Michael Caine enters the scene as Lord Bulbeck, a high-ranking British diplomat with whom Laura forms a "special" bond. Little does she know that she is being set up in a power-grabbing scheme masterminded by oil-rich sheik Karim Hatami (Nadim Sawalha). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Peter Weir's thriller Witness, Samuel (Lukas Haas), a young Amish boy, witnesses a murder in the restroom of a Philadelphia bus station. Harrison Ford stars as John Book, the police detective investigating the murder. When Book discovers that the crime was part of a conspiracy involving several officials in his department, he flees Philadelphia to the Amish community where Samuel lives with his widowed mother, Rachel (Kelly McGillis). Slowly assimilating himself into the Amish community, Book eventually finds himself falling in love with Rachel in the midst of his investigation. Eventually, the corrupt police track Book down, and he is forced to confront them, while also trying to protect Rachel and Samuel. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Accidentally peering through a window while on his nightly jog, stockbroker Kenneth Gilman can't take his eyes off beautiful Barbara Law. He returns to the same neighborhood night after night, for the express purpose of sneaking a peek at Law and her lover in various states of sexual passion. When the woman is murdered, Gilman is fingered as the culprit--and it doesn't help matters that he's been discussing his chronic voyeurism with psychiatrist Dayle Haddon. Now it's up to our obsessive hero to find out who's trying to frame him. More successful as a semi-comedy than as a thriller, Bedroom Eyes drew enough of an audience to warrant a sequel, ingeniously titled Bedroom Eyes 2. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Heard and Levon Helm play a couple of frizzy-haired leftovers from the sixties. Living by their wits in Spain, Heard and Helm get mixed up in an multimillion-dollar Moroccan drug deal. Their intentions are more honorable than they seem: at stake is the life of a kidnap victim. But as the story develops, the boys discover that they've been set up as fall guys by a smarmy gangster. Eluding the Law, Heard and Helm lay the groundwork for retribution. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide