Brad Fuller Movies

A family living in a gated community fight to defend their home against vicious attackers during the one night each year when all crime is legal in this high-concept thriller from writer/director James DeMonaco (Staten Island). In the not-too-distant future, rampant crime and prison overcrowding have inspired the U.S. government to implement a unique solution to restore the peace: Each year, for a 12-hour period, any and all crime becomes permissible as police put their jobs on hold, and hospitals close their doors. It's called the Purge, and remarkably, the annual event leads to drastically reduced crime and record-low unemployment levels throughout the rest of the year. But this year, as suburban parents James (Ethan Hawke) and Mary (Lena Headey) place their home on lockdown for the annual event, a desperate man finds his way into their neighborhood while fleeing a sadistic gang of masked killers. In a moment of compassion, James and Mary's adolescent son (Max Burkholder) unlocks the door, offering sanctuary to the frightened stranger. Unfortunately for the entire family, that act of kindness may also be their very last, because now the killers who were pursuing the man have surrounded the house, and have vowed to kill everyone inside unless they are willingly given the man they are hunting within an hour. As the clock begins to tick, the family face a difficult dilemma -- do they sacrifice the life of a stranger in hopes of saving themselves, or attempt to stand their ground until the Purge expires? ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Platinum Dunes revives the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise with this reworking of slasher film legend Freddy Krueger, a deceased child killer who torments the dreams of the teenagers of Springwood, OH. Jackie Earle Haley picks up the killer's mantle from series veteran Robert Englund with the reboot from music-video director Samuel Bayer. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Emotionally distanced form his two young sons following the untimely death of his devoted wife, a troubled detective investigates a series of murders that seem to be based on the Biblical prophecies concerning the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in a dark psychological thriller starring Dennis Quaid and Zhang Ziyi. Patrick Fugit, Clifton Collins Jr., and Peter Stormare co-star in a film by Spun director Jonas Åckerlund and Doom screenwriter Dave Callaham. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes adds Roman Polanski's 1968 horror classic Rosemary's Baby to their remake plate with this Paramount Pictures production. The plot focuses on a woman who's unsuspectedly carrying the spawn of Satan due to a deal made between her husband and their sinister elderly neighbors. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

A lonely stretch of highway leads to a date with terror in this thriller. Jim Halsey (Zachary Knighton) and Grace Andrews (Sophia Bush) are a young couple in the midst of a long-distance road trip when, during a rainstorm, they take pity on a hitchhiker, John Ryder) (Sean Bean), and give him a lift. Jim and Grace soon come to regret their benevolence when Ryder reveals himself as a violent madman determined to see them dead. Luck is with Jim and Grace, and they're able to throw off Ryder and get back on the road, but as it happens their troubles are just beginning. Ryder has already killed a handful of people and is planting evidence that suggests Jim and Grace are the murderers; now the couple is on the run from the law as they search for Ryder in a bid to clears their names. The Hitcher is a remake of the 1986 cult horror classic of the same name; the new version was produced by Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller, who previously produced remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Bear witness to the birth of the most horrifying legend in the history of cinema as director Jonathan Liebesman explores the nightmarish origins of the psychotic Hewitt family in this sequel to director Marcus Nispel's 2003 hit The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The year is 1969, and despite the fact that the Vietnam War is raging halfway across the globe, all is ominously quiet on the back roads of America. Eighteen-year-old Dean Hill (Taylor Handley) has just received his draft notice, and his older brother, Eric (Matthew Bomer), is determined to watch out for his younger sibling by ensuring that Dean enroll in the Marine Corps rather than risking his luck at the local induction center. Dean has other plans, though, and as soon as the pair and their girlfriends, Bailey (Diora Baird) and Chrissie (Jordana Brewster), return from their final fling in sunny Texas, he plans to confront his brother with the prospect of dodging the draft. When an unsettling encounter with malevolent bikers Holden (Lee Tergesen) and Alex (Cyia Batten) results in a serious car accident in which Chrissie is thrown from the vehicle, the arrival of Sheriff Hoyt (R. Lee Ermey) at first appears to be a moment of divine intervention. However, when Sheriff Hoyt murders thieving Alex in cold blood and then shepherds her friends into the back of his police cruiser as Chrissie watches from the brush, their momentary reprieve soon gives way to an unimaginable terror. As Hoyt transports her ailing friends to the Hewitt home, where a childlike man named Thomas is currently undergoing the transformation into cannibalistic madman Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski), a desperate Chrissie attempts to enlist the aid of Holden in rescuing her friends from a fate worse than death. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

One of the most infamous horror films of the 1970s is revisited in this remake produced by action-spectacle maven Michael Bay. In the summer of 1973, four teenagers -- Erin (Jessica Biel), Morgan (Jonathan Tucker), Kemper (Eric Balfour), and Andy (Mike Vogel) -- are driving through Texas on a road trip when they pick up a hitchhiker, Pepper (Erica Leerhsen), who is on her way to Mexico to score some dope. With Pepper adding to the party atmosphere, the other four decide to join her, but as they're passing through a small town in Travis County, they see a bloody and distraught girl (Lauren German) wandering by the side of the road, and after stopping to help her, they realize she's been involved in something horribly traumatic. As the kids try to help the girl piece together the story of what happened, they find themselves drawn into the web of a murderous family of subnormal cannibals. Inspired -- like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, and Deranged -- by the crimes of Wisconsin multiple murderer Ed Gein, this remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre also features narration by John Larroquette, who narrated the original film (it was his first screen credit), as well as supporting performances by R. Lee Ermey, Andrew Prine, and Andrew Bryniarski. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A working class British family struggles with their demons -- sometimes violently -- in this intensely emotional drama that marked the directorial debut of actor Gary Oldman. Janet (Laila Morse) is a widowed factory worker who shares her home with her aged mother Kath (Edna Dore), her daughter Valerie (Kathy Burke), her son Billy (Charlie Creed-Miles), and Valerie's husband Ray (Ray Winstone). Ray is an unstable and out-of-work alcoholic who often uses his pregnant wife as a punching bag, while Billy is a drug addict whose habit has led Janet to throw him out of the house more then once, only to take him back later. Janet is uncertain about what to do when Ray's latest tirade sends Valerie to the emergency room, and Janet also has to come to terms with the financial and emotional costs of Billy's addiction. Kathy Burke, Ray Winstone, and Laila Morse all received prizes from the 1997 British Independent Film Awards for their work in Nil by Mouth; Burke also received Best Actress honors at that year's Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Elaine May and Marlo Thomas star in this black comedy taking place in the black comedy capital of the world -- New York City. Elaine May plays Marianne Flan, who moves back to a nightmare New York City from Beverly Hills after her husband, Roger (Peter Falk), has been fired from his job. She hires ditzy psychic Reva Prosky (Marlo Thomas) to redecorate her apartment, and they end up being pursued by a crazed killer. They flee the city and end up at a new-age retreat in upstate New York. Jeannie Berlin, Elaine May's daughter, co-wrote the script with Laurie Jones and appears briefly as the Flan's strumpet neighbor. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

For his second documentary feature, Errol Morris originally set out to chronicle Vernon, FL, because it had the highest rate of a particular sort of insurance fraud -- dismemberment performed for profit -- than any other place in the country. Nothing of that original idea survives in the film itself. Instead, Morris seems perfectly content letting the camera roll in front of the other eccentrics he found there, using his trademark approach of simply letting his subjects do the talking themselves. Many of them exhibit unusually close relationships to animals, including a turtle keeper, a worm farmer, and most memorably, an extremely enthusiastic turkey hunter. Other highlights include a sermon offering a close reading on the significance of the word "therefore" and a couple with a jar of sand from White Sands, NM, that they insist, thanks to radiation, has begun to multiply. ~ Keith Phipps, Rovi