Cinefantastique Online

News, reviews, interviews, retrospectives, and editorials that take you behind the scenes of horror, fantasy, and science fiction films

I Spy With My Little Eye… Regrets of the Past: Jason Patric tries to exorcise his sins in KEYHOLE.
This gangster is haunted, literally. KEYHOLE begins with an inversion — a group of criminals have to fight their way past a police barricade into a house — and only gets stranger from there. Turns out their [...]

Shanyn Leigh and Willem Dafoe Embrace Their Fates in 4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH.
The newest episode of my short radio series THE INDIE ON DEMAND MOVIE REVIEW takes a look at 4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH, in which Willem Dafoe and Shanyn Leigh are cast as a New York couple awaiting the end of the [...]

The Last Battle?: Jennifer Lawrence struggles for survival in THE HUNGER GAMES.
Hunger will compel people to some extreme acts: lie; kill; volunteer your child to appear on TODDLERS & TIARAS. Who knew it could also lead to one of the best movies of the year? The highly anticipated THE HUNGER GAMES takes the first book [...]

As part of Cinefantastique’s 50th anniversary tribute to TALES OF TERROR (1962), we recently posted a podcast discussing producer-director Roger Corman’s three-part omnibus of horror inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe. As scintillating as the podcast conversation might be, it cannot capture the aesthetic achievements of the film, which features impressive production design [...]

With no new horror, fantasy, or science fiction films opening this weekend, Cinefantastique stalwarts Lawrence French and Steve Biodrowski keep their Sense of Wonder alive by turning the clock back five decades for a retrospective celebration of TALES OF TERROR (1962), producer-director Roger Corman’s fourth film inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe. With [...]

Do you have a lee-zance for zose minkeys?: Taylor Kitsch gets a bonus in simians in JOHN CARTER.
Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, James Kirk, Luke Skywalker. Bleep those guys; as an interplanetary adventurer, John Carter has ‘em all beat by at least ten years. Bringing the star of   Edgar Rice Burroughs’ series of Barsoom novels to [...]

I Speak for the Digital Trees: Danny DeVito (left) and Ed Helms face environmental calamity in THE LORAX.
Everybody needs a Thneed. The question is, does anybody need DR. SEUSS’ THE LORAX, the feature-length, CG animated, 3D, big screen adaptation of the legendary children’s author’s environmental parable? Directed by DESPICABLE ME’s Chris Renaud, the film expands [...]

The Evil Next Door: Daniel Henshall (right) breaks Lucas Pittaway into a world of brutality in THE SNOWTOWN MURDERS.
Call it a cultural difference. Here in the U.S, our serial killers are quiet loners who nurse secret agendas and conduct their grim business on their own. In Australia, the most notorious case of serial [...]

Free at Last, Free at Last: From left to right: SITA SINGS THE BLUES; LADY FRANKENSTEIN; and THE TERROR
The universe of the genre film is filled with many strange and wonderful things: heroes; demons, attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion (oh, Roy Batty, we miss you). But nothing is so strange or, [...]

Hot Plot: Violante Placido (right) and Nicolas Cage battle the devil in GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE.
In a pair-up as enticing as a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE combines the rich, nutty goodness of Nic Cage with the tasty junkiness of the Neveldien/Taylor directing team. Transporting Marvel’s tortured, soul-sucking biker to [...]

Hot Soul: A singer's love and success in the world of Cuban jazz is explored in CHICO & RITA.
Amidst the swashbuckling felines, fast-talking lizards, and kung-fu pandas — plus a cat in Paris — that occupy this year’s Oscar nominees for animated feature, there’s actually a tale featuring human beings, stylized though [...]

There was no shortage of curiosity when George Lucas announced that he was converting his STAR WARS features to 3D, and no little disappointment when it was revealed that the first film to undergo the process would be the almost universally reviled EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE. Nevertheless here we are at the longest [...]

With STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE returning to theatres in a new 3-D version, we flashback to May, 1999 for my preview report that appeared in Cinefantastique’s cover story on the film.
A long time ago in a Galaxy far, far away…
Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying [...]