Cinefantastique Online

Each week, Cinefantastique spotlights a particular horror, fantasy, or science fiction film for an in-depth podcast review. Most Spotlight Podcasts focus on current theatrical releases, but sometimes classic films are included.

Aloha, Stranger: Taylor Kitsch and Rihanna are somewhere down there beholding the might of an alien invasion force in BATTLESHIP.
The aliens have landed! Yes. Again. This time they’ve invaded off the coast of Hawaii, so it’s just like Pearl Harbor, if the attack on Pearl Harbor had included such devastating weaponry as Giant Exploding Pegs [...]

The Fangs are Almost as Big as the Lapels: An undead Johnny Depp braves the ravages of the 70's in DARK SHADOWS.
Two hundred years is a long time to revive a vampire, but then again, forty years is long time to revive the first horror soap opera (not counting an earlier, feature adaptation and a [...]

Left to right: Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Robert Downey Jr, and a mass of pixels that look kinda like Mark Ruffalo prepare to do some avenging, because they are THE AVENGERS.
There are so many ways a grand conglomeration of super heroes could turn into a car wreck (case in point: THE [...]

Tom Jones' Fans Just Throw Their Underwear on the Stage: An admirer takes his love of Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, right) too far in THE RAVEN.
If truth is stranger than fiction, then can a serial killer inspired by the eminently strange writings of Edgar Allan Poe be said to be even stranger still? In [...]

Adhering to Form: Fran Kranz preps for survival in THE CABIN IN THE WOODS.
Joss Whedon has just been the busy, busy little bee lately, hasn’t he? He was one of the producers of the Morgan Spurlock documentary COMIC-CON EPISODE IV: A FAN’S HOPE last week; he’s the director of eagerly awaited THE AVENGERS, coming up [...]

Do Do That Career Advancement That You Do So Well: Janet Blair prevails upon supernatural forces to help Peter Wyngarde in BURN, WITCH, BURN.
Tricky situation this week: Two genre releases, but one, while good, is getting a very limited release to start; the other, while making it to more venues, doesn’t quite merit the attention. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]