Thomas Vinterberg directs Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen and Annika Wedderkopp in this Danish drama where a kindergarten teacher is accused of child abuse when his best friend’s young daughter makes up a lie about him.

Missed this on initial release which is strange as Festen was such an important film in developing my arthouse tastes. This is kinda a reverse switch mirror image of that – here a community blindly believes a man they know and love is a pedophile based on a half hearted, vague accusation. Genuinely a stomach churning watch for straight middle aged men… though obviously there should be more movies this compelling about victims who are not believed… which we know is the overriding reality. A career best turn from the always impressive Mads, who quietly endures a rapidly unfolding pariah like status in his formerly close knit community. Vinterberg seems to know exactly when to let things reach boiling point without ever allowing the drama to spill over into incredulity. Pretty flawless stuff, it all seems to be making some silent judgment on modern masculinity that is never didactically spelled out.

9

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Deran Sarafian directs Charlie Sheen, Nastassja Kinski and James Gandolfini in this action thriller where a pro parachutist gets dragged into a conspiracy of faked deaths, ex-KGB sleepers and hidden planes.

Do not waste one single iota of attention to the plot. It really is just a binding agent for half a dozen action sequences involving flying paraphernalia. Mainly parachutes. Every wrinkle of this safety equipment is rinsed to the extreme. Nowhere near as brilliantly as Point Break did but nowhere near as uninspired as Drop Zone, this is a super solid beer and pizza evening killer. The final big stunt done for reals ends things on a nerve jangling high and Charlie Sheen’s ostensible hero pleasingly comes from the Jack Burton school of macho uselessness. Following the Big Trouble in Little China rulebook, the overconfident all American male is subversively the least useful and heroic of all the players. Watching a dumb coward have to survive what an alpha male probably couldn’t is always good value.

7

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Sean S. Cunningham directs Shannon Presby, Lori Loughlin and James Spader in this teen thriller where two orphaned teens find their new school is overrun with some psychotic bullies.

Goes all out Straw Dogs in the fairground siege finale and I’m up for that in so many ways. The key Friday the 13th selling points are here; bosomy girls, inventive deaths – but the overall package is more competent and unpredictable. We watched for Spader and he delivers as a teen Gary Busey clone, some strange albino van predator who runs a pack of dicks. Both he and a Lalo Schifrin’s score elevate this into the “undiscovered gem” category.

7

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Robert Altman directs Sandy Dennis, Michael Burns and Susan Benton in this sex mystery where a lone woman takes in a seemingly homeless boy she sees sitting out in the rain from her window.

Even after you’ve watched it, it is hard to fully say what That Cold Day In The Park is. You’ll be surprised where it ends but likewise struggle to think of any other satisfying outcome. A kinky thriller boiled down to its basics, a gender reversed Psycho or The Collector… only a lot more civil than those films… with a sympathy for its devil. For the first hour it could easily be the prelude for a Harold and Maude-like romance. Sandy Dennis makes this watchable, her timid but yearning performance dominates. The few times we leave the apartment for the boy to show his spoilt hippy true colours feel wasteful.

6

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Richard Donner directs Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner in this blockbuster western where a card sharp teams up with a lady thief and a cowardly Marshall to get to a big poker tournament on a steamboat.

Silly and episodic, unashamedly a vehicle for its three headliners to bicker, pratfall and bond. It gallumps along on a lavish budget and the easy going energy of its stars. Always fun but you do miss the long abandoned quick fire, stunt spectacular chutzpah of the first half once we are churning through every possible derivation of double and triple crosses by the end. Big screen reboots of creaky telly shows were big business in 90s, this is one of the stronger reimaginings.

7

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Adachi Masao directs Michio Akiyama, Yûji Aoki and Masaaki Hiraoka in this Japanese pink film where a school girl, who is pregnant and suicidal, tries to replicate the obscure feeling she felt having sex with her teacher, through orgies and prostitution.

Some atmospheric shots of Japanese counter culture get overwhelmed by the nasty unrelenting grimness of the exploitation. Even if you came for nudity and unsexy sex simulations you’ll be sick of them by the end. Adachi is definitely trying to say something about art, youth, nihilism and female sexuality… he doesn’t find his sentiments, gratingly so.

2

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

J. Lee Thompson directs Roddy McDowall, Hari Rhodes and Ricardo Montablàn in this sci-fi sequel where a talking ape finds himself in a dystopian city where apes are enslaved into menial work by a fascist humanity.

Probably the best follow-up of the original franchise. The brutalist world hinted at in this alternative 1991 is genuinely distressing and that thrilling full blooded ape rebellion cannot come soon enough. What it loses in obvious cost cutting cheapness, it more than makes up for in violent and chaotic paranoid destruction. The most obvious antecedent to the very successful reboot trilogy we recently concluded.

6

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/

Charles Walters directs Judy Garland, Fred Astaire and Ann Miller in this musical where a song and dance man needs a new female partner and hires a showgirl who doesn’t know her left from her right.

A good example of its form – colourful, charming with memorable numbers. Garland and Astaire don’t exactly set the world on fire in terms of romantic chemistry but they are equal iconic talents so you relish seeing them together. Ann Miller and her spinning gams are the highlight.

7

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/