Month: October 2018

31 Scary Movies: ‘Ringu’

Jeff Mitchell

“Ringu” (1998) – “The Ring” (2002) starring Naomi Watts terrified audiences, but it was a remake of the Japanese original.  Whether or not one has seen the American version, director Hideo Nakata’s picture is a must-see. As the film begins, teenage girls Tomoko (Yuko Takeuchi) and Masami (Hitomi Sato) joke around and gossip about boys while Tomoko’s parents are out watching a baseball game.  It’s late at night, so, of course, trading ghost stories seems completely appropriate, but the two get deadly serious when they realize the premise of a particular…

31 Scary Movies: ‘Event Horizon’

Jeff Mitchell

“Event Horizon” (1997) – Director W.S. Anderson’s film is set near the planet Neptune in the year 2047.  Capt. Miller (Laurence Fishburne) leads his team to recover the deep space research ship Event Horizon which disappeared without a trace seven years earlier. For Capt. Miller and his team, rescue missions are nothing new. “(When) someone drops the ball, we get the call,” he says. This particular job, however, is most unique, due to the whereabouts (for reasons that this critic will not reveal) of the Event Horizon over the last seven…

31 Scary Movies: ‘The Vanishing’

Jeff Mitchell

“The Vanishing” (1988) – An attractive Dutch couple Rex (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia (Johanna ter Steege) are taking a holiday and traveling to France.  With a pair of bikes on the roof and plenty of snacks in the back seat, this loving pair seem to have plenty of bright years ahead of them.  Their trip and lives, however, become ripped apart, when Saskia suddenly vanishes into thin air during a random gas station stop. This is the ghastly premise for director George Sluizer’s thriller “The Vanishing”, and he weaves his camera…