Horror

Day Watch (Unrated)

The dizzying supernatural Russian epic started in Night Watch continues with Day Watch, in which once again the battle between the forces of Light (the Night Watch) and Dark (the Day Watch) threatens to crack open the world as we know it. The plot centers around Anton (Russian superstar Konstantin Khabensky), an Other (one of many beings with varied supernatural powers) whose son, Yegor, has joined the Day Watch, who are grooming him to be their superpowerful savior. Anton's protoge, Svetlana, also has high-capacity power, and if Yegor and Svetlana come into conflict, the resulting devastation could shatter everything. The key to success seems to lie with the Chalk of Fate, a simple piece of chalk that can rewrite reality. Day Watch is full of plotholes and underdeveloped story points (at one point, to keep him safe, Anton's consciousness is switched into the body of his Night Watch colleague Olga--but mere moments later the Day Watch knows what's happened, before any suspense could be mined from it; as a result, this promising plot twist seems only to exist to allow for some girl-on-girl action), but it's forgivable. As with the first film, Day Watch bubbles over with its wildly imaginative world, its ravishing style, and its fantastic visual effects. If a Hollywood blockbuster had half as much creativity, it would be praised to the skies and be the hit of the year. Don't let the subtitles put you off (particularly since even the subtitles reflect the movie's wit and imagination)--Day Watch is a cinematic feast that any movie fan should devour. --Bret Fetzer

Like The Matrix, Day Watch combines cutting-edge digital effects and mind-blowing action to create a stunningly original world. This Unrated Edition takes you on an even wilder ride with more intense thrills and incredible effects.

Only one thing stands between peace and Armageddon: the supernatural agents of Day Watch, who fight to control the armies of light and darkness. When the son of a senior Day Watch officer turns to the darkness, forces beyond the imagination are unleashed and the fate of the world hangs in the balance!

The Hills Have Eyes 2 (Unrated Edition)

National Guard soldiers stop at a New Mexican outpost only to find the isolated camp mysteriously deserted. Little do they know that these are the very hills that the ill-fated Carter family once visited and that a tribe of cannibalistic mutants lies in wait.System Requirements:Running Time: 89 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R UPC: 024543444534 Manufacturer No: 2244453

For die-hard horror fans, The Hills Have Eyes 2 is a knock-off remake/sequel that delivers a few queasy thrills. While it represents a minor improvement over the 1985 sequel to Wes Craven's 1977 original (you know, the one with the notorious "canine flashback"), it's yet another cookie-cutter exercise in death by stupidity, focusing its Aliens-in-the-desert plot on a scrappy, ill-tempered unit of National Guard soldiers who've been sent to investigate the first remake's hellish aftermath in the bomb-tested wastelands of Nevada. (Like its far-superior 2006 predecessor, this sequel was shot on location in Morocco.) Unfortunately these bickering recruits are an embarrassment to their inauthentic-looking uniforms, and their reckless inexperience (not to mention a tired, uninspired screenplay by Craven and his son Jonathan) makes them easy targets for the ravenous, irradiated mutants who dwell within a treacherous network of tunnels and caves. As the generically good-looking cast is reduced to a few terrorized survivors (which somehow doesn't stop costars Jessica Stroup and Daniella Alonso from looking like fashion models), music-video director Martin Weisz switches to auto-pilot in his dubious feature debut, serving up a basically plotless succession of grisly makeup FX by Howard Berger and his crack team of gore-mongers. The gross-out factor is sufficiently amusing (including one soldier pulled through a hole with one leg in the totally wrong direction), but even devoted horror connoisseurs will have to admit this is pretty lame stuff. --Jeff Shannon

Beyond The Hills Have Eyes 2

All Hills Have Eyes Movies

The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning

Wes Craven: The Art of Horror

Stills from The Hills Have Eyes

Night Watch

Night Watch is that rare film that--like The Matrix--is not only visually dazzling but creates an intriguing, seductive, and thrilling alternative world. A young man named Anton, after dabbling in black magic to bring back the wife who left him, discovers that the world is populated by fantastical Others (vampires, shape-shifters, witches, and more) who have chosen sides--Light or Dark--in an epic battle. A truce has been declared; both sides watch the other to ensure the truce is maintained. But a prophecy has predicted that a powerful Other will tilt the balance, and Anton--who is himself an Other--finds himself crucial to the prophecy's fulfillment. There's no question that Night Watch has weaknesses. Numerous plot holes get glossed over by pell-mell pacing, the visual conception of the apocalyptic battle between Light and Dark is curiously pedestrian (a bunch of knights fighting a bunch of guys in fur with swords--what happened to their various powers?), and more--but, much like similar problems with The Matrix, it doesn't matter.

The alternative world Night Watch presents is so rich with possibilities that it takes on a life of its own, both as an imaginative universe and as a vivid metaphor for the moral complexities of our own lives--for example, though the forces of Light claim to be good, their often brutal actions call their virtue into question, and the forces of Dark make some compelling moral arguments on the topic. The movie is so overstuffed with ideas that many don't get fleshed out, but that only contributes to the sense of vitality and unexplored dimensions. Even the subtitles are used creatively. The impending sequels (this is the first film of a trilogy) may--like The Matrix--take all the stimulating possibilities Night Watch raises and drag them into the toilet, but for the moment, this is the sort of electric excitement that blockbuster movies promise but so rarely deliver. --Bret Fetzer

Among normal humans live the "Others" possessing various supernatural powers. They are divided up into the forces of light and the forces of the dark, who signed a truce several centuries ago to end a devastating battle. Ever since, the forces of light govern the day while the night belongs to their dark opponents. In modern day, the dark Others actually roam the night as vampires while a "Night Watch" of light forces, among them Anton, try to control them and limit their outrage.

28 Days Later (Widescreen Edition)

The director/producer team that created Trainspotting turn their dynamic cinematic imaginations to the classic science fiction scenario of the last people on Earth. Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma to find London deserted--until he runs into a mob of crazed plague victims. He gradually finds other still-human survivors (including Naomie Harris), with whom he heads off across the abandoned countryside to find the source of a radio broadcast that promises salvation. 28 Days Later is basically an updated version of The Omega Man and other post-apocalyptic visions; but while the movie may lack originality, it makes up for it in vivid details and creepy paranoid atmosphere. 28 Days Later's portrait of how people behave in extreme circumstances--written by novelist Alex Garland (The Beach)--will haunt you afterward. Also featuring Brendan Gleeson (The General, Gangs of New York) and Christopher Eccleston (Shallow Grave, The Others). --Bret Fetzer

Hailed as the most frightening film since The Exorcist, acclaimed Director Danny Boyle's visionary take on zombie horror "isn't just scary…it's absolutely terrifying" (Access Hollywood).

An infirmary patient awakens from a coma to an empty room…in a vacant hospital…in a deserted city. A powerful virus, which locks victims into a permanent state of murderous rage, has transformed the world around him into a seemingly desolate wasteland. Now a handful of survivors must fight to stay alive, unaware that the worst is yet to come…

Night Watch / Day Watch (Two-Movie Collection)

Disc 1: DAY WATCH WS Disc 2: NIGHT WATCH WS

From Hell (Widescreen Edition)

In 1888 in the Whitechapel section of London, Inspector Fred Abberline uses his psychic powers to track down Jack the Ripper.
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Release Date: 7-SEP-2004
Media Type: DVD

Heavy on atmosphere and light on everything else, From Hell is visually impressive while lacking the depth of the acclaimed graphic novel it's based upon. Making their third feature since 1993's Menace II Society, twins Allen and Albert Hughes approach the Jack the Ripper case with physical precision, re-creating the gritty Whitechapel district of 1888 London in meticulous detail. What they've forgotten is the sheer terror that gripped Whitechapel in the wake of the Ripper's slaying of five prostitutes, investigated here by a Scotland Yard sleuth (Johnny Depp) who uses opium, laudanum, and absinthe to fuel his semiprescient visions of the slayings. Heather Graham attempts a slippery Cockney accent as a would-be victim, while Ian Holm steals the show as a has-been surgeon with devilish delusions of grandeur. Violence is obliquely suggested or briefly graphic, but no matter how you cut it, From Hell is only marginally thrilling as it treads familiar territory. --Jeff Shannon

Tales From the Crypt / Vault of Horror (Double Feature)

Includes:Disc 1: Tales from the Crypt (1972)Disc 2: Vault of Horror (1973)Tales From The Crypt (1972)Prepare for a "gruesomely spine-tingling and stomach-wrenching" (Variety) journey into the heart of terror! When five unwary travelers with dark hearts stumble into a series of catacombs they find themselves in a cavern with no way out. But the horror's only just begun as a mysterious figure appears to reveal to each person the chocking events that will soon lead to their well-deserved untimely -- and unavoidable -- deaths!Vault Of Horror (1973)Get ready for to descend into the darkness of horror! In this "frequently macabre and eerily funny" (Cue) collection of tales five unsuspecting hotel guests step out of an elevator into a vault deep underground. Trapped with no way out each guest shares a gruesome story of an encounter with death. But as the stories unfold the men begin to suspect that their presence in the vault is no coincidence and they may have already found that the only way out...is death!System Requirements:Running Time: 175 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/DEMONS UPC: 024543459729 Manufacturer No: 2245973

Wrong Turn 2 - Dead End (Unrated)

By adding the Japanese cult movie Battle Royale to Wrong Turn's cinematic puree of Deliverance and The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn 2 primes itself for some clever spins on the repetitive inbred-mutant-humans-hunt-and-eat-sexy-young-people genre. A pseudo-post-apocalypse Survivor-type game show brings five sexy young people (a bitchy vegan, a loudmouth skateboarder, a lesbian marine, a straight-laced jock, and a slutty...uh...apparently, she's just a slut) to the Appalachian woods, where inbred mutant humans start picking them and the TV crew off. Also along for the ride is the tough-as-nails host (Henry Rollins, Bad Boys II), who goes native and starts hunting the inbred mutant humans. Regrettably, the game plotline is soon tossed aside and the movie settles into a straightforward hunt-kill-eat scenario. But for fans of the genre, Wrong Turn 2 does a good job: The sequence of deaths is not entirely predictable and you get to see one pair of exposed breasts, two sets of exposed intestines, and literal barrels of gore. Featuring horror flick stars Erica Leerhsen (the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Crystal Lowe (Black Christmas), Texas Battle (Final Destination 3), Daniella Alonso (The Hills Have Eyes II), D-list celebrity hostess Kimberly Caldwell, and Aleksa Palladino (who once had a promising career in decent indie movies like Manny & Lo, The Adventures of Sebastian Cole, and Storytelling). --Bret Fetzer

28 Weeks Later (Widescreen Edition)

28 WEEKS LATER is sequel to the successful 28 Days Later.The film pick up six months after the Rage virus has spread throughout the city of London. The United States Army has restored order and is repopulating the quarantined city when a carrier of the Rage virus enters London and unknowingly re-ignites the spread of the deadly infection wreaking havoc on the entire population. The virus is not yet dead and this time it's more dangerous than ever!!System Requirements:Running Time: 113 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/ZOMBIES Rating: R UPC: 024543469902 Manufacturer No: 2246990

As an exercise in pure, unadulterated terror, 28 Weeks Later is a worthy follow-up to its acclaimed predecessor, 28 Days Later. In this ultraviolent sequel from Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (hired on the strength of his 2001 thriller Intacto), over six months have passed since the first film's apocalyptic vision of London overrun by infectious, plague-ridden zombies. Just when it seems the "rage virus" has been fully contained, and London is in the process of slowly recovering, an extremely unfortunate couple (Robert Carlyle, Catherine McCormack) is attacked by a small band of rampaging "ragers," and the cowardly husband escapes while his wife is attacked and presumably infected. Their surviving children (Imogen Poots, Mackintosh Muggleton) fall under the protection of a U.S. Army sharpshooter (Jeremy Renner), but nobody's safe for long as 28 Weeks Later goes into action-packed overdrive, with scene after blood-gushing scene of carnage and decimation. The film's visuals follow the look established in 28 Days Later, this time with bigger and better scenes of a nearly abandoned London on the brink of utter destruction. The military subplot gets a bold assist from Harold Perrineau (as a daring helicopter pilot) and Idris Elba (in a too-brief role as the military commander), and their firepower--not to mention the efficient lethality of helicopter blades--turns 28 Weeks Later into a nonstop bloodbath that's way too intense for younger viewers and guaranteed to leave hardcore horror fans gruesomely satisfied. That's all there is to it--this film is almost plotless and dialogue is minimal throughout--but as a truly terrifying vision of survival amidst chaos, 28 Weeks Later honors its origins and qualifies as a solid double-feature with Children of Men. Could there be another sequel? Thanks to the "chunnel," the answer in this case is definitely oui. --Jeff Shannon

Beyond 28 Weeks Later

28 Weeks Later on Blu-Ray

28 Days Later

More from Fox

Stills from 28 Weeks Later

Wrong Turn

Sultry Eliza Dushku runs for her life in a snug white tanktop, pursued by inbred backwoods cannibals in Wrong Turn. Dushku (Bring It On, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and a clump of other attractive young people (including Six Feet Under's Jeremy Sisto and Desmond Harrington of We Were Soldiers) get waylaid in the deep West Virginia wilds by a trio of grotesque mountain men, all given realistic ugliness by makeup artist Stan Winston (Interview with the Vampire, Terminator 2). Wrong Turn is the sort of movie where you know who's going to die by the order they appear in the credits, but fans of the inbred backwoods cannibals genre (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes) will find much to savor, particularly the scene in which Dushku and Harrington are trapped under a squalid bed while the inbred backwoods cannibals prepare one of their friends for dinner. Grisly. --Bret Fetzer

An indescribable nightmare begins when a group of young friends is stranded on an isolated road deep in the Appalachian hills of West Virginia, with no hope of rescue. Desperate and fearing for their lives, the horror surges as they find themselves relentlessly pursued by a force of evil beyond their imagination! Featuring a hip ensemble of up-and-coming young stars, this blood-curdling epic is a shock-a-minute horror rush that will leave you screaming for more!