Zodiac

The true story behind the murders that many crime scholars believe to be the most perplexing series of unsolved crimes in modern history comes to the screen in chilling detail as Fight Club and Seven director David Fincher steps behind the camera to tell the mysterious tale of the infamous Zodiac killer. A relentless serial killer is stalking the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area, leaving citizens locked into a constant state of panic, and baffled authorities scrambling for clues. Though the killer sadistically mocks the detectives by leaving a series of perplexing ciphers and menacing letters at the crime scenes, the investigation quickly flatlines when none of the evidence yields any solid leads. As two detectives remain steadfast in their devotion to bringing the elusive killer to justice, they soon find that the madman has control not only over their careers, but their very lives as well. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. star.

Dead Silence

Saw duo James Wan and Leigh Whannell re-team for this chilling tale of a widower (Ryan Kwanten) who returns to his hometown to unearth clues about his recently departed wife’s untimely death. In the quiet town of Ravens Fair, children taunt one another with spooky stories about a ventriloquist whose mind was ravaged by insanity. Mary Shaw was a popular entertainer until she was accused of murdering a young boy. Subsequently hunted and captured by the vengeful townspeople, Mary’s tongue was cut out before she was mercilessly killed and committed to the earth in the company of her handmade collection of vaudeville dolls. In the years that followed, the town seemed to be haunted by those ghastly puppets. After mysteriously disappearing from Mary’s grave, the menacing figurines would sometimes be glimpsed by the damned in the dead of night — their appearance consistently foreshadowing the death of whoever laid eyes upon them. Entire families were found slaughtered, their tongues brutally torn from their mouths in a sickening scene that eerily recalled the execution of the elderly ventriloquist. Newlyweds Jamie (Ryan Kwanten) and Lisa Ashen (Laura Regan) both grew up in Ravens Fair. Now, following Lisa’s inexplicable death, Paul has returned to the pair’s hometown in order to say his final goodbyes and find out the truth about his wife’s enigmatic demise. After being reunited with his ailing father (Bob Gunton) and the aging man’s pretty young bride (Amber Valletta), the grieving widower will finally uncover the shocking truth behind the curse that has plagued Ravens Fair for as far back as he can remember.

Deja Vu

Adrenaline loving director Tony Scott teams with iconic action producer Jerry Bruckheimer for this high flung sci-fi action thriller concerning a New Orleans based maverick ATF agent named Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) who is brought in on a top secret government program to catch the terrorist (Jim Caviezel) responsible for a ferry bombing that kills hundreds. Able to do what most law enforcement officers only dream of, Carlin is now able to look back in time at the perpetrator’s movements, and at the life of the innocent woman whose death would set the events into motion. Carlin’s instincts tell him that something is amiss, however, and while the government agent who tapped him for the job (Val Kilmer) and the team of ultra-cool scientists who run the project (Adam Goldberg, Erika Alexander) tell him one story about the quantum physics behind this marvel of technology, the hotshot agent suspects that there is a greater power at their fingertips–one that might not just solve the crime at hand, but prevent it.

Turistas

John Stockwell’s thriller Turistas begins when vacationers end up stranded in a little Brazilian village after a bus accident wipes out their transportation. Although many in the group are experienced when it comes to unusual travel destinations, none of them are able to get a handle on this strange village. They soon come to realize that they are stranded somewhere with something much more dangerous than they could have imagined. Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, and Olivia Wilde co-star.

Cursed

The team behind the Scream trilogy, director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson, present another entry in the teen-horror genre with Cursed. starring Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg, the film tells the story of two siblings who have to battle a werewolf that has been wreaking havoc on their neighbors, just as they learn that they might be marked with “”the sign of the beast,”" and may become werewolves themselves. Along with Shannon Elizabeth and Judy Greer, Cursed also co-stars Dawson Creek alumnus Joshua Jackson, as well as R&B star Mya.

Final Destination 3

Death once again shows he’s determined to get what he wants in this teen-centric thriller. Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a high school student hanging out with her friends at an amusement park one night when they decide to ride on the roller coaster. Wendy, however, has a premonition that something horrible will happen, and finds a way to save herself shortly before the ride goes off the rails, killing most of its passengers, including her boyfriend, Jason (Jesse Moss), and best friend, Carrie (Gina Holden). However, while Wendy may have survived the night at the park, she soon discovers that a malevolent spirit is following her and her classmates as they begin dying in strange and horrible ways. Wendy learns that a series of snapshots taken that evening give clues to the mayhem that followed her pals, and she teams up with Kevin (Ryan Merriman), Carrie’s sweetheart, to try to warn the potential victims about the fates soon to befall them. Final Destination 3 was directed and co-scripted by James Wong, who also helmed the first two films in the franchise.

House: Season 02

Season Two of House begins as the gloriously obnoxious and abrasive Dr. Gregory House, head nephrologist at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, stubbornly (and somewhat perversely) trying to save the life of a seriously ill death-row inmate over the objections of his colleagues. Perhaps House is being more contrary than usual because he doesn’t like being forced to work in close quarters with his ex-girlfriend Stacy (Sela Ward). Elsewhere, House’s colleague Dr. Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) is herself faced with a life-or-death crisis when evidence indicates that she is HIV-positive; House’s superior-in-name-only Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) clashes with him over the treatment of a man who suffered an injury while working on Cuddy’s roof; neurologist Eric Foreman (Omar Epps) briefly becomes House’s boss, with both men pushing the envelope to see which one will go ballistic first; and after separating from his wife, oncologist James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) moves in with House–who despite his anger over having to share his space with anyone is reluctant to let Wilson leave because the guy is such a great cook! And in the two-part episode “”Euphoria”", House races against time to determine the malady that is causing a wounded policeman to literally laugh himself to death–things getting uncomfortably personal when Foreman begins showing the same symptions! The second ends when House is shot and wounded by the husband of a former patient–and those fans aware of the series’ many references to Sherlock Holmes will get a kick out of the name of the assailant. Among the honors bestowed upon House during its second season on the air was the prestigious Peabody Award for “”Best of Electronic Media.

Premonition

Devastated upon receiving the news that her husband has been killed in a tragic car accident, a woman wakes up to find him still very much alive as she begins to slip into a confusing world where the past and the future become increasingly difficult to distinguish. Linda Hanson (Sandra Bullock) was an average housewife with a loving family, but when a policeman comes knocking on her door with news that her husband, Jim (Julian McMahon), was involved in a fatal car accident, Linda’s world slowly begins to unravel. While her grief is at first overwhelming, Linda assumes that the whole thing was nothing more than a vivid dream when she wakes to find her family still very much intact. With each passing day, however, Linda’s reality shifts and her circumstances grow increasingly surreal; one day Jim is dead and the next he is right there by her side. As her investigation leaves her convinced that her husband’s death wasn’t a dream and that her picture-perfect life may not have been quite as flawless as she thought, Linda embarks on a mind-bending journey to prevent her grim premonition from becoming a reality. Now, in order to save the man she loves, Linda will have to piece together a perplexing mystery that seems to span two separate planes of reality.

Shooter

A top Marine sniper who previously abandoned the military after a routine mission gave way to tragedy is double-crossed by the government after reluctantly being pressured back into service in Training Day director Antoine Fuqua’s adaptation of Stephen Hunter’s novel Point of Impact. There was a time when Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) was the best trigger-man in the military, but after growing disillusioned with the system, he disappeared without a trace. After being located at his remote mountain retreat by high-profile government officials following an extensive search, Swagger is coerced back into service in order to stop a determined assassin from taking out the President of the United States. In the process of carrying out his mission, however, Swagger suddenly realizes that he has been betrayed when he becomes the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Now wounded and desperate to reveal the culprits behind the conspiracy before it’s too late, Swagger sets into motion a revenge plan that will send shockwaves rippling to some of the most powerful and corrupt leaders in the free world. Danny Glover, Rhona Mitra, and Ned Beatty co-star in this conspiracy-driven action thriller that asks what it truly means to serve one’s country.

Boogeyman

A man learns his past was more truth than imagination in this horror story. Tim (Barry Watson) is a man who is still haunted by traumatic memories of his past, many linked to the death of his father. Desperate to resolve his issues, Tim returns to his old hometown so he can pay a visit to the house where he grew up. But while Tim wants to convince himself the ghostly memories he carries are just a figment of his imagination, circumstances lead him to believe that there may be a kernel of truth to them. Boogeyman also features Emily Deschanel, Lucy Lawless, and Skye McCole Bartusiak.

Crank

A one-time freelance hitman who was just attempting to turn his life around is forced to keep his heart pumping when his vengeful former employers inject him with a lethal poison that will permanently stop his ticker if his pulse sinks beneath an active rate in a non-stop urban action extravaganza starring Jason Statham and Amy Smart. Chev Chelios (Statham) was one of the most skilled assassins in the West Coast crime syndicate. When he hung up his guns in the middle of a job to run off with his new girlfriend Eve (Smart), however, the man who was once the hunter now becomes the hunted. Awakened from his slumber by a telephone call informing him of his precarious situation, Chelios soon discovers that the only way to save Eve from certain death at the hands of his nemesis is to stay two steps ahead of his killers, keep his heart-rate high enough to stay alive, and blast through the streets of Los Angeles in search of an antidote.

Next

A man with the ability to see the future and change the outcome of events before they occur is forced to choose between saving himself and saving the world in this supernatural thriller starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day, The Edge). Cris Johnson (Cage) is a Las Vegas magician who possesses the unique ability to witness the events of the immediate future moments before they happen. As a child Cris was subjected to a series of cruel experiments by government scientists and doctors, but a change of name and a new identity allowed the tortured psychic to elude detection and start a new life away from the prying eyes of his former captors. Though his clairvoyant vision only extends a few minutes into the future, it has still allowed Cris to eke out a living as a low-rent Las Vegas magician while earning a little extra cash at the blackjack tables. Up to this point in his life Cris has never used his power for anything substantial, but when he experiences a vision of Los Angeles being incinerated in a nuclear holocaust, the small-time magician realizes that he could hold the key to saving millions of lives. But as low as he has tried to lie in recent years, Cris has never completely escaped detection by the government. Now, as terrorists prepare to unleash the ultimate horror on an unsuspecting city, FBI counter terror agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) sets out to capture Cris and convince him to use his exceptional gift to prevent the nuclear nightmare from becoming a terrifying reality. Jessica Biel, Peter Falk, and Thomas Kretschmann co-star in the film, which is based on a short story by acclaimed sci-fi author Philip K. Dick.

 

You need to log in to vote

The blog owner requires users to be logged in to be able to vote for this post.

Alternatively, if you do not have an account yet you can create one here.

Powered by Vote It Up