(B-) This terrorist-oriented thriller about an attack on the Super Bowl has good first and third acts, but the middle is rather padded. Also, Robert Shaw is cool as a cold-blooded Mossad agent.

(B+) Absurdist Black Comedy from the director of Death Race 2000. It's quite funny and racy while still being good-natured.

(B) Smith's bleak horror novel didn't seem very filmable, but they translated it nicely. The characters are thin, but it's fast-paced and gruesome. This is painful, disgusting horror, but that can work, even if it isn't the ultimate.

(C+) A pseudosupernatural quasi-giallo. It's slow and predictable, but it has enough moments of giallo extravagance and sytle to keep interest.

(A) A terrific, absorbing 70s crime drama. Al Pacino gives a great performance, reminding us that he didn't always ham it up endlessly.

(B) An extremely moody and visually impressive silent horror film, though it's a tad uneventful even by the standards of the genre.

(D-) By the last act this is a mediocre zombie movie, but the first hour is truly painful and dull, with some of the worst performances ever. Alan Ormsby, in particular, is unbearable.

(B-) Derivative and with an incredibly predictable ending, but I still enjoyed this "Twilight Zone" -esque horror flick. It has surprisingly good performances for such a cheap film, and a lot of effective, surreal touches to maintain interest in the brief runtime.

(B-) Dan O'Bannon helmed adaptation of Lovecraft's "Case of Charles Dexter Ward." It has a sort of made-for-TV look which hurts the drama, but is also slightly charming and nostalgia-inducing for me. More significantly, the story is just fairly interesting, and the effects are neat.

(A) Wrenching crime-drama from Lumet with great performances all around. A hypnotic, inevitable film with tragic undertones. Maybe the best of '07 apart from "No Country For Old Men".

(B) K. Kurosawa and Yakusho team up again in this "Cure"-esque supernatural thriller, but with vengeful ghost elements thrown in. It's nowhere near as good as that film, but it's one of the better efforts in Kurosawa's uneven career. A thoughtful, eerie film with a fine performance from Yakusho.

(C) Good-looking cult-oriented horror, but predicatable, overlong and w/o any sympathetic figures.

(B+) Bizarre California-Gothic with a delightfully overwrought performance from Davis. Hammy though the performances can be, this isn't a film you laugh at--it's legitmately tense and you will loathe the Jane character.

(C+) Much reviled, but this is actually pretty average as such things go. The performances are often dubious, but it has a few decent scare scenes. Too bad about the lame ending. The original is superior, but this one passes the time alright.

(C+ for Nightmare, B- for Kiss of the Vampire) Nightmare is a typical psych-thriller from the era. The B&W photography is great, but the plot is too convoluted. Kiss... is typical Hammer Vampire stuff, too slow at first, but I prefer the moodier approach for such material.

(B+) Extremely low-budget, vaguely experimental film about a schizophrenic trying to retrieve his adopted daughter. This has a genuinely sympathetic and detailed depiction of mental illness, with Peter's various delusions inflicted upon the audience. A very interesting and sad film.