The Collector (2009)

The Collector is a 2009 American horror film written by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton and directed by Marcus Dunstan. Originally titled The Midnight Man, the script was originally intended to be a Saw prequel, but the producers were against the idea and quickly dismissed it

Directed by Marcus Dunstan
Produced by Brett Forbes
Julie Richardson
Patrick Rizzotti
Written by Marcus Dunstan
Patrick Melton
Starring Madeline Zima
Andrea Roth
Daniella Alonso
Robert Wisdom
Josh Stewart
Michael Reilly Burke
Music by Jerome Dillon
Cinematography Brandon Cox
Editing by Alex Luna
James Mastracco
Distributed by Freestyle Releasing
Release date(s) July 31, 2009 (2009-07-31)
Running time 88 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Human Centipede (2010)

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is a 2010 horror film written and directed by Tom Six. It stars Dieter Laser, Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, and Akihiro Kitamura. The film tells the story of a German doctor who kidnaps three tourists and joins them surgically, mouth to anus, forming a “human centipede”.[2] Having completed the operation, the doctor begins training the centipede, while attempting to hide his actions from the attention of the outside world.

The concept of the film arose from a joke Tom Six made with friends about punishing child molesters by stitching their mouth to the anus of a fat truck driver.[3] When approaching investors prior to filming, Six did not mention the mouth-to-anus aspect of the plot, fearing it would put off potential backers. The financiers of The Human Centipede did not discover the full nature of the film until it was complete.[3]

The Human Centipede received mixed reviews but several accolades at various international film festivals. The film was released in the United States on Video on Demand on April 28, 2010, and in limited release theatrically on April 30. Tom Six began working on a sequel, The Human Centipede (Full Sequence) which will be released in 2011.

Directed by Tom Six
Produced by Tom Six
Ilona Six
Written by Tom Six
Starring Dieter Laser
Ashley C. Williams
Ashlynn Yennie
Akihiro Kitamura
Music by Patrick Savage
Holeg Spies
Cinematography Goof de Koning
Editing by Tom Six
Studio Six Entertainment
Distributed by IFC Films
Release date(s) 28 April 2010
Running time 91 mins[1]
Country Netherlands
Language English
Japanese
German

The Devil’s Chair (2006)

Nick West brings the easy and filthy Sammy to the abandoned Blackwater Asylum for using acid and having sex. They find a weird chair and Nick proposes kinky sex to Sammy; however the device traps and kills Sammy. Nick is arrested and considered insane, being sentenced to the Hildon Mental Institute in spite of claiming that supernatural forces killed Sammy. Four years later, the honorable Cambridge professor Dr. Willard proposes Nick’s psychiatric Dr. Clairebourne to release him under his custody for an experimental treatment, exposing the truth to Nick bringing him back to the crime scene. Dr. Clairebourne opposes, explaining that Nick still has severe delusions, but in the end she accepts, with Dr. Willard assuming full responsibility for Nick. Dr. Willard, his assistant Melissa and the students Rachel Fowles and Brett Wilson head with Nick to the Blackwater Asylum finding the dreadful truth about the devil’s chair.

Directed by Adam Mason
Produced by Nadja Brand
Eric M. Breiman
Patrick Ewald
Written by Adam Mason
Simon Boyes
Starring Olivia Hill
Eric M. Breiman
Gary Mackay
Louise Griffiths
Elize du Toit
Matt Berry
Nadja Brand
Polly Brown
David Gant
Andrew Howard
Graham Riddell
Cinematography Ole Bratt Birkeland
Editing by Hasse Billing
Distributed by Renegade Worldwide

The Hurt Locker (2008)

The Hurt Locker is a 2008 American war film. It follows a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team during the Iraq War.

The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow. The screenplay was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded as a journalist in 2004 with a US bomb squad in Iraq. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty as members of a U.S. Army EOD unit in Iraq and follows their tour together as they contend with defusing bombs, the threat of insurgency, and the tension that develops among them. The film was shot in Jordan, within miles of the Iraq border.

It was first released theatrically in Italy in 2008, when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. After being shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in North America, it was picked up for distribution in the United States by Summit Entertainment. It was released in the United States on June 26, 2009, in New York and Los Angeles. Based on the success of its limited run, the independent film received a more widespread theatrical release in the United States on July 24, 2009. Because the 2008 film was not originally released in the U.S. (at least in an Oscar-qualifying run in Los Angeles) until 2009, it was eligible to be judged for that year’s awards, the 82nd Academy Awards held in 2010.

The Hurt Locker was one of the most acclaimed films of 2009, earning awards and honors from numerous critics’ organizations, festivals and groups. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture and Best Director for Bigelow, who became the first woman to win the award. The film also swept the 2010 BAFTA Awards, winning best film, director, original screenplay, editing, cinematography and sound.

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Produced by Kathryn Bigelow
Mark Boal
Nicolas Chartier
Greg Shapiro
Written by Mark Boal
Starring Jeremy Renner
Anthony Mackie
Brian Geraghty
Christian Camargo
Evangeline Lilly
Ralph Fiennes
David Morse
Guy Pearce
Music by Marco Beltrami
Buck Sanders
Cinematography Barry Ackroyd
Editing by Chris Innis
Bob Murawski
Distributed by Summit Entertainment
Release date(s) September 4, 2008 (2008-09-04)
(Venice Film Festival)
June 26, 2009 (2009-06-26)
United States
Running time 131 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $11 million
Gross revenue $21,356,139

The Vampire’s Assistant (2009)

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant is the 2009 film adaptation of the first three books of the book series The Saga of Darren Shan by author Darren Shan.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

Terminator Salvation is a 2009 American science fiction action film, the fourth installment in the Terminator series, directed by McG, and starring Christian Bale as future Resistance leader John Connor and Sam Worthington as cyborg Marcus Wright. The film also introduces a young Kyle Reese from the original 1984 film, played by Anton Yelchin, as well as depicting the origin of the T-800 Model 101 Terminator.

Terminator Salvation, set in 2018, focuses on the war between humanity and Skynet — a departure from the previous installments, which were set between 1984 and 2004 and used time travel as a key plot element.

After a troubled pre-production, with The Halcyon Company acquiring the rights for the franchise from Andrew G. Vajna and Mario Kassar and several writers working on the screenplay, filming began in May 2008 in New Mexico and ran for 77 days. The film is currently the most expensive independent production in history, with a budget of $200 million. Terminator Salvation was released on May 21, 2009 in the United States and Canada, followed by early June releases in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The film was met with mixed critical reception[3] and failed to meet initial financial expectations. However, its final worldwide gross of $372 million ranked it 16th in terms of grosses in 2009.

Directed by McG
Produced by Derek Anderson
Victor Kubicek
Jeffrey Silver
Moritz Borman
Written by Screenplay:
John Brancato
Michael Ferris
Characters:
James Cameron
Gale Anne Hurd
Starring Christian Bale
Sam Worthington
Anton Yelchin
Moon Bloodgood
Bryce Dallas Howard
Common
Jadagrace Berry
Michael Ironside
Helena Bonham Carter
Music by Danny Elfman
Themes:
Brad Fiedel
Cinematography Shane Hurlbut
Editing by Conrad Buff
Studio The Halcyon Company
Wonderland Sound and Vision
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s) May 21, 2009
Running time Theatrical Cut:
115 minutes
Director’s Cut:
118 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $200 million[1]
Gross revenue $372,046,055[2]
Preceded by Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Pulse (2006)

Pulse is an 2006 horror film, directed by Jim Sonzero and written by Wes Craven and Ray Wright. It stars Kristen Bell, Ian Somerhalder, Christina Milian and a cameo by Oscar-nominee and veteran cult horror actor Brad Dourif. It is a remake of the 2001 Japanese horror film Kairo.

It was widely panned by critics, with a 12% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 27/100 on Metacritic. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus is presented as, “Another stale American remake of a successful Japanese horror film, Pulse bypasses the emotional substance of the original and overcompensates with pumped-up visuals and every known horror cliche.”

Directed by Jim Sonzero
Produced by Brian Cox
Michael Leahy
Anant Singh
Joel Soisson
Written by Wes Craven
Ray Wright
Starring Kristen Bell
Ian Somerhalder
Christina Milian
Rick Gonzalez
Brad Dourif
Music by Elia Cmiral
Cinematography Mark Plummer
Editing by Robert K. Lambert
Bob Mori
Kirk M. Morri
Distributed by United States:
Dimension Films
United Kingdom:
Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) United States 11 August 2006
Running time 88 min.
Language English

The Eye (2008)

The Eye is a 2008 horror film starring Jessica Alba. It is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong-Thai-Singaporean film of the same name. The film was rated PG-13 by the MPAA for “violence/terror and disturbing content.”

Sydney Wells is a successful classical violinist who has been blind since the age of five. Fifteen years later, Sydney undergoes a cornea transplant, which causes her eyesight to return, a bit blurry at first. As time goes on, Sydney’s vision begins to clear; however she also begins experiencing terrifying visions, mostly of fire and of people dying…

Remake rights to the Pang Brothers’ original 2002 Hong Kong film, The Eye, were purchased by Cruise/Wagner Productions. This American remake follows Naina, a Hindi movie released in 2005, that is also based on the Pang Brothers’ film. Another notable point is that there was a movie titled Kokila (1990) in Telugu, the third-most spoken Indian language, which had a very similar story. The protagonist in the film loses his eyes and has them transplanted from a hermit who’s murdered. The protagonist starts seeing the hermit’s murder repeatedly, and the officer investigating that murder stumbles on the protagonist, and they eventually arrest the assassin, after which the protagonist gets normal vision. Whether the Indian film in a regional language influenced Kokila is not known.

Alba spent much time with the blind soprano Jessica Bachicha to learn about how blind people lived, used the white cane, read Braille etc.[2]

A similar movie was planned by Alfred Hitchcock many years ago, as referenced in Patrick McGilligan’s Biography, Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light. (as well as others). The movie was about a blind pianist and Alfred Hitchcock had hoped to get James Stewart to play the part. The pianist undergoes a breakthrough eye transplant surgery and sees images and things that the donor once saw, including a murder.

Directed by David Moreau
Xavier Palud
Produced by Peter Chan
Paula Wagner
Written by Original Screenplay:
Jo Jo Hui Yuet-chun
The Pang Brothers
Screenplay:
Sebastian Gutierrez
Starring Jessica Alba
Parker Posey
Alessandro Nivola
Music by Marco Beltrami
Cinematography Jeff Jur
Editing by Patrick Lussier
Distributed by Lionsgate
Paramount Vantage
Release date(s) February 1, 2008
Running time 98 min
Country USA
Language English
Budget $12,000,000
Gross revenue $56,309,766

Open Water (2004)

Open Water is a 2004 film based on the true story of an American couple, Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who in 1998 went out with a scuba diving group, Outer Edge Dive Company, on the Great Barrier Reef, and were accidentally left behind because the dive-boat crew failed to take an accurate headcount.[1] None of the 26 other divers or five crew members noticed that the couple was missing.

The film was financed by writer/director Chris Kentis and his wife, producer Laura Lau, both avid scuba divers. The movie cost $130,000 to make and was bought by Lions Gate Entertainment for $2.5 million after its screening at the Sundance Film Festival. Lions Gate spent a further $8 million on distribution and marketing . The film ultimately grossed $55 million worldwide (including $30 million from the North American box office alone).

Before filming began, the Lonergans’ experience was re-created for an episode of ABC’s 20/20, and the segment was repeated after the release of Open Water. Clips from the film were also featured on NBC in Troubled Waters, a Dateline episode (July 7, 2008) with Matt Lauer interviewing two professional divers, Richard Neely and Ally Dalton, who were left adrift at the Great Barrier Reef by a dive boat on May 21, 2008.

Directed by Chris Kentis
Produced by Laura Lau
Written by Chris Kentis
Starring Blanchard Ryan
Daniel Travis
Music by Graeme Revell
Distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment
Release date(s) August 6, 2004
Running time 79 min.
Language English
Budget $130,000
Gross revenue $54,667,954
Followed by Open Water 2

The Innocents (1961)

The Innocents is a 1961 horror film based on the novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Directed and produced by Jack Clayton, it stars Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave and Megs Jenkins. Falling into the subgenre of psychological horror, the film makes use of its lighting, music, and direction for its effect rather than gore and shock factor. Its atmospheric feel was achieved by cinematographer Freddie Francis, who employed deep focus in many scenes, as well as bold, minimal lighting. It was filmed on location at the gothic mansion of Sheffield Park in East Sussex. The film marked the first film role for child actor Pamela Franklin.

The Innocents was nominated for two BAFTA Awards, including Best British Film and Best Film from any Source. For his direction, Clayton was awarded the National Board of Review Award for Best Director. William Archibald and Truman Capote won a 1962 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. The title of the film was taken from Archibald’s stage adaptation of James’ novella. The film premiered in New York City on December 25, 1961 and was entered into the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.

Directed by Jack Clayton
Produced by Jack Clayton
Written by Novella:
Henry James
Screenplay:
William Archibald
Truman Capote
(additional dialogue)
John Mortimer
Starring Deborah Kerr
Michael Redgrave
Peter Wyngarde
Megs Jenkins
Pamela Franklin
Clytie Jessop
Isla Cameron
Music by Georges Auric
Cinematography Freddie Francis
Editing by Jim Clark
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) November 1961 (UK)
December 25, 1961 (NYC)
June 2, 2006 (UK, re-release)
November 13, 2002 (France, re-release)
Running time 100 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English