Room (2015) Review
Room (2015) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Emma Donoghue adapted her own novel and kept the one decision that makes it bearable, which is that everything is narrated by a five-year-old who thinks the shed is…
Tag: Single Location
Single-location stories turn constraint into pressure: one room, one lifeboat, one house, and nowhere for the tension to leak out. This tag collects reviews of films that trap their casts and thrive on it.
1970sJaws (1975) Review
Jaws (1975) rates 10 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. The mechanical shark did not work, the schedule ran three times over, and the failure produced the technique. Spielberg was twenty-seven and had to build suspense out of everything…
2010sGravity (2013) Review
Gravity (2013) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Cuaron opens on a thirteen minute unbroken shot and then destroys everything in it. The technical achievement is genuine and permanent. The dialogue keeps explaining a film that was…
2010sParasite (2019) Review
Parasite (2019) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A house built on a vertical axis, a family climbing it, and a genre change at the midpoint that almost no film survives. The first non-English winner of Best…
1960sShip of Fools (1965) Review
Ship of Fools (1965) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A German liner crossing from Veracruz to Bremerhaven in 1933, carrying passengers with no idea what they are sailing toward. Vivien Leigh's last film.
1970sDeath on the Nile (1978) Review
Death on the Nile (1978) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Christie on a paddle steamer with a closed passenger list and a cast of stars. The correct way to film a detective novel, and the only…
1980sLeviathan (1989) Review
Leviathan (1989) rates 5 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. An underwater Alien with a good cast and a wrecked Soviet ship. One of three deep-sea monster films released in 1989, and the middle one.
2000sGhost Ship (2002) Review
Ghost Ship (2002) rates 4 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A salvage crew boards a liner missing since 1962. The first twenty seconds are among the best in modern horror and the remaining eighty minutes cannot follow them.
2020sAbigail (2024)
Kidnappers grab a twelve-year-old ballerina who turns out to be a centuries-old vampire. The film's clever structure borrows from the heist movie.
1960sNight of the Living Dead (1968)
George Romero's 1968 zombie template. The genre's foundational document.
2000sThe Descent (2005)
Neil Marshall directs the story of six women on a caving expedition trapped in unmapped Appalachian caverns inhabited by predators. The Descent is Neil Marshall's 2005 British horror film depicting six women on a caving expedition who become trapped in…
2010sThe Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon's meta-horror about college students at a remote cabin who discover their ordeal is engineered. The Cabin in the Woods is Drew Goddard's 2011 American meta-horror film depicting college students at a remote cabin who discover…