Every once in a while, a sequel comes along that makes you question why God allows sequels in the first place. The Prophecy II, released in 1998 direct to video shelves that were already groaning under the weight of Dimension Films’ other cinematic sins, is one such unholy artifact. Christopher Walken returns as the archangel … Read More “The Prophecy II (1998) – When Angels Lose Their Wings and the Script” »
Alan Mak would go on to co-direct Infernal Affairs (2002), the slick Hong Kong thriller that Martin Scorsese remade into The Departed. But before that career-defining triumph, Mak gave the world Nude Fear, a psychological horror-thriller that’s less “psychological” and more “what if we stitched random plot points together with duct tape and Kathy Chow’s … Read More “Nude Fear (1998) – Hong Kong Noir Meets Soap Opera Nonsense” »
In 1999, The Blair Witch Project became a cultural phenomenon by convincing the world that shaky cam footage of three theater kids lost in the woods was “revolutionary.” But here’s the dirty secret: a year earlier, two guys with a $900 budget, a stack of RadioShack receipts, and a death wish for mainstream cinema had … Read More “The Last Broadcast (1998) – Found Footage Before It Was Cool, and Before The Blair Witch Got All the Credit” »
There’s a special place in horror hell reserved for sequels that don’t need to exist. Right next to Jaws: The Revenge and Exorcist II: The Heretic sits I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, a film so creatively bankrupt it makes the original look like Hitchcock. This is the cinematic equivalent of finding last … Read More “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) – Hooked on a Stupid Sequel” »
Christmas of 1998 gave moviegoers two gifts: Patch Adams, where Robin Williams tried to cure sadness with clown noses, and The Faculty, where Robert Rodriguez tried to cure alien possession with caffeine pills stuffed into Bic pens. Only one of these films deserves to be unwrapped again. Spoiler: it’s the one where Jon Stewart gets … Read More “The Faculty (1998) – When Robert Rodriguez Gave Us Aliens, Drugs, and High School Cliques” »
Ah, Wishmaster 2. Proof that sometimes sequels don’t just go straight to video—they crawl there on their hands and knees, begging for forgiveness. The first Wishmaster wasn’t exactly Citizen Kane with monsters, but it had enough practical effects, horror cameos, and Andrew Divoff’s scenery-chewing charm to become a cult curio. The sequel, however? Imagine if … Read More “Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies – But Good Cinema Certainly Does” »
If The Exorcist was a theology class, then Stigmata is the eyeliner-wearing goth kid in the back row blasting Nine Inch Nails on a Walkman. Directed by Rupert Wainwright (yes, the guy who gave us MC Hammer’s “2 Legit 2 Quit” video), Stigmata is loud, messy, ridiculous, and—against all odds—fantastically entertaining. It may not scare … Read More “Stigmata (1999) – When Catholic Horror Went Full MTV” »
Ah, the ‘90s. A time when Hollywood was obsessed with CGI, The X-Files was printing money, and anything with a “spooky” vibe could be shoved straight-to-video for kids who couldn’t get their parents to rent Scream. Enter Phantom Town, also known as Spooky Town if you prefer your bad movies wrapped in a Scooby-Doo lunchbox. … Read More “Phantom Town (1999) – Goosebumps on a Budget, But Without the Goose or the Bumps” »
Universal dusted off its classic monster catalog in the late ’90s, took a look at Boris Karloff’s The Mummy (1932), and said: “You know what this needs? Brendan Fraser doing Indiana Jones cosplay, Rachel Weisz tripping over ladders, and CGI scarabs that look like PlayStation cutscenes.” Thus, The Mummy (1999) was born. It’s part horror, … Read More “The Mummy (1999) – Curse of the Cartoon Scarabs” »
South Korea gave us masterpieces like Oldboy and The Host, films that reshaped how global audiences saw Korean cinema. And then there’s Memento Mori—the second in the Whispering Corridors series, and arguably the only horror movie where the scariest thing isn’t the ghost, but the endless diary readings. It’s supposed to be a haunting, tragic … Read More “Memento Mori (1999) – Ghosts, Diaries, and the World’s Worst Sex Education” »