In watching an obscene amount of movies, I have stumbled across some hidden gems.

Before he became a big name with The Lord Of The Rings, King Kong and The Hobbit; Peter Jackson made the horror/comedy The Frighteners. It centers around Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox, wonderful as always) who after a traumatic accident develops the ability to see and communicate with the dead. When he is the only one who can see a specter of death taking victims, he is called crazy and becomes the prime suspect. Jeffrey Combs is exceptionally weird as FBI agent Milton Dammers.


Melissa George gives a great performance in Triangle. It's a mess with your head, what the hell happened, type of dark thriller. Describe it too much and you could spoil the twists, so it's easier just to see it for yourself.


Tripp (Patrick Dempsey) walks into the bank for change and winds up in the middle of not one, but two bank robberies in the crime/comedy Flypaper. A trio with high-tech gadgets are after the vault and a pair of rednecks are after the ATMs. Things get worse when the bank is sealed shut and people start getting killed off. Tripp, now without his medication gets twitchy and works at solving the mystery. Ashley Judd is a teller in the bank, who Tripp has a crush on.


Steve Zahn and Jeremy Northam are two escaped convicts who arrive in Happy, Texas and are mistaken for a gay couple that handle child pageants. Also stars Ron Perlman as a marshal and William H. Macy is the sheriff who has a secret of his own.


After Dark Horrorfest has brought some surprisingly enjoyable movies. From Within starts with a teenager committing suicide, which triggers a string of more suicides, which seems to stem from a curse. Add in the religious fanatics and things get worse.


Another After Dark Horrorfest release, Tooth And Nail, is a post apocalyptic tale where a small group of survivors try to stay alive when they encounter a brutal gang of cannibals that include Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones.


It's just another kill or be killed day at the office. In a secret underground facility, all hell breaks loose between two rival squads of covert agents (all named for tarot cards) when they turn on each other after their boss is murdered. Operation: Endgame is a no holds barred, in your face, love it or hate it movie.


Ghost House Underground released the movie The Children from the UK. A family get together turns deadly, when the children become sick, then homicidal.


When stolen coins wind up in the possession of an inept barber (Steve Zahn), he finds himself pursued by crooks and a beautiful detective (Salma Hayek) in Chain Of Fools. Elijah Wood is adorable as a hitman named Mikey who hasn't actually killed anyone.


In Frequency, a rare atmospheric phenomenon allows John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel) to communicate with his father (Dennis Quaid) through a short wave radio, thirty years in the past. He uses the opportunity to warn his  father of his impending death in a warehouse fire, and manages to save his life. However there are consequences.


When David (Mark Ruffalo) sublets an apartment, he gets more than he bargained for in Just Like Heaven. The previous tenant, Elizabeth (Reese Witherspoon, adorable in everything), starts haunting him. A very sweet romantic comedy.


A chain of events starts with the arrival of a mysterious case in Big Trouble. The characters involved are a former journalist, his son, an embezzling exec, his wife, her daughter, cops, feds, criminals, Russian mobsters, assassins, and a Frito loving drifter. The ensemble cast includes Stanley Tucci, Dennis Farina, Jason Lee, Tim Allen, Zooey Deschanel, and Ben Foster.




More in the next post.