Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" is some kind of great movie. Astonishingly inventive, yet consciously old- fashioned, it bridges a strange gap between the earliest movies of all and the experimental films of today. The narrative is at times a little clouded (just why does Dracula come to England?), and sometimes the old-fashioned qualities verge on corn, but the energy, creativity, and brilliance of technique make this, despite its occasional flaws, one of the greatest horror movies ever made. And in the unlikely person of Gary Oldman, Coppola has found an astonishing, mesmerizing Dracula, evil, romantic and driven. In some ways, this dream-like movie resembles classic silent films;, it's not especially gory though, being about vampires, blood is indeed spilled. Coppola plays with techniques and imagery, including shadows (Dracula's occasionally carries on actions after he's left the scene), and delirious superimpositions (Dracula's eyes are seen in storm clouds), lap dissolves, iris shots, camera ...

  This movie came out of nowhere. Certainly the previous career of director Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “A Life Less Ordinary,” “The Beach”) gave not even the slightest hint that he was capable of this work. Also, it was shot quickly on a very low budget with digital video equipment. But the results were so powerful as to border on stunning: an intense, perfectly paced, science fiction/horror thriller. It’s remarkably suspenseful, even on repeated viewings; the cast is expert, the locations well chosen, and the story compelling and all too believable. It opens in the Cambridge Primate Research Center; animal activists have broken in and want to free the “imprisoned” monkeys and chimpanzees. A lab worker tries desperately to prevent this, warning the intruders that the primates have been infected with a powerfully infectious disease that causes unbridled rage—and it can be passed on to human beings. But the activists are nothing if not fanatical, ...

  David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox (Kate Beckinsale) are a young couple whose marriage is on its last legs. Recovering from the recent death of their child, they are openly hostile to each other and are days away from signing their divorce papers. On the long drive back from Amy’s parents’ anniversary party, David departs from the interstate to avoid a traffic jam and ends up on a deserted stretch of road, miles from the nearest town. After swerving to miss a raccoon, the couple’s car starts to act up and stalls a couple of miles away from a decrepit fleapit motel. After the odd night manager, Mason (Frank Whaley) informs them that the nearest garage won’t be open until the morning, the two reluctantly check-in for the night. As David and Amy attempt to settle into the filthy room, the two are harassed and unsettled by violent poundings coming first from ...

  Leading up to its release, “Primeval” was marketed as a based-on-actual-events, hardcore serial-killer flick. The trailer used flashes of gory imagery, appearing to be something between David Fincher’s “Se7en” and the newer “Saw” series. But “Primeval” touted itself as the granddaddy of all serial-killer movies, with its bad guy having racked up the highest body count in history, without ever being caught! I consider myself a horror aficionado so I won’t lie; I was a bit curious. I didn’t hear a peep of positive buzz surrounding the film, so I opted to wait for the home-theater experience. Thank god. Red flag number one: There’s a crocodile on the cover. What the heck is going on? Where’s my wonderfully creepy and demented serial killer?! That mass-murderer would be a giant crocodile in Africa. Can you feel my disappointment? Essentially a creature feature, “Primeval” attempts to recreate the essence of “Jaws” with elements of the Oscar-nominated “Blood ...

  Roy Solomon (Dylan McDermott) and his wife, Denise (Penelope Ann Miller) move from Chicago to an abandoned sunflower farm in North Dakota. The Solomons are financially depleted due to the health problems of their infant son, Ben (Evan Turner) who was injured in a car accident in which their 16-year-old daughter Jess was the driver. The previous residents of the farm disappeared several years back (but as seen in the black-and-white prologue, were clearly murdered by an unseen presence), so the Solomons were able to buy the land and weathered farmhouse for a very low price. Upon arrival, Roy finds an unsettling number of crows on the land, which seem particularly aggressive and hard to scare off. While Denise doesn’t find anything out of the ordinary, young Ben can see frightening specters, which Jess begins to notice as well. As the ghostly presences become increasingly aggressive and physical toward Jess, she finds that ...