Hands of Steel is an Italian-produced film obviously influenced by James Cameron’s The Terminator, if combined with the basic plot of First Blood. Set in the near future (the marketing lists the year as 1997,...
In August 1984, Universal greenlit the next entry in the Psycho franchise, Psycho III. Psycho II director Richard Franklin and screenwriter Tom Holland declined to return, causing Universal chairman Frank Price to hire Charles...
1980s / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
by Vincent Leo · Published February 7, 2013 · Last modified May 17, 2022
In 1980, the screenwriting team of Gary Travis and Michael January concocted an original horror film idea of a woman buying a house and coming to believe it’s haunted. It’s later revealed that there...
by Vincent Leo · Published February 3, 2013 · Last modified April 16, 2022
In 1957, a rural hermit named Ed Gein was arrested on suspicion of murder. Searches of Gein’s Wisconsin farmhouse revealed the bodies of several missing women, mutilated, decapitated, and their organs preserved in various...
David (Wilson) and Amy (Beckinsale) are a bitterly bickering couple whose marriage is on the skids, detouring down a windy rural road for hours, completely lost. When car troubles force them off the road, they have...
by Vincent Leo · Published April 27, 2003 · Last modified December 9, 2019
Part Agatha Christie, part Alfred Hitchcock, Identity is a modern updating of old-school mystery/suspense for today’s slasher-flick appreciative audiences. Shades of Psycho mixed with “Ten Little Indians“ get churned in the idea blender. Toss in a few new twists, and...
1980s / Comedy / Mystery / Thriller
by Vincent Leo · Published February 18, 2003 · Last modified June 26, 2022
Bates Motel was announced in February 1987 as a two-hour pilot for a proposed new comedy-thriller series on NBC. It was the brainchild of screenwriter Richard Rothstein, creator of the HBO series, “The Hitchhiker”....
by Vincent Leo · Published June 27, 1999 · Last modified February 27, 2019
Treading on some serious hallowed ground here, folks. Director Gus Van Sant decides he wants the certain fruitless endeavor of remaking a masterpiece. Talk about doomed from the start! A secretary is entrusted with...
A terrific start of sorts for most of the people involved creatively in this quirky but extremely fun tale. Director Wes Anderson, who later went on to gain more respect with Rushmore, seems to have...
Reviews from film writer Vince Leo, covering all eras and genres of films from classics to the latest releases.
Film reviews from Vince Leo, from classics to new releases, since 1996.
