Horror Comedy

So what's under the water in that lake deep in the Maine woods? No one is sure what it could be, but a dead and severely mutilated body was found near the shore, and the only clue is a large tooth which appears to be from a prehistoric animal resembling a huge crocodile. Jack Wells (Bill Pullman), the local fish and game warden, is investigating the case when he's assigned a helper, paleontologist Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda). Kelly generally does office work since she hates the outdoors (a drawback in her line of work) and is recovering from a breakup with one of her co-workers. Jack would just as soon handle this matter without Kelly's help, but with time, the two get used to each other and something beyond a working relationship begins to develop. Meanwhile, Jack and Kelly also have to deal with Sheriff Hank Keogh (Brendan Gleeson), who would like to find the mystery creature and kill it; Hector Cyr (Oliver Platt), a quirky mythology expert who wants to capture and study the beast; and Mrs. Bickerman (Betty White), an eccentric older woman with dubious stories about her missing cattle -- and missing husband. Blending suspense, humor, and romance, Lake Placid was written by David E. Kelley, creator of the popular TV shows Ally McBeal and The Practice, and directed by Steve Miner, whose credits range from TV's The Wonder Years to the films Forever Young and Halloween: H20. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

It's often said that the true character of a man is only revealed in times of dire crisis, and for likable, lovelorn loser Shaun (Simon Pegg), that moment of reckoning came when the dead rose from their slumber to feast on the flesh of the living. A hapless electronics store employee who spends most of his spare time downing pints at the local pub with his roommate, Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun's life seems to fall apart when he is dumped by his girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashfield), and his obnoxious stepfather, Philip (Bill Nighy), shows up to berate him for not being more attentive to his caring mother Barbara (Penelope Wilton) -- especially since he forgot to send flowers for her birthday. Things take a turn for the worse when the dead return to stake their claim on the Earth, and though the chaos that follows threatens to swallow up all of England, it's up to Shaun to keep his cool and prove himself once and for all by successfully rescuing Liz and his mother. With his trusty roommate by his side, nothing -- not even the living dead -- can stand between Shaun and the two most important women in his life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A professional thief finds his luck going from bad to worse when he's sent to Russia to steal a priceless antique crucifix and becomes the terrified target of a serial killer who takes the title of "headhunter" all too seriously. Career larcenist Ritchie Donovan (Stephen Dorff)'s latest job has just ended in tragedy, and he still owes a fortune to a fearsome Russian godfather. Fortunately for Ritchie, the crime kingpin is feeling especially benevolent today, and offers the luckless cat burglar one last chance to settle his debt. All Ritchie has to do is travel to Moscow, ascent a skyscraper penthouse, crack the safe, and steal an antique crucifix. It couldn't have been a simpler plan, but when the robbery ends in murder and police surround the building, Ritchie and the gang are forced to take hostages. Just as it begins to appear as if all hope is lost, the elevator that Ritchie and his fellow gangsters are traveling on comes to a complete stop on the building's unused thirteenth floor. But landing on the thirteenth floor of this building may not have been the lucky break it first appeared, because lying in wait on the hidden level is a serial killer with a knack for collecting heads. He makes no secret of his hobby either, because his gruesome trophies line these seldom-wandered halls like a nightmarish testament to the ultimate gamesman. With the cops closing in from below, psychotic Russian gangsters on all sides, panicked hostages freaking out, and a homicidal maniac somewhere too close for comfort, all Ritchie cares about now if getting his feet back on the ground before he loses his head. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Five college buddies retreat to the woods for a little R & R and end up getting a horrific lesson in infectious disease in this low-budget shocker. Cabin Fever stars Rider Strong as the geeky Paul, who hopes to settle in around the campfire with his brash buds Jeff (Joey Kern) and Bert (James DeBello), and make the moves on the nubile-but-shy Karen (Jordan Ladd). Unfortunately, a wayward, forest-dwelling vagrant (Arie Verveen) stumbles into their lives, his skin badly desiccated by a mysterious virus. Fearing for their own lives, the quintet decide to do away with the man, with little success: He stumbles away from the campsite and into a nearby stream, where his disease quickly infects the local water supply. It isn't long before the oblivious co-eds get a taste of the man's illness, and in their desperation, each learns that he or she will stop at nothing to survive. Cabin Fever premiered at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival, where it was snapped up by Lions Gate for a fall 2003 release. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

This mild horror outing was made for younger audiences and centers on a young boy's attempts to prevent the evil spirit living within a voodoo doll from taking possession of his school teacher. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When the notoriously evil Chucky doll and his lover gave birth, they had no idea that their spawn would grow up to be a peace-loving kind of guy; however, that's exactly what Glen turns out to be: a gentle soul who is horrified at what he has been told about his family. After hearing the news of a film being made about his parents' murderous legacy, Glen sets off for Hollywood, where he promptly brings Chucky and Tiffany back to life. Far from diving into doting fatherhood, Chucky is seriously disappointed in his son's lack of inherent evil and tries his best to impart his vast knowledge of all things malevolent before Glen becomes some sort of do-gooder. Elsewhere, Tiffany finds that she will be played by Jennifer Tilly in their movie and doesn't hesitate to let her son in on their family's most cherished tradition -- killing sprees. Directed by Don Mancini, Seed of Chucky features Brad Dourif returning as the voice of Chucky, while Tilly plays both herself and Tiffany. The offspring of the evil pair, Glen, is voiced by Lord of the Rings star Billy Boyd. Cult film director John Waters also makes an appearance, as does hip-hop artist Redman. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

A high-school student struggling to suppress her budding sexuality makes a startling discovery about her womanhood after becoming the victim of sexual violence in director Michael Lichtenstein's semi-surreal exploration of the vagina dentata myth. Dawn (Jess Weixler) is a proud virgin and the most active member of her local chastity group. Though she struggles with every ounce of her willpower to resist the pleasures of the flesh, Dawn finds her noble efforts to remain chaste repeatedly challenged by her disturbed stepbrother, Brad -- whose provocative advances are becoming increasingly difficult to resist. When Dawn is sexually assaulted and discovers that her vagina actually has teeth, she struggles to comprehend her anatomical anomaly while experiencing both the benefits and drawbacks of this strange new revelation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A criminal scheme gone wrong is just the start of a string of life-threatening bad luck in this darkly comic thriller. David (Andy Serkis) and Peter (Reece Shearsmith) are a pair of second-rate criminals who are eager to make a big score and think they've come up with the formula for a perfect crime. David works for a wealthy local businessman named Arnie who dotes on his teenaged stepdaughter Tracey (Jennifer Ellison), and so with the help of Arnie's slacker son Andrew (Steven O'Donnell), he and Peter kidnap the girl and demand a hefty ransom for her safe return. But Tracey puts up far more of a fight than David and Peter ever expected, and when Andrew picks up the ransom only to discover they've been given a decoy instead of cash, the would-be kidnappers have no clue what to do next. But this problem seems like small potatoes when the owner of the seemingly abandoned cottage where they're holed up unexpectedly returns -- he turns out to be a hideously deformed lunatic with a murderous temper and a bitter hatred of trespassers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this sequel to 1996's The Dentist, Corbin Bernsen returns as Dr. Feinstone, the obsessive-compulsive dentist whose wife's infidelities left him a deranged monster. Picking up on the IRS audit subplot of the original film, The Dentist II tracks Feinstone after his escape from a mental institution to Paradise, a sleepy little town where he's been socking away his assets and leading a double life under an assumed name. Pretending to have retired from his big-city dental practice, "Dr. Caine" rents a house from the lovely Jamie Devers (Jillian McWirther), but soon finds himself drawn back into the exam room after the local dentist's working habits don't pass muster. Killing the old guy for incorrectly gluing one of his own capped teeth, Feinstone/Caine sets up shop himself, starts dating Jamie, and soon grows homicidally jealous over her friendship with another man. As the killing continues, Feinstone remains unaware that a detective is on his trail. Soon, a toothless, tongueless woman from the dentist's past shows up in Paradise, interrupting his killing spree. In addition to the original The Dentist, Brian Yuzna previously directed such horror films as Return of the Living Dead 3 and Bride of the Re-Animator. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

While wandering the English moors on vacation, college yanks David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) happen upon a quaint pub with a mysterious patronage who warn them not to leave the road when walking after dark. Irreverent of such advice as characters in horror films always are, the two decide to find a short cut....David wakes up in the hospital with a nasty bite wound to his shoulder; the freshly deceased, and rapidly decomposing, Jack arrives soon after to deliver the grim news that, unless he commits suicide, David will become a werewolf when the moon is full. David dismisses the encounter as a hallucination, but all indicators point to lycanthrope; evenings of barking and bloodletting follow closely behind. While the story is thin and much of the tongue-in-cheek humor is overdone, there are plenty of genuine jolts thanks to makeup guru Rick Baker's eye-popping special effects. The werewolf, resembling a cross between a bear and a wolverine, appears frighteningly real, and, given the fantastic premise, the gore is most convincing (although surprisingly and refreshingly scant). The hospital dream sequences are creative, and the scenes in which the werewolf runs rampant through downtown London are particularly good. In all, An American Werewolf in London is an original, atmospheric film that manages both to scare and amuse. While dismissed by most American critics upon its release, the film managed to secure a place in the annals of American cinema when Baker won an Academy Award for his amazing effects and creature designs. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

The third in director Sam Raimi's stylish, comic book-like horror trilogy that began with The Evil Dead (1982), this tongue-in-cheek sequel offers equal parts sword-and-sorcery-style action, gore, and comedy. Bruce Campbell returns as the one-armed Ash, now a supermarket employee ("Shop Smart...Shop S-Mart") who is transported by the powers of a mysterious book back in time with his Oldsmobile '88 to the 14th century medieval era. Armed only with a shotgun, his high school chemistry textbook, and a chainsaw that mounts where his missing appendage once resided, the square-jawed, brutally competent Ash quickly establishes himself as a besieged kingdom's best hope against an "army of darkness" currently plaguing the land. Since the skeleton warriors have been resurrected with the aid of the Necronomicon (the same tome that can send Ash back to his own time) he agrees to face the enemy in battle. Ash also finds romance of a sort along the way with a beautiful damsel in distress, Sheila (Embeth Davidtz), and contends with his own doppelganger after mangling an important incantation. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Once again tampering with mother nature to disastrous results, Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) continues his research in director Brian Yuzna's second sequel to the 1985 splatter classic Re-Animator. Currently serving time in a maximum security prison for his previous exploits, West's limited prison-cell experiments are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Howard Phillips (Jason Barry), the new prison doctor and the brother of the girl who suffered from West's experiments 13 years earlier. Knowledgeable of West's previous experiments and eager to assist the mad doctor in continuing his studies, the naive Phillips discovers that West's continued studies have revealed a more effective means of bringing back the dead -- the removal of an individual's Neuroplasm, or soul, and the injection of it into a newly reanimated corpse. An electrical phenomenon discharged at the moment of death, with the discovery of the Neuroplasm West may have finally discovered the missing link to effectively bringing life to death. Or not. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A masked scientist creates a troop of vicious dolls to violently avenge betrayals committed against. him. ~ All Movie Guide