The movie is a fearlessly unsettling descent into voyeuristic madness overflowing in comedy, drama, tension and insight. It obliterated all my expectations, The Lives of Others a stunning masterwork that marks the arrival of an important filmmaker worth keeping an eye on.

Children of Men is a stunning powerhouse, and it is almost impossible to grasp all it is attempting to say in just a single viewing.

In a year of so many retreads and also-rans, where much of what’s hit the multiplex looks exactly like what was there just a month ago, The Prestige offers entertainment and wonderment unlike anything else currently in theatres, and that might be Nolan’s greatest magic trick of them all.

All of which makes The Grudge 2 an insidious mixed bag of thrills and chills, and I’m just not sure the good elements outweigh the bad ones near enough to make watching it in a theatre worthwhile.

The Descent is a freefall into fear not to be missed.

I can’t stop shaking.

V for Vendetta is a bold, unflinching portrait of a world viewers might not want to look at too closely. It is a place where the sights and sounds are so harsh and hard they make some cringe and weep for all they’ve suffered and lost.

Cronenberg is a filmmaker willing to push boundaries and ask tough questions others don’t just shy away from, they sprint in the opposite direction in total fear. A History of Violence is no different.

House of Wax is cruelly juvenile in ways that worked for me, and as far as Dark Castle’s current run of bloody horror remakes are concerned, this might just be their best one yet.