Bovie Movie

In this updating of the Invisible Man tale by director Paul Verhoeven, arrogant scientist Kevin Bacon makes himself invisible and promptly embarks on prattish schoolboy pranks, graduating to sexual assault and murder when he becomes peeved by his inability to become visible again. Challenged for much of a story, the film resorts to turning Bacon’s laboratory into a haunted house, from where the see-through psychopath traps his colleagues to dispose of them one by one. Unlikely scientist Elisabeth Shue leads the fight back in an exceptionally unambitious sci-fi thriller, in which predictability is alleviated only by some impressive and interesting special effects. 

In this action romp par excellence, each overblown set piece becomes ever more ludicrous — implausibility is, after all, a large part of the entertainment here. The basic buddy-buddy situation is a familiar one, but Mel Gibson, as the loose-cannon detective whose disregard for danger reaches new heights when he investigates a drugs ring, and Danny Glover, as his by-the-book, ever-fretful partner, bring a great deal of spirit and fun to the mindless mayhem. The chalk-and-cheese chemistry of the two leads was so popular that three further sequels were made over the next ten years. 

More a surreal spine tingler than a full-blooded gorefest, this seasonally themed horror plays like The Twilight Zone for modern teens. A calling-card debut from writer/director team Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa, it twists a traditional Christmas drive to visit in-laws into a ghostly nightmare of death and terror, after dad Ray Wise decides to take his family on an unfamiliar short cut. While the film’s atmosphere-over-innovation ethos offers few surprises for seasoned fright fans, there are plenty of creepy twists for those less familiar with the genre. Wise is the ultimate cohesive factor, drawing together the mishmash of schlock, chills and dark comedy with a delightfully over-the-top performance. His melodramatic outbursts, as his loved-ones fall prey to a mysterious woman in white, are as unnerving as they are humorous, adding genuine eccentricity to a feature that often tries too hard to be weird. 

Morgan Adams (Geena Davis) and her slave, William Shaw (Matthew Modine), are on a quest to recover the three portions of a treasure map. Unfortunately, the final portion is held by her murderous uncle, Dawg (Frank Langella). Her crew is sceptical of her leadership abilities, so she must complete her quest before they mutiny against her. This is made yet more difficult by the efforts of the British crown to end her piratical raids.