Welcome to - The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review
The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review is an attempt to provide an exhaustive online resource and an intelligent and well-reasoned review guide to fantastic cinema. It is hoped that the site will provide visitors with informed and well-reasoned criticism, as well as direct people toward less well-known genre material.
Fantastic Cinema is an umbrella label that covers material of great diversity. Here you will find coverage of films as far apart as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Bambi, of directors that range from Ingmar Bergman to Edward D. Wood Jr – all are represented here and each discussed in terms of their own merits. Fantastic Cinema is not always easy to define in terms of thematic boundaries and a deliberately broad interpretation of what constitutes genre material has been taken in the hope that it will provide interesting discussion.
This site has been set up firstly because of the author’s lifelong passion for the subject matter and a desire to expound forth and, secondly, because it fills a gap. There is a disappointing lack of online sites offering worthwhile genre criticism and an even more disappointing lack of general sites offering historical and archival material. It is hoped that the site will eventually become the most comprehensive and authoritative site on the subject.
We hope you enjoy your stay. The site is constantly being updated and expanded so please bookmark the site and return again. Please feel free to contact the author and say what you think. Differing opinions are always welcomed.
The site has been divided into several different destinations. Clearly there are some fields that will be of interest to some but not others. So one can browse the pages that list SF, Horror or Fantasy separately. There is also an alphabetical list of all titles.
Fourth film version of an Old Dark House play ... the original is creaky and dated by the time this version was made and the material is only given a dull handling
A travesty that turns a powerful political/environmental thriller, one of the great tv works of the 1980s, into a dull corporate whistleblower thriller with Mel Gibson in Righteous Wrath mode
Film about future live-action videogames suffers from a fundamentally implausible premise and distracting action that feels directed by Ritalin-deprived kids
Sequel to Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween ... superior to the 2007 film, Zombie turns out something that approaches a more traditional slasher film this time
Ridiculous film about warring angels that seems to largely exist as lots of gunplay, some novelty gore effects and moments that frequently sink into absurdity
Absolutely fascinating version of the story of the world's greatest liar made at the height of Nazi Germany ... produced with a lavishness that takes the breath away
Serial SF featuring cowboy star Gene Autry against invaders from beneath the Earth ... some primitive charms but little action and proves mostly crude and dull today
Wes Craven's attempts to trump Freddy Krueger ... a campily incoherent executed killer returns effort that veers into frequent absurdity ... Craven's silliest film
Every action star feels obligated to make a film where they must babysit a group of kids; here it's Jackie Chan's turn ... agonizingly witless inanity results
From wrestling superstar to dressed in a pink tutu with fairy wings, what has happened to tough guy The Rock/Dwayne Johnson? ... strained and unfunny family comedy
Prequel to the passable original ... recast as a teen horror that is closer to Texas Chain Saw territory ... works up a fair degree of tension and brutality
Two cavemen stumble through various incidents from the Bible ... With the various comedic talents the film brings together, should've been a lot funnier than it is
