Reviews by David Graham

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Obsession (1976)

  Review preview for Obsession

  Aided by richly layered performances from his leads De Palma wrings real emotion and drama from what could have been a deeply silly caper.

  A businessman hit by tragedy becomes obsessed with the past.
• 
  Of Skies and Earth (2011)

  Review preview for Of Skies and Earth

  The use of humor becomes poignant given how impoverished these kids are, their indomitable spirit shining through even when the world deals them a bum hand.

  Life is tough for a gang of Filipino street children.
• 
  Oldboy (2013)

  Review preview for Oldboy

  The veteran director brings more than enough to the table to make his version well worth watching.

  A man who spent 20 years in solitary confinement sets about looking for vengeance.
• 
  Oz The Great And Powerful (2013)

  Review preview for Oz The Great And Powerful

  An uneven mix of kiddie whimsy and intense fantasy.

  When a stage magician finds himself magically transported to the land of Oz he must work hard to convince three dubious witches of his talents and save the troubled kingdom.
• 
  The Pack (2010)

  Review preview for The Pack

  Everything from the appearance of the creatures to the often surprisingly visceral gore is shot in quite a straightforward way, which somehow gets under your skin.

  A woman finds herself caught up in ritual sacrifice.
• 
  Page Eight (2011)

  Review preview for Page Eight

  The intrigue feels under-cooked and the subject matter is yesterday's news, robbing an admirably action-free mystery of much of its impact.

  An MI5 agent becomes embroiled in intrigue after the death of his boss.
• 
  Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

  Review preview for Paranormal Activity 2

  The fear factor is maintained all the way to the delightfully provocative ending.

  A couple with a new baby begin to expect a strange presence in their home.
• 
  Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)

  Review preview for Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

  It’s not altogether successful, but it’s refreshing to see Landon taking the franchise in new directions.

  After the death of his neighbour, a young man comes to suspect that a demon is after him.
• 
  Piranha 3DD (2012)

  Review preview for Piranha 3DD

  Piranha 3DD is a floating turd of a film that deserves to sink without trace.

  A school of bloodthirsty piranha attack a water park.
• 
  The Possession (2012)

  Review preview for The Possession

  This represents a new nadir for an increasingly nose-diving genre.

  An antique box unleashes doom on a young girl.
• 
  The Pact (2012)

  Review preview for The Pact

  McCarthy has crafted a dependable chiller that doesn't break any new ground but does get under your skin if you'll forgive its faults.

  A visit to a half remembered childhood home reveals a terrifying secret.
• 
  Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)

  Review preview for Paranormal Activity 3

  Nothing more than a moderately effective string of noise-enhanced jolts.

  In 1988, young sisters Katie and Kristi befriend an invisible entity who resides in their home.
• 
  Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

  Review preview for Paranormal Activity 4

  The by-now customarily abrupt ending is one of the most infuriating the genre has slapped an audience in the face with to date.

  The arrival of mysterious new neighbours unsettles a suburban family.
• 
  ParaNorman (2012)

  Review preview for ParaNorman

  Overall the characters fail to transcend their archetypes, despite Kodi Smit-McPhee anchoring the film with real emotion.

  A misunderstood boy is the only one who can save his town from an ancient curse.
• 
  Philomena (2013)

  Review preview for Philomena

  This will have even the bitterest viewer sobbing into their popcorn.

  The true story of an Irish Catholic woman who decides to find her son more than 50 years after she was forced, as an unmarried mother, to give him up for adoption.
• 
  Premium Rush (2012)

  Review preview for Premium Rush

  The real strengths of this picture lie in the zippy camerawork and asphalt-shredding location work, the sheer speed at which Manhattan moves tangible in every frame.

  A bike messenger is pursued by a corrupt cop.
• 
  Prometheus (2012)

  Review preview for Prometheus

  Beneath all the bluster, Prometheus is all too eager to descend into B-movie madness.

  Exploration to the dark reaches of space, to discover the origins of mankind. It doesn't go well.
• 
  The Purge (2013)

  Review preview for The Purge

  For all its flaws, The Purge is for the most part an exciting and thought-provoking thriller.

  A family is held hostage for harboring the target of a murderous syndicate during the Purge, a 12-hour period in which any and all crime is legal.
• 
  Quality Control (2011)

  Review preview for Quality Control

  Everson's non-technique may hold a harsh mirror up to our implicit involvement in his subject's plight, but his approach quickly becomes disheartening.

  A documentary observing the tedium of work for African Americans in dead end factory jobs.
• 
  The Raid 2 (2014)

  Review preview for The Raid 2

  The biggest kick up the cinematic arse you're likely to get this year.

  Picking up where the first film left off, The Raid 2 follows Rama as he goes undercover and infiltrates the ranks of a ruthless Jakarta crime syndicate in order to protect his family and expose the corruption in his own police force.
• 
  Red White & Blue (2010)

  Review preview for Red White & Blue

  This isn't just blood and guts mayhem; this is about the mental repercussions of bodily violence.

  A damaged woman strikes up a tentative bond with an Iraq veteran in this psychological horror.
• 
  The Resident (2011)

  Review preview for The Resident

  Overall, The Resident is a solid step in the right direction for Hammer, being an archetypal genre piece made with care and some style, distinguished by solid acting from reliable leads.

  Hammer Horror returns with a thriller about a young woman whose new apartment may not be as secure as it seemed.
• 
  Riddick (2013)

  Review preview for Riddick

  Diesel's as cool as usual, but should really know better by now.

  Marooned on a planet full of monsters, Riddick must face off against mercenaries and issues from his past.
• 
  The Rite (2011)

  Review preview for The Rite

  Scraping nails and scratching heads are about as scary as this film gets, and these are two activities its audience will find themselves regularly indulging in.

  A student visiting Italy to learn how to conduct an exorcism encounters something unexpected.
• 
  The Roof (1956)

  Review preview for The Roof

  The film stands as a fascinating time capsule, the ridiculous nature of the period's housing policy imbuing the second half with a gnawing tension that keeps the viewer thoroughly gripped to the very end.

  A newly-wed couple attempt to build themselves a home overnight.
• 
  Rango (2011)

  Review preview for Rango

  It is admirable that Verbinski has chosen to forgo 3D, as the spectacle he conjures in his various set-pieces is enough to have you ducking and diving already.

  A chameleon finds himself in a Wild West town that is desperate for a new sheriff.
• 
  The Raven (2012)

  Review preview for The Raven

  Camp when it could be creepy, silly where it should be scary, V For Vendetta director James McTeigue's latest offering is fitfully entertaining but tragically turgid and formulaic for the most part.

  Gothic author Edgar Allan Poe becomes implicated in a series of murders that use his stories as inspiration.
• 
  Re-Animator (1985)

  Review preview for Re-Animator

  If Re-Animator doesn't get your blood pumping, you're already dead.

  Students decide to resurrect the dead in this much-loved comedic take on the work of HP Lovecraft.
• 
  Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

  Review preview for Resident Evil: Retribution

  Audiences really need to wake up and put the nail in the Anderson Evil coffin once and for all.

  Series heroine Alice fights for a resistance movement as the deadly T virus spreads around the world.
• 
  Rubber (2010)

  Review preview for Rubber

  Many will feel Rubber is a short student film stretched to breaking point and past it, but if you can tune into its whacked-out world-view it should have you smiling all the way through.

  Rubber is just an ordinary tyre, but one day he develops intelligence and telekinetic powers. Horrified by what he discovers about the fate of other tyres, he sets out on an implacable quest for revenge.
• 
  Sabotage (2014)

  Review preview for Sabotage

  It doesn't quite add up to the sum of its parts, but there's still enough salty brio to Sabotage to keep it eminently watchable.

  A corrupt drug task force find themselves on a hit list.
• 
  The Sacrament (2013)

  Review preview for The Sacrament

  Gene Jones makes one of the most enigmatic and appalling cult leaders you'll ever see.

  Two young reporters visit a secretive religious group.
• 
  Saint (2010)

  Review preview for Saint

  An unashamedly trashy treat.

  After being murdered, bishop St Niklas seeks revenge every 32 years by giving the parents and children a Christmas they will never forget.
• 
  Sawney: Flesh Of Man (2012)

  Review preview for Sawney: Flesh Of Man

  Sawney is a fairly accomplished first feature that at least has the good sense to revel in its silliness without resorting to self-indulgent irony.

  As detectives hunt for a serial killer, a tabloid crime writer uncovers the truth about the cannibal clan responsible for increasing disappearances, but he doesn't know their darkest secret.
• 
  Saw 3D (2010)

  Review preview for Saw 3D

  A visit to the dentist seems like light relief afterwards, and laser surgery wouldn't begin to erase the stains of tedium this moronic garbage leaves on the retina.

  A self-help guru falls foul of Jigsaw's legacy.
• 
  Scream 4 (2011)

  Review preview for Scream 4

  Kevin Williamson's script repeatedly sets up tantalizing red herrings only to curtail into sharp set-pieces where Wes Craven's sure hand at wringing tension out of convention comes to the fore.

  When the survivor of the previous films returns to her home town, the killer reappears.
• 
  The Seasoning House (2011)

  Review preview for The Seasoning House

  One of the grimmest 'horror' films of the year.

  Girls kidnapped by soldiers in war-torn zones are prostituted to the military.
• 
  Sexual Chronicles Of A French Family (2012)

  Review preview for Sexual Chronicles Of A French Family

  The film will resonate with some because of the believable sense of frustration and helplessness that the narrating Romain conveys.

  Three generations of a French family and their sex lives.
• 
  Shark Night 3D (2011)

  Review preview for Shark Night 3D

  Smart enough in the right places and dumb enough in others to be a worthwhile waste of your time.

  A group of holidaymakers find their trip a private lake has rather more bite than they were looking for.
• 
  The Silent House (2010)

  Review preview for The Silent House

  A flawed but admirable attempt to bring the horror genre back to basics.

  A young woman considers whether to flee from a house which seems to harbour dangerous secrets.
• 
  Southern Comfort (1981)

  Review preview for Southern Comfort

  The oppressive atmosphere of the swamp and the tension between the frustrated alpha males are so thick right up to the final frame you could cut the air with one of their knives, while the trauma of the experience lingers long after the credits roll.

  National Guardsmen on an remote exercise run into trouble on the bayou.
• 
  Santa Sangre (1989)

  Review preview for Santa Sangre

  Santa Sangre is suffused with rare heart and a sense of aching melancholy, and not a minute of its two hour run time is wasted.

  Upon leaving a psychiatric hospital, a young man becomes the arms of his mother, whose own were cut off by his philandering father, as she embarks on a campaign of holy retribution.
• 
  Savage Streets (1984)

  Review preview for Savage Streets

  Danny Steinmann throws enough subversive wit and exploitation action into the plot to keep you reasonably engaged even when he's putting you on edge with despicable misogyny.

  A teenager seeks revenge on thugs who raped her sister.
• 
  Searching For Sugar Man (2012)

  Review preview for Searching For Sugar Man

  A delightful experience for musos and the uninitiated alike, Searching For Sugar Man deserves to reach as wide an audience as its underdog hero eventually did himself.

  The true story of a brilliant yet forgotten musician and the revolutionaries he inspired on another continent.
• 
  Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)

  Review preview for Silent Hill: Revelation

  It's the incoherent plotting and pitiful support acting that really sink Revelation.

  When her father disappears, a young woman is drawn into a nightmare world - literally.
• 
  The Skin I Live In (2011)

  Review preview for The Skin I Live In

  Almodóvar's trademark narrative divergence is in full effect but he keeps a delicious sense of control over his fabulously grotesque concoction.

  A brilliant but troubled plastic surgeon tries to create the perfect woman.
• 
  Snowtown (2011)

  Review preview for Snowtown

  Astonishing acting is key to the film's ferocious power, with Daniel Henshall electrifying as the magnetic madman dealing death.

  A vulnerable boy is drawn into the crimes of a charismatic serial killer. Based on a true story.
• 
  The Social Network (2010)

  Review preview for The Social Network

  Fincher's cautionary fable is way more riveting than anyone could reasonably have expected.

  The story behind the founding of Facebook.
• 
  Spring Breakers (2012)

  Review preview for Spring Breakers

  There’s so much undeniable artistry on display that it’s impossible to write it off as mere trash masquerading as avant-garde, or vice-versa.

  Four college students form an unlikely allegiance with a drug dealer.
• 
  Stormhouse (2011)

  Review preview for Stormhouse

  Won't set the box office alight but has plenty of atmosphere and imagination to commend it.

  UK horror on a military base.