night was our friend (1951)

"Why on earth did you wait for me?"
Sally Raynor (Elizabeth Sellars) is aquited of murdering her husband (Michael Gough), and we soon gather that she has only recently been reunited with him two years after his plane had gone missing in the the South American jungle. In the interviening years Sally, has fallen for another man (Ronald Howard), and Sally's husband has returned a changed man; psychologically damaged, and incapable of letting go of his demons, even considering suicide.
A promising start quickly decends into an over-talkie melodrama, when its revealed early on that his wife has bumped the hapless pilot off, ridding the film of any suspence at a stroke.

zombieland (2009)

"I had the advantage of not having any friends or close family."
Inapropriate double act, let loose in zombieworld. One a college nerd (Jesse Eisenberg), the other a twinkie obsessed no fear redneck (Woody Harrelson). They travel the highways avoiding zombies. Then they meet up with two sisters (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) and head west...
If you like gore and fun, well this is will do for starters. There's nothing new here, and few shocks, but there is a lot of action and comedy.

airplane II: the sequel (1982)

aka Flying High II.
"Ted, I have the strangest feeling we've been through this exact same thing before."
A new passenger shuttle to the moon is set to take off on its maiden voyage, but all is not well, there's faulty wiring and questions about the company and kick-backs. Test pilot, Ted Striker (Robert Hays), is convinced that there are problems and the flight needs to be stopped, but no one, not even Elaine (Julie Hagerty), one of the crew and Ted's ex, will believe him!
If you saw and liked the first one, well you are in for a treat, as this is more of the same. Another spoof on the disaster movie formula.

the stuff (1985)

"It's gonna kill ya. Kill you all!"
A new junk food called 'the stuff' rapidly takes off, with all America lapping it up. What they don't know is that it takes over the brains of those who eat it. But one young kid, called Jason (Scott Bloom) refuses to eat it, after he's seen what its done to the rest of his family. Meanwhile investigator 'Mo' Rutherford (Michael Moriarty), is trying to find out what's in 'the stuff', and stumbles on the reality of this product. United against the stuff, can the pair stop America being taken over?
A twist on the Invasion of the Body Snatchers formula, and an entertaining one at that.

creepshow 2 (1987)

"She's dead can't you see that!"
Anthology of horror stories including a vengeful wooden Native American, a lake with some monstrous slime in it, just waiting for some teens to be foolish enough to enter the lake, and an unkillable hitchhiker!
Three stories means three chances of being scared, if one doesn't float your boat, well maybe the next one will. What we have here are three ok stories, not as good as the original Creepshow, but still it has enough to give you the odd chill.

pool of london (1951)

"It always seemed to be such a big lonesome place."
A couple of sailors have differing reasons to go ashore in London. Dan (Bonar Colleano) is an American wheeler dealer who always has a scam on the go to make money. This leads him to get unwittingly involved in a diamond robbery. Johnny (Earl Cameron), meanwhile, is a nice Jamaican lad who pals along with Dan, and in doing so he meets Pat (Susan Shaw) and they immediately hit it off.
A fine drama, featuring one of the first examples of an inter-racial relationship in a British film. Overlooked and underrated gem.

pontypool (2008)

"I quoted the bible. There's ain't no jokes in the bible!"
A talk radio station in a small Canadian town has a breakfast show with Grant (Stephen McHattie) a fractious radio host. His grouchy world is interupted when news of a riot turns nasty comes in. His producer Sydney (Lisa Houle) and engineer Laurel-Ann (Georgina Reilly) try and get on top of the story as it breaks.
A psychological horror in which we are dependent on the radio presenters to be our eyes and ears. A trick that opens up the imagination to run riot, as we are fed snippits of information via news reports, as a deadly virus infects the town. The effectiveness of the horror conveyed by the news reports added to the claustrophobia of the studio, makes for an effective horror. An imaginative twist on the language is a virus theory.

spacehunter: adventures in the forbidden zone (1983)

"Overdogs death we will gift you."
A hostile planet, riddled with diseased mutants, is ruled by the brutal Overdog (Michael Ironside). Not the place three women would choose to make an emergency landing, but then they have no choice. Once there they are captured by Overdog. Space adventurer Wolff (Peter Strauss) along with earthling Niki (Molly Ringwald) set out into the forbidden zone to rescue them.
Hokey, and brainless, but then what do you expect from a flick called Spacehunter! Originally made in the brief re-emergence of 3-D in the 80's.

the river's edge (1957)

"Ah, you do remember. What a team. The best in the business."
Ben Cameron (Anthony Quinn) is a rancher and guide in New Mexico. He is newly married to self confessed city girl, and ex-con Margaret (Debra Paget). She is finding it hard to adapt to the rigors of desert life, and is about to leave Ben, when Nardo Denning (Ray Milland) arrives begging to be guided into Mexico, offering huge amounts of money. Why does Denning need to get across the boarder, and why did he come to Ben to do so?
An Ok melodrama, with a number of twists and turns along the way.
Ray Milland steals the show here as the cold-hearted killer, as the past relationships and life of Margaret is unveiled.