jason goes to hell: the final friday (1993)

aka Friday the 13th IX. Friday the 13th Part 9: Jason Goes to Hell - The Final Friday.
"What you think of as Jason is not dead..."
When Stephen (John D. LeMay) is held for Diana Kimble's murder, her daughter Jessica (Kari Keegan) arrives in town with her, (and Stephen's), baby in tow, the last of the Voorhees line...and Jason needs his last living relative.
If you forget the previous nine installments and come at this fresh, this is an effective gorefest. Just don't come looking for something that stays true to the original.

pecker (1998)

"Pubic hair causes crime."
Pecker (Edward Furlong) is a young lad whose hobby is taking photo's of everyday scenes he comes across in his daily life in Baltimore. Everything changes when Rorey Wheeler (Lili Taylor), a New York gallery owner, sees his work, much to annoyance of his girlfriend Shelley (Christina Ricci).
A lighter Waters film than most of his work, which pokes fun at the New York art scene, and delivers a delightful comedy, that still manages to throw in some subversion.

hairspray (1988)

"It's the times. They are a-changin'. Something's blowing in the wind. Fetch me my diet pills, would you, Hon?"
A young girl, Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake) idolises the dancers on local tv show The Corny Collins Show, and her rise to fame when she manages to become a dancer it, and sparks off protests for intergration, in the Baltimore of 1962.
Water's breakout film, that played up the retro charm, and won him a new audience.

cecil b. demented (2000)

"There are no rules in underground cinema, only edges."
A guerrilla film maker (Stephen Dorff) and his troop of regulars, kidnap an A-list actress Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith) with the aim of making her star in their film.
A lesser comedy from Waters, lacking the attacking zeal of much of his work, but still has its moments.

polyester (1981)

"I got somethin' to show ya, Francine! It's long. And it's sleek. And it's powerful. It's mah new 'vette!"
Mrs Fishpaw (Divine) is a housewife, who hates her husband's career as the owner of a pornographic cinema. Then her world falls apart when she catches him being unfaithful to her, but her life gets worse when her daughter announces she is pregnant by a local thug, and her son arrested as the Baltimore foot-stomper. Salvation comes when her life seems at its lowest, when Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter) arrives on the scene, but is this the end of her problems, or just the beginning?
A fine comedy, that dabbles with Waters usual themes. Originally filmed in Odorama.

final destination (2000)

"In death there are no accidents, no coincidences, no mishaps, and no escapes."
A school trip goes wrong when the plane the class is on blows up, killing all aboard. All but a handful of kids thrown off the flight when Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) has a vision of the disaster. From then on Alex realises that death is stalking them, determined not to be cheated of those who avoided death, but can Alex outfox death and survive?
Some great set pieces add an extra level to what would have otherwise been an average teen-thriller.

critters (1986)

"these things are vicious."
A small midwest town gets invaded by some very hungry extra-terrestrial creatures called Krites arrive in a small mid-west town, and make the Brown family's weekend one never to forget. Can they last long enough to get help from the pursuing intergalactic bounty hunters, or are they Krite-chow?
Amusing little 80's creature feature.

detroit rock city (1999)

"Lex! Quit Jinxing us man! No one is missing that concert tomorrow night!"
It's 1978 and Lex (Giuseppe Andrews), Trip (James DeBello), Hawk (Edward Furlong) and Jam (Sam Huntington), are four teenagers who have tickets to see KISS in concert in Detroit. They are determined to get there by any means necessary; defying their parents and lack of money. But when they get there they find their tickets have gone...
Coming of age comedy, that hits most of the right buttons, and this from someone who dislikes KISS!

snakes on a plane (2006)

Sean Jones, an extreme sports fan in Hawaii for the surf, witnesses a brutal murder by a gangland leader and is persuaded to testify in court against him. In order to do so he's put on a plane to Los Angeles, with an FBI agent (Samuel L Jackson). However, hundreds of poisonous snakes are also on the flight and they are no mood to stay put. Thus starts a struggle for survival, man vs snake.
Well this film definitely does what it says on the poster. I was fully prepared to not like this, but I don't know if its just my lowered expectations, but it was ok and entertained me for the 90 minutes, as there isn't much chance to catch breath as wave upon wave of snakes attack. Its never going to win any awards, but its OK if you like dumb-ass action films.

evil dead (1981)

aka Book of the Dead. Into The Woods. Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead. The Evil Dead, the Ultimate Experience in Grueling Horror.
Five friends holiday in a backwoods cabin. Unfortunately there is a malevolent spirit loose in the woods, which they unleash when they find the Necronomicon, (a book of the dead), and its translation. One by one, they succumb to the evil, leaving one trying to survive till morning.
Once the action gets going this is a truly harrowing, and completely unrelenting horror. But it also knows how to relieve the tension with some deeply black humour. The film became one of the original video nasties, it features the notorious tree rape scene, that viewed now is far less harrowing than in 1981. This is a masterclass in how to make an effective horror with little money.