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UK/Canada: Alexander Witt, 2004

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France: Alexandre Aja, 2003

Haute Tension (Switchblade Romance to those living in the UK) is a fantastic exercise in tension, maintaining a superb sense of dread and stretching the audience's nerves to the limit in a way that is all too rare in horror movies these days. Clearly borrowing a great deal from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, writer/director Alexandre Aja spins a deceptively simple yarn and then lets things go from bad to worse before our very eyes, as heroine Marie (Cécile De France) is stalked by an anonymous killer with a penchant for offing people with a switchblade. Preventing this from getting a perfect score (which, I assure you, it came very close to receiving), is the cop-out "twist" ending, which had me rolling my eyes and has been absolutely done to death recently. It soured the film for me and was enough of a pain in the neck for me to deduct an entire * from the overall score. That said, this gets a high recommendation from me.

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USA: Terry Gilliam, 1998

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USA: Mary Harron, 2000

This wickedly perverse satire of yuppy culture is a thoroughly entertaining piece of work, perfectly capturing just what is so deliciously superficial about the lifestyle it portrays. Christian Bale portrays the enigmatic protagonist, an outwardly normal socialite who gets his kicks from committing multiple acts of murder, with frightening skill, and writer/director Mary Harron's dialogue and camerawork are wonderfully slick. The ending is perhaps a little disappointing, although to be honest I can't think of any better way of handling it.

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USA: David D. Hand, 1942

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USA: Wayne Kramer, 2003

Erratic but largely enjoyable romantic drama starring William H. Macy as a man who seems to attract misfortune, employed at a casino as a means of shifting games in the establishment's favour. He hooks up with a sexy waitress, played by Maria Bello, who - coincidentally! - counters his bad luck with her good luck. This, of course, doesn't go down too well with casino manager Alec Baldwin, who plots to make sure Macy stays a perpetual loser by any means necessary. I started off not particularly interested in the film at all, and it certainly suffers from an inconsistent tone and focus, but the performances of the three leads kept me hooked, and by the end I actually cared about what happened to Macy and Bello's characters - not something that happens very often for me.

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USA: David Lynch, 1986

David Lynch's psychosexual nightmare is a gripping and at times baffling piece of work, held together by a terrifying performance by Dennis Hopper and an ambiguous one by Isabella Rossellini. Although the narrative is significantly clearer than that of Mulholland Dr., the symbolism and real meaning to the piece are just as elusive. I can tell that this is one film I will need to watch several times before I can really get a grip on it. I'll probably order the DVD at some point, which will hopefully present the film in a better manner than Channel 4's grubby 1.78:1 crop job.

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Canada: David Cronenberg, 1975

Interesting but ultimately disappointing parasite horror from David Cronenberg. In this, his first feature-length film, he introduces many of the key themes that would later become his trademarks (body horror, a fixation on sexual relations, etc.), but this early outing has none of the quality of filmmaking or acting that would characterize his later work. The budget is obviously low and the shooting style is decidedly unprofessional, with awkward framing and scene transitions, and none of the actors are really up to par. That said, Shivers does prove to be moderately disturbing, and nowadays works as a great metaphor for sexually transmitted diseases.

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USA: Morgan Spurlock, 2004

Interesting but slightly patronizing documentary about the effects of eating nothing but McDonalds meals on the director/presenter, Morgan Spurlock. Unlike Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, to which it has often been compared, there is nothing particularly revelatory on offer here. We know fast food is bad for you - it's how bad it is for you that shocks. Spurlock himself is okay, but his presentation (and manipulation) skills are not on the same level as Michael Moore. To be honest, there's nothing hugely wrong with the film: watching it is a reasonable way to spend 95 minutes, but that's about it.

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USA: James Cox, 2003

Interesting if muddled retelling of the true-life story of John Holmes, the notorious porn king with a huge wang, who spent his later years stealing and selling various drugs. The most obvious parallel to this film is Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, whose central character of Dirk Diggler was very similar to Holmes in terms of his unnaturally large appendage, career, and fall from grace. The film is let down by director James Cox's relentlessly MTV visual style, which relies on fast cuts, dizzying camerawork and rapid changes in film stock to make its point, as well as the rather unfocused nature of the narrative, which is told from two different points of view sequentially. However, Cox's faithfulness to the early 80s period in which the film takes place is commendable, as are the excellent performances of the cast, especially Val Kilmer as John Holmes, Kate Bosworth as his young girlfriend, and Lisa Kudrow (in her first role that has not made me want to throttle her) as his long-suffering wife.

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