The Grudge (2004)

Takashi Shimizu's Ju-on horror series, until now wholly Japanese productions, continues with this third movie, high on spooky atmosphere but low on sense, that casts Americans Sarah Michelle Gellar and Bill Paxton in the lead roles of a story - something about a curse that makes children blue and wide-eyed, that makes dead bodies appear and/or disappear, and sees the dead spiritually tethered to the places of their death but then also free to visit people at work or at home - don't ask too many questions.

★★☆☆☆

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Cruel Intentions (1999)

Just 17 years old, this biting comedy of manners - Dangerous Liaisons transported to NYs Upper East Side - has already dated terribly, especially in respect to the gay-shaming that features heavily in its plot, but if you can view the movie as a product of its homophobic time, there's a lot to enjoy including Buffy's Sarah Michelle Gellar as the schemer who wages sex to get her half-brother (Ryan Phillipe) to bed Reese Witherspoon's straight-laced virgin Annette Hargrove - oh, and if you just want to watch it because at one point Ryan Phillipe bares all, well, there's no shame in that.

★★★☆☆

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