T is for... [part 2]

With its hallucinatory visions of crawling dead babies and a grungy plunge into the filthiest toilet in Scotland, you might not think Trainspotting could have been one of the best movies of 1996, but Danny Boyle's film about unrepentant heroin addicts in Edinburgh is all that and more. That doesn't make it everybody's cup of tea (so unsuspecting viewers beware), but the film's blend of hyperkinetic humor and real-life horror is constantly fascinating, and the entire cast (led by Ewan McGregor and Full Monty star Robert Carlyle) bursts off of the screen in a supernova of outrageous energy. Adapted by John Hodge from the acclaimed novel by Irving Welsh, the film was a phenomenal hit in England, Scotland, and (to a lesser extent) the U.S. For all of its comedic vitality and invigorating filmmaking, the movie is no ode to heroin, nor is it a straight-laced cautionary tale. Trainspotting is just a very honest and well-made film about the nature of addiction, and it doesn't pull any punches when it is time to show the alternating pleasure and pain of substance abuse. (synopsis provided by Amazon.com)

released 1996

directed by Danny Boyle

Dog Soldiers [2002]

There's been some interesting previews going around for the new The Wolfman movie - and it certainly looks pretty good.

All the previews do remind me of an interesting werewolf flick that came out in 2002 - from one of my favorite 'you get what you pay for' directors - Neil Marshall.

Dog Soldiers - a low budget werewolf film that plays on some of those - it's scary because it's in the shadows tricks harnessed by creative types all over the horror genre from the very beginning of film. It's perfectly fine for what it is - if you're Wolfman jones carries past the new Benicio Del Torro film - you could do worse.