A Warrior’s Tragedy (1993)
Entry from they heyday of Hong Kong’s Wu Xia cycle. By this point, the moves had become so over-the-top the film verges on the cartoonish, all with rather entertaining results
A Werewolf Boy (2012)
Despite the title, this South Korean film is less a werewolf story than it is a love story about a feral child. The film seems overburdened by the need to pitch the film to the teen demographic and play the violins and heartstrings as a Twilight wannabe
A Werewolf in England (2020)
Director Charlie Steeds creates a modest film set in 19th Century England about people at an inn as it comes under attack by werewolves
A Whisker Away (2020)
A sweet and quite lovely anime where a girl befriends the boy she pines after being offered a mask that transforms her into a cat body – only to then have her own body stolen
A Wounded Fawn (2022)
This starts with a woman going on a date with a man she does not realise is a serial killer, before things go off at a very strange tangent
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
High-profile adaptation of the classic children’s work by Madeline L’Engle that has been entirely wrenched out of shape by its director to become a heavy-handed message about diversity. It is SF made by people who think the genre is just eye candy and absurdly over-the-top costumes
A Writer’s Odyssey (2021)
A Chinese work of meta-fiction where a man is tasked with killing the author of a book that is having effects on the real world
The Wailing (2016)
South Korean horror film that generates a more than effectively creepy atmosphere. The downside is that you reached the end of the show with no clear idea what is going on and why things are happening
The Walking Dead (1936)
Not to be confused with the hit tv series, this features Boris Karloff as a wrongly executed man come back from the dead to exact justice
The Wall (1998)
Film made to celebrate the millennium where a totalitarian government creates a wall that divides Belgium along linguistic lines
The Wandering Earth (2019)
Chinese attempt to make a Roland Emmerich-type mass destruction spectacle about the moving of the Earth. Much effects spectacle but the film suffers from plain absurd science
The Wandering Earth II (2023)
Prequel to the Chinese spectacular about the construction of an engineering project to move the Earth, this comes with some epic-sized effects sequences
The War Game (1965)
Peter Watkins stark, brutal mockumentary about a nuclear strike on England, this was banned from the BBC and still makes for harsh viewing today
The War of the Worlds (1953)
First and best adaptation of the book, this takes liberties with the H.G. Wells original but smartly updates the book’s underlying anxieties to the Cold War era (in so doing becoming the grandaddy of the 1950s alien invader film) and providing what was top notch effects spectacle for the era
The War of the Worlds (2005)
Released just before the Spielberg film, this was an adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel set in the Victorian period that attempts to tell the story as it was written. The film has ambition way beyond the resources at hand but you cannot help but applaud what it tries to do
The War of the Worlds (2019)
BBC mini-series that sets out to restore the H.G. Wells novel to the era it was written. This it does, as well as restores many aspects that other films change. At the same time, it also introduces some radical changes that make it the most variant of the adaptations to date
The War of the Worlds – Next Century (1981)
Not an adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel but a biting satire made in Poland during Soviet occupation about how the pretext of an alien invasion is used to create an authoritarian regime and the way media is used to control the masses. A film more potent today than when it was made
The Ward (2010)
John Carpenter returned to the director’s chair after more than a decade but failed to light the world on fire. Carpenter makes what you could call a ghost story version of Girl, Interrupted. The scares are tame and the film is hamstrung by an improbable M. Night Shyamalan twist ending
The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984)
One of the spate of sword and sorcery films that came out during this period, marginally better than most. The plot is a blatant copy of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo where a swordsman (David Carradine) sets two rival gang factions in a town against one another
The Warrior’s Way (2010)
Korean-made Wu Xia/Western crossover that imports Hollywood names and is shot in New Zealand, resulting in a bizarre oddity cross-cultural fusion. The plot elements are paper thin but the film comes to life during the stylised action scenes
The Warriors Gate (2016)
Luc Besson written/produced effort where a videogamer kid is transported to Ancient China. A blatant copy of The Forbidden Kingdom that manages to be fundamentally implausible on every level and one of the worst attempts to pander to the Chinese box-office
The Wasp Woman (1959)
Roger Corman cheapie clearly influenced by The Fly in which a woman becomes a creature after using a beauty product derived from wasp venom
The Wasteland (2021)
Standout Spanish film about a 19th Century family at remote house under attack by monsters that may just as easily exist in the mind
The Watch (2012)
An uninspired comedy about a neighbourhood watch encountering alien invaders that falls somewhere between Ghostbusters and The ‘Burbs. The film’s virtues lie less in the weak premise than in the director allowing the stars to freely improvise with occasionally funny results
The Watch (2020)
Mini-series based on the works of Terry Pratchett that feels as though it is made, designed and cast by people who haven’t even read the books
The Watcher (2000)
Serial killer thriller that is built around the stunt casting of Keanu Reeves as the killer
The Watcher (2022)
Compulsively watchable Ryan Murphy mini-series about a family whose life is torn apart by a sinister letter-writing campaign. A true story that gets far most bizarre than most fiction
The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
Problem ridden Disney ghost story with a science-fiction rationalisation that never quite comes together on screen
The Watchers (2024)
M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter Ishana directs a film of her own. Say what you will about nepotism, it is a really good film
The Water Babies (1978)
Part live-action, part animated adaptation of a classic Victorian children’s story about an urchin who discovers a secret world underwater
The Water Diviner (2014)
Russell Crowe turns director and, as is the case with actors turned director, feels the need to take up an epic historical subject – the aftermath of World War I (albeit with some Magical Realist elements). Crowe wields all the epic flourish and polish, even if the film never truly moves one
The Water Horse (2007)
Earnestly made family film from Walden Media in which a young boy finds an egg that grows into the Loch Ness Monster
The Wave (2019)
Justin Long goes on a bender and takes some drugs that bend reality and leave him moving through time. Sort of like a version of Scorsese’s After Hours that dives into drug culture, this wants to be edgy but ends up in surprisingly traditional places.
The Weight of Water (2000)
One of Kathryn Bigelow’s less successful films, an adaptation of an Anita Shreve historical murder mystery that tells a story in two different time periods
The Well (1997)
An incredibly spooky film about two woman on an Australian outback farm that believe they are haunted by a dead body in the well
The Well (2014)
Modest variant on the post-holocaust film with the novel variant being that this is set in a drought-ridden future. The usual action movie emphasis of the genre has been toned down and an emphasis placed on the fight for survival in this world
The Werewolf (1956)
A real oddity among the werewolf genre – a film that tries to mix the werewolf up with the 1950s fad for the atomic monster movie in having the transformation brought on by atomically irradiated wolf blood
The Werewolf of Woodstock (1975)
Another bizarre werewolf movie title collusion from the 1970s era that produced such as Werewolves on Wheels and The Boy Who Cried Werewolf. The film is never quite up to making the notion of hippies vs werewolves work with the amusement of its title
The Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman (1971)
The third of Spanish star Paul Naschy’s films about the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky. This becomes a crossover where Daninsky meets up to fight Countess Bathory
The Whip Hand (1951)
One of the first Reds Under the Bed hysteria films of the 1950s where a man stumbles on a small town where a Communist fifth column are conducting biowarfare experiments as part of a planned invasion
The Whisperer in Darkness (2011)
An H.P. Lovecraft adaptation that makes exacting effort to get the mood and period setting right
The Whispering (1995)
Unremarkable and largely forgotten video release with former teen heartthrob Leif Garrett investigating appears of a mysterious figure that encourages people to suicide
The Whispering Star (2015)
The very strange Japanese director Shion Sono makes a film about an intergalactic package delivery android, although this is anything but a regular SF film. Filmed in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone.
The White Buffalo (1977)
Probably the strangest film that Charles Bronson ever made – a retelling of Moby Dick where he plays the real-life figure of Wild Bill Hickok hunting a mythic white buffalo instead of a whale. This was a big financial flop but is a not unworthwhile film
The White King (2016)
An acclaimed semi-autobiographical novel about a childhood growing up under Soviet rule is filmed translated to a near-future dystopian setting
The Whole Wide World (1996)
Biopic of Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja and others. Contains some fine acting from Vincent D/Onofrio and Renee Zellwegeras the teacher he becomes involved with
The Wicker Man (1973)
Classic horror film that imagines a secret world of pagan rites existing into the modern day. As much a classic for its colourful creation of a folk culture as it is for an unforgettable ending
The Wicker Man (2006)
The 1973 version of The Wicker Man is a cult classic; this is one of the worst remakes of all time that gets nothing about the original right, blunts its themes about religion and tosses in crude shocks and killings
The Wicker Tree (2011)
Sold as a sequel to The Wicker Man, although works as more of an update and expansion of its themes. Received a muted reception but is a not entirely uninteresting film, if nowhere near the league of the original
The Widow (2020)
Russian dark fantasy and horror has emerged as one of the most exciting genres in recent years. This incredibly spooky little film is a Russian equivalent of The Blair Witch Project
The Wild (2006)
Likeable animated film about a group of zoo animals making an escape that ended up being overshadowed by the similar, more high-profile Madagascar
The Wild Blue Yonder (2005)
Eccentric Werner Herzog film where he tries to convince us that footage from a space shuttle mission and taken under the polar ice cap is documentary footage of a trip to explore an alien planet
The Wild Robot (2024)
A winning animated film about a robot trying to find its way among the animals on an island. Tender and heart-warming, the sort of film that Pixar used to do so well
The Wild, Wild Planet (1965)
One of the cheap Italian space operas of the 1960s from Antonio Margheriti. This has a certain colourful absurdity amid the mostly dull happenings and B-budget effects
The Willies (1990)
A horror anthology that ostensibly tells a series of children’s tales but heads for an admirable grotesquerie
The Wind (2018)
A beautifully subtle and ambiguous film about a pioneer woman alone in a cabin on the American Frontier where she is haunted by demons of the prairies that may all be in her mind
The Wind in the Willows (1996)
Monty Python’s Terry Jones conducts a live-action adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s story
The Wind in the Willows (2006)
Amiable live-action adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s work made for the BBC with an all-star cast
The Wings of Honneamise (1987)
Little-seen but beautifully made anime set in an alternate timeline where a young man becomes the volunteer for the first space launch
The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998)
A uniquely different take on the vampire film, directed with extraordinary stylism by Hong Kong director Po Chih Leong
The Witch Files (2018)
Imagine a version of The Craft with a few dashes of The Breakfast Club – all shot as a Found Footage film. This is far more entertaining than one expects it to be
The Witch Part 2: The Other One (2022)
The Witch: Part 1 – Subversion was an impressive South Korean psychic powers film. This is Part 2
The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976)
Cult film with Millie Perkins as a disturbed waitress with a troubled background, this takes place in a fascinating swim of dream and symbolism
The Witch: A New-England Folktale (2015)
A fascinatingly different and original work. A scrupulous effort is made – from the dialogue and clothing – to place us inside a 17th Century setting dominated by insanely legalistic religious superstitions and fears, at contrast to which there lie a series of phantasmagoric visions of witches
The Witch: Part 1 – Subversion (2018)
Don’t be fooled by the witch part of the title, this is actually a South Korean film about psychic powers. This follows the path of a standard psychic powers film about the gifted on the run a la The Fury and Firestarter before an ending that turns the genre on its head
The Witches (1966)
Hammer film, not as well known as some of their other works, from a Nigel Kneale script that creates some effect in its story of schoolteacher Joan Fontaine moving to a sleepy English village and finding the locals engaged in witchcraft
The Witches (1990)
Nicolas Roeg and Jim Henson collaborate on an adaptation of a Roald Dahl book. Roeg leaves the grotesquerie and gleeful malice intact making this one of the best Dahl adaptations
The Witches (2020)
Robert Zemeckis’s remake of the Roald Dahl story and Nicolas Roeg film proves a head-scratching effort that misfires on almost every cue
The Witches Hammer (2007)
Low budget vampire action about a vampire woman who is recruited into a secret government organisation
The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
Deliriously frothy and enjoyable George Miller film with Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer as three witches who conjure forth Devil figure – Jack Nicholson in full barnstorming mode
The Witches of Oz (2011)
Sequel/modernisation (it is confusing what) to The Wizard of Oz relocated in New York. This tv mini-series may be the cheapest work ever served up bearing the Oz name and flounders amid the shabbiness of its effects and utter lack of magic its director conjures
The Wiz (1978)
Musical modernisation of The Wizard of Oz relocated in New York City with an All-Black cast. Despite a clear budget arrayed, the film lumbers and never much comes to life
The Wizard of Baghdad (1960)
A majorly unfunny variant on the Arabian Nights comedy featuring Dick Shawn as a demoted genie. The Thief of Bagdad as shabby flying carpet burlesque
The Wizard of Gore (1970)
One of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s splatter films about a stage magician who cuts up women on stage and real life. The film makes mind boggling plays between reality and illusion
The Wizard of Gore (2007)
A remake of the cult Herschell Gordon Lewis splatter film about a stage magician who creates illusions of eviscerating people on stage
The Wizard of Mars (1965)
Low-budget film about an expedition to Mars The novelty the film holds is that it attempts to rework The Wizard of Oz in SF terms
The Wizard of Oz (1910)
The earliest surviving film version of The Wizard of Oz , one of a number made during the silent era. It makes interesting contrast to the 1939 version but at best serves as a series of highlights from the story and drawing heavily on the stage version in its often crude methods of presentation
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
An indisputable classic fantasy … a gorgeous sparkling fantasy that made full use of Technicolor in an era dominated by black-and-white and is told in such bold and earnestly heartfelt tones that it becomes the nearest we have to a piece of genuine American mythology
The Wizard of Speed and Time (1988)
Film based on the character created by Mike Jittlov about an amateur filmmaker/effects artist trying to make it
The Wolf Man (1941)
Although it wasn’t the first werewolf film, this is the one the created all the mythology of the werewolf film – full moons, silver bullets etc – while the wolfman went on to join the pantheon of Universal Famous Monsters.
The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)
Film about a small Utah town facing a series of werewolf attacks that works surprisingly well due to a series of witty and well-rounded characterisations
The Wolfman (2010)
The 1941 Lon Chaney Jr The Wolf Man is given the remake treatment in a way that builds out on the creaky original with lavish sets and state of the art transformation effects
The Wolverine (2013)
While this received a good deal of fan buzz, I must admit to being disappointed. It strips much of the superheroics and mutant cameos of the other X-Men films until it feels more like a Westerner in Japan thriller like Black Rain or even a routine film noir plot that happens to be cast with Wolverine
The Wolves of Kromer (1998)
British werewolf film that wittily uses being a werewolf as a metaphor for being gay
The Wolves of Willougby Chase (1989)
Criminally neglected Victorian children’s fantasy. Superbly designed with a beautifully dark and much more adult emotional range than a regular children’s film
The Woman (2011)
Lucky McKee’s highly controversial film about a family man who makes a feral woman prisoner is out-there, takes-no-prisoners horror. Forget the kneejerk reactions, this is brutal, highly original and with a whiplash sense of dark humour
The Woman in Black (1989)
The revived Hammer Films had their biggest success with the ghost story The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe. This is the original version of the story made as a movie for British tv with a script from no less than Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale
The Woman in Black (2012)
The revived Hammer Films visit the classic British ghost story tradition. This is impeccably mounted but the film offers nothing more than a series of disappointingly superficial boo moments of zero impact
The Woman in Black: Angel of Death (2014)
A sequel to the 2012 ghost story from the revived Hammer Films, this adds precisely nothing to the original, has nothing to say and nothing in its directorial arsenal that is not a tiresomely over-cliched jump – you just ask, why was this film even made?
The Woman in the Fifth (2011)
European arthouse film that feels like it should have been a horror film. This starts well but when it veers into genre territory, its big twist has been done by too many genre films of recent and holds nothing interesting in its treatment
The Woman in the Window (2021)
Slickly produced psycho-thriller that comes mired in controversy, featuring Amy Adams as an agoraphobe who maybe witnesses a murder.
The Woman in the Yard (2025)
Blumhouse film with Danielle Deadwyler and family having to deal with the ominous threat of a mystery woman in black veil who simply sits in their yard
The Womb (2014)
The first occasion I have had to review a horror film from Peru – a thriller about a young woman imprisoned and forced to bear a child. This is never a work that particularly reinvents the wheel, just turns out a solid and suspenseful imprisonment thriller
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)
Stuart (Re-Animator) Gordon adapts a Ray Bradbury play about five men who buy a suit that has magical properties. Bradbury is a great writer but this drowns in overripe dialogue, bad racial caricatures and Gordon’s typically over-the-top propensities
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962)
Anthology of Brothers Grimm stories from George Pal where the brothers are wound in as characters. The film’s effectiveness is killed by Pal pitching everything down at a mawkish and simple-minded level
The World is Not Enough (1999)
The third and best of Pierce Brosnan’s outings as James Bond. All the aspects of the formula are contained within a strong plot and Sophie Marceau proves a standout in a role that combines both villain and love interest
The World’s End (2013)
Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the trio behind Shaun of the Dead, return to conduct a very similar effort – the story of a pub crawl that is affectionately mocking the characters’ nowhere lives, before taking an abrupt dogleg turn to become a comedic take on the alien body snatchers film
The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973)
A Disney live-action comedy that puts a Tarzan character on the athletics field for some inspired nonsense
The Worm Eaters (1977)
A film that comes with such a level of psychotronic dementia that it may seriously damage your sanity concerning the relationship between a man and his pet worms
The Wraith (1986)
An unknown Charlie Sheen stars in a film about teens haunted an avenging ghost car. An uncredited copy of Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter