Vacancy (2007)

Followed by Vacancy 2: The First Cut (2008). Their car broken down and their prospects for finding a tow-truck driver at such a late hour slim to none, David and Amy Fox decide to make the best of their situation by resting out the night at a nearby motel. Left with few choices of entertainment for the evening, the pair soon settles down to enjoy one of the low-budget slasher films sitting atop their motel room VCR. Upon realizing that all of the films seem to have been shot in the very same room they currently occupy, David and Amy suddenly become the stars of a particularly sadistic fright flick. As hidden cameras track their every move, the hapless couple attempt to turn the tables on their would-be killer before they meet the same grim fate as the poor souls being butchered on television.

Director: Nimród Antal
Writer: Mark L. Smith
Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Luke Wilson and Frank Whaley
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452702/

Dante's Inferno (2007)

Upon awakening in an unfamiliar part of the city after an especially rough night, Dante asks the first person he spots for a little help in gathering his bearings. When the man responds that he penned an ancient poem called The Aeneid, the perplexed Dante recalls that particular piece of prose being penned two thousand years ago. But with no one left to turn to, Dante has little choice but to follow his enigmatic guide. When the man reveals that it is his duty to lead Dante on an extensive journey through a dreadful world of "horror and torment," the weary traveler becomes convinced that his only hope for survival is to follow his host into the scorching heart of Satan's vast inferno.

Director: Sean Meredith
Writers: Paul Zaloom and Sandow Birk
Stars: Tony Abatemarco, Scott Adsit and Matt Besser
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479008/

Inside (2007)

It's been four months since Sarah was involved in the tragic car accident that claimed the life of her husband, yet somehow the couple's unborn child miraculously survived the jarring ordeal. Now it's Christmas Eve and Sarah is sitting alone in her suburban home, still grieving the loss of her beloved. Soon, Sarah's mother will arrive to drive her daughter to the hospital, where the doctors plan to induce labor. Out of nowhere, Sarah hears a knock at the door; on the other side is a stranger who calmly asks to use Sarah's telephone. Immediately suspicious of the stranger's motivations, Sarah locks the door and quickly calls the police. Upon searching the grounds, the policemen find no trace of an intruder and Sarah cautiously bolts her doors once again. But unbeknownst to the expectant mother, this time she has unwillingly locked herself into a violent struggle for the one thing that matters most to her. Now, as the scissor-wielding psychopath attempts to forcefully claim the new life within Sarah, the jealous maternal battle is about to get bloody.

Directors: Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury
Writer: Alexandre Bustillo
Stars: Alysson Paradis, Béatrice Dalle and Nathalie Roussel
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0856288/

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

The last months of Jesse James's life, from meeting Robert Ford, a 19-year-old who idolizes Jesse, to the day Ford shoots him. Jesse's a wanted man, living under a pseudonym, carrying out a train robbery, disappearing to Kentucky, and reappearing to plan a bank holdup with Robert and Robert's brother as his team. The rest of the gang is dead, arrested, or gone from Missouri. Whenever Jesse's around, there's tension: he's murderous, quixotic, depressed, and cautious. Ford wants to be somebody and wants the reward. Friendship becomes rivalry and the quest for fame becomes obsession. On April 3, 1882, things come to a head: Jesse is 34, Robert 20. Ford becomes famous, reenacting the shooting on stage, facing down the label "coward," shot dead in 1892.

Director: Andrew Dominik
Writers: Andrew Dominik (screenplay) and Ron Hansen (novel)
Stars: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and Sam Shepard
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443680/

Noise (2007)

The noise was bothersome when David Owen first moved to New York City, but back in those early days it was almost endearing in an odd sort of way; a forgivable manifestation of urban vitality, or so he had led himself to believe. These days the incessant barking of car alarms, traffic, and frustrated commuters seems to be driving David insane, never allowing him the opportunity to concentrate or focus on the task at hand. While this distraction is at first only bothersome on a superficial level, however, the thing that really riles David is that he is completely powerless to remedy the problem. As the days go on and the noise on the street seems to amplify in David's ears, he makes the decision to take up arms against the unseen intruder. Initially, David is content to simply let the air out of tires or leave notes on windshields when the owners of cars fail to turn off their alarms. When this approach fails to yield acceptable results, David's subversive urban sabotage techniques quickly evolve into full-blown acts of vandalism. After spending a night in jail, David confesses to his wife that he is in fact the urban folk hero who has come to be known by the public as "The Rectifier" for his repeated attempts to hold those responsible for urban noise pollution accountable for their auditory transgressions. When his wife voices concern about such extreme and irrational behavior, David dutifully agrees to give up his career as a noise-fighting vigilante. But try as he might, David simply cannot repress his lingering urge to strike back against such a formidable enemy.

Director: Henry Bean
Writer: Henry Bean
Stars: Tim Robbins, William Hurt and Bridget Moynahan
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425308/

Mother of Tears (2007)

Follows Inferno (1980). An ancient urn is found in a cemetery outside Rome. Once opened, it triggers a series of violent incidents: robberies, rapes and murders increase dramatically, while several mysterious, evil-looking young women coming from all over the world are gathering in the city. All these events are caused by the return of Mater Lacrimarum, the last of three powerful witches who have been spreading terror and death for centuries. Alone against an army of psychos and demons, Sarah Mandy, an art student who seems to have supernatural abilities of her own, is the only person left to prevent the Mother of Tears from destroying Rome. 

Director: Dario Argento
Writers: Dario Argento and Walter Fasano
Stars: Asia Argento, Cristian Solimeno and Adam James
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804507/

Disturbia (2007)

Kale is a high-school senior who has yet to come to terms with the fact that his father is gone, the tragic victim of a fatal accident. As Kale's mother struggles to pay the bills by picking up extra shifts at work, her son's behavior grows increasingly erratic. When an altercation at school finds Kale placed under court-ordered house arrest, the homebound student teams with newly arrived girl-next-door Ashley to investigate the suspicious neighbor whom Kale believes to be an elusive and wanted serial killer. Their attentions focused intensely on the man they believe to be a murderous maniac hiding in broad daylight, Kale and Ashley trespass down a dangerous path while attempting to discern whether his suspicions are grounded in fact or just a combination of deep depression and suffocating cabin fever.

Director: D.J. Caruso
Writers: Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth
Stars: Shia LaBeouf, David Morse and Carrie-Anne Moss
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486822/

The Mist (2007)

Everyone thinks of it as a harmless lightning storm. When Dave Drayton notices a strange mist on the lake, he thinks nothing of it. When he, his son, Billy Drayton, and his neighbor Brent Norton travel to the supermarket, the unthinkable happens. When a thick fog descends upon a rural community and claims the lives of anyone unfortunate enough to be caught outside, a small band of survivors seeks refuge in a local grocery store. Now trapped in a darkened cloud of pure horror, the frightened denizens of the town are forced to fend off an advancing horde of murderous monsters.

Director: Frank Darabont
Writers: Frank Darabont (screenplay) and Stephen King (novel)
Stars: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden and Laurie Holden
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0884328/

The Man from Earth (2007)

The story concerns Professor John Oldman, a scientist who summons a group of associates to a cabin one freezing night, and strikes them with a fantastic revelation: he is not a traditional human, but a 14,000 year-old immortal, who has survived centuries of evolution from the Cro-Magnon Era to the present. In the hours to follow, Professor Oldman's earth-shaking assertion about himself challenges the men on spiritual, scientific and historical levels. But the most incredible is yet to come - an even more astonishing truth in which the men's discussions culminate.

Director: Richard Schenkman
Writer: Jerome Bixby
Stars: David Lee Smith, Tony Todd and John Billingsley
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756683/

Dead Silence (2007)

In the quiet town of Ravens Fair, children taunt one another with spooky stories about a ventriloquist whose mind was ravaged by insanity. Mary Shaw was a popular entertainer until she was accused of murdering a young boy. Subsequently hunted and captured by the vengeful townspeople, Mary's tongue was cut out before she was mercilessly killed and committed to the earth in the company of her handmade collection of vaudeville dolls. In the years that followed, the town seemed to be haunted by those ghastly puppets. After mysteriously disappearing from Mary's grave, the menacing figurines would sometimes be glimpsed by the damned in the dead of night -- their appearance consistently foreshadowing the death of whoever laid eyes upon them. Entire families were found slaughtered, their tongues brutally torn from their mouths in a sickening scene that eerily recalled the execution of the elderly ventriloquist. Newlyweds Jamie and Lisa Ashen both grew up in Ravens Fair. Now, following Lisa's inexplicable death, Paul has returned to the pair's hometown in order to say his final goodbyes and find out the truth about his wife's enigmatic demise. After being reunited with his ailing father and the aging man's pretty young bride, the grieving widower will finally uncover the shocking truth behind the curse that has plagued Ravens Fair for as far back as he can remember.

Director: James Wan
Writers: Leigh Whannell (screenplay) and James Wan (story)
Stars: Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta and Donnie Wahlberg
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455760/

Pathfinder (2007)

Reared by the Wampanoag tribe following a failed attempt by the Vikings to raid coastal villages for slaves, a ten-year-old shipwreck survivor is nicknamed "Ghost" by his adoptive tribe due to his pale complexion and blond hair. Legend says that death and destruction will follow the boy wherever he travels, yet the peaceful people of the Wampanoag tribe selflessly take the frightened child in as if he is one of their own. Over the course of the following decade, the adopted young Norseman eventually grows into a strong warrior determined to prove his worth to the people he calls family. When the rampaging Vikings return to the New World to rain destruction down on the Native Americans and to claim the fertile land of the peaceful people, Ghost finds himself in the precarious position of having to stop his own people from destroying his village and ruthlessly slaughtering the woman he loves. Now, as Ghost's true destiny is revealed by the powerful shaman known as the Pathfinder, the fearless warrior sets out to stage a savage one-man war on the marauding Vikings and become the savior once prophesied to defend the Wampanoag people in their darkest hour.

Director: Marcus Nispel
Writers: Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay) and Nils Gaup (1987 screenplay)
Stars: Karl Urban, Clancy Brown and Moon Bloodgood
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446013/

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Follows Hotel Chevalier (2007). A year after the accidental death of their father, three drug-addicted brothers -- each suffering from depression - meet for a train trip across India. Francis, the eldest, has organized it. The brothers argue, sulk, resent each other, and fight. The youngest, Jack, estranged from his girlfriend, is attracted to one of the train's attendants. Peter has left his pregnant wife at home, and he buys a venomous snake. After a few days, Francis discloses their surprising and disconcerting destination. Amid foreign surroundings, can the brothers sort out their differences? A funeral, a meditation, a hilltop ritual, and the Bengal Lancer figure in the reconciliation.

Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Stars: Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0838221/

Follows Wes Anderson's short film Hotel Chevalier, found just below:

   

Sublime (2007)

 

Admitted to the surgery ward for a routine colonoscopy, forty-year old George Grieves finds himself forced to confront his greatest fear when his surroundings take an unsettling shift towards the surreal. Immediately after awakening from his anesthesia, George is horrified to discover that the surgeon has performed the wrong operation on him. Now, as George's mental and physical condition begins to deteriorate rapidly, he discovers that something is horribly amiss in the hospital's East Ward. But in order to find out the truth about what's been happening in the East Ward, George will have to come face to face with the most sadistic nurse around, and make a difficult decision that promises to alter the course of his entire life.

Director: Tony Krantz
Writer: Erik Jendresen
Stars: Tom Cavanagh, Kathleen York and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0822858/

Teeth (2007)

High school student Dawn works hard at suppressing her budding sexuality by being the local chastity group's most active participant. Her task is made even more difficult by her bad boy stepbrother Brad's increasingly provocative behavior at home. A stranger to her own body, innocent Dawn discovers she has a toothed vagina when she becomes the object of violence. As she struggles to comprehend her anatomical uniqueness, Dawn experiences both the pitfalls and the power of being a living example of the vagina dentata myth.

Director: Mitchell Lichtenstein
Writer: Mitchell Lichtenstein
Stars: Jess Weixler, John Hensley and Josh Pais
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780622/

Rogue (2007)

Pete McKell is a writer for an American travel magazine who has been assigned to write a story about vacationing in rugged Northern Australia. Pete signs up for a cruise along a river that's home to a large crocodile population, with tough but pretty Kate Ryan serving as guide. Pete soon finds he's roughing it in the Aussie wilds with an eclectic variety of travelers, including Russell, who is dealing with the death of his wife; Simon, a tactless amateur photographer; and Allen, a member of the British upper crust making the trip with his ailing spouse and their rambunctious daughter. While Kate's former husband, who also works on the river, makes a pest of himself in the early stages of the voyage, the travelers soon find they have more to worry about when their craft is attacked by a massive 25-foot crocodile, who is just clever enough to know how to trap its prey before enjoying them for dinner.

Director: Greg Mclean
Writer: Greg Mclean
Stars: Michael Vartan, Radha Mitchell and Sam Worthington
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479528/

Chapter 27 (2007)

On December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman shocked the world by murdering the beloved purveyor of peace, 40-year-old musician and activist John Lennon, outside The Dakota, his New York apartment building. Chapman's motives were fabricated from pure delusion, fueled by an obsession with the fictional character Holden Caulfield and his similar misadventures in J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. In one instant, an anonymous, mentally unstable 25-year-old, a socially awkward Beatles fan who had fluctuated between idealizing Lennon and being overcome with a desire to kill him, altered the course of history. Aside from a Larry King interview in 1992, he has never spoken with the media. However, Chapman did reveal the mechanics of his unraveling over three fateful days in New York City to crime journalist Jack Jones. Those interviews were published in 1992 as Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, a book of Chapman's recollections of his unthinkable act of violence. From this text, the film Chapter 27 is based.

Director: J.P. Schaefer
Writers: J.P. Schaefer and Jack Jones (book)
Stars: Jared Leto, Lindsay Lohan and Robert Mark Lindsay Chapman
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0488988/

The Babysitters (2007)

Shirley is a brainy honors student who is always thinking about the future, and works part-time as a babysitter in order to save up for college. Among Shirley's regular charges are spirited youngsters Adam and Mikey, the offspring of respected father Michael and his pretty wife, Gail. Shirley has always had an innocent crush on Michael, but one night after her regular shift, things take a serious turn when the pair sneaks a furtive kiss. Lately Michael has become noticeably depressed by the suburban routine, longing for the days before family responsibility weighed him down and his wife turned into the typical minivan-driving soccer mom. Shirley's kiss makes Michael feel alive again, and as a result he gives her a substantial tip that night. Before long, however, a fleeting kiss has turned into a full-fledged affair, with Michael and Shirley using the babysitting shifts as cover. When Michael's married friends catch wind of his extramarital exploits, they, too, express the want for a babysitter who is willing to earn a healthy tip. Recognizing the potential for profit in such a situation, Shirley soon assumes the role of teenage madam -- matching up her high-school friends with otherwise upstanding men who have grown bored with married life. Of course, Shirley isn't above skimming a bit of the profits for her college fund, but then again it's only a matter of time before their carefully crafted cover is blown.

Director: David Ross
Writer: David Ross
Stars: Lauren Birkell, Paul Borghese and Chira Cassel
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796302/