Returner (2002)

 

In the year 2084, when humanity is decimated by a ruthless alien force, all hope lies in Milly, a hardened young soldier, as she goes back in time to stop the invasion before it's too late. Ending up in present-day 2002, she appears in the middle of a gunfight as Miyamoto, a mysterious mercenary, is breaking up a child-slave ring headed by Mizoguchi, a ruthless Triad member with an uncanny thirst for blood. With bullets flying left and right, Milly is shot by Miyamoto and is brought into his secretive ring of do-gooding with the smart-mouthed Kirin Kiki, an arms-dealing old woman that's helping Miyamoto on his quest for revenge against Mizoguchi. Through some coercing (by the form of a small, explosive device the size of a band-aid on his neck), Miyamoto unwillingly joins the mission, as they infiltrate the government base that holds a captured alien and its crashed spacecraft -- the first contact that eventually brings on the invasion. With Mizoguchi and the Triads moving in, seeking some of the alien advanced weaponry, Miyamoto may finally get the vengeance he seeks as Milly gets closer and closer to saving the entire human race. 

Director: Takashi Yamazaki 

Writers: Takashi Yamazaki and Kenya Hirata 

Stars: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Anne Suzuki and Gorô Kishitani 

More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339579/

Battle Royale II (2003)

 

Follows Battle Royale (2001). Shuya Nanahara is now an internationally-known terrorist determined to bring down the government. His terrorist group, Wild Seven, stages an attack that levels several buildings in Tokyo on Christmas Day, killing 8000 people. Exactly one year afterward, the government enacts the "New Century Terrorist Counter-Measure Alternative" program, a.k.a. the BRII Act, and sends the forty-two students of Shikanotoride Junior High Class 3-B to hunt Nanahara and his cohorts down in their island stronghold. Shiori Kitano, the daughter of the late headmaster of Nanahara's Battle Royale, signs up for the program, to avenge her father. In order for the government to study the benefits of "teamwork," the new students work in pairs, with their collars electronically linked so that if one of them is killed, the other dies as well. They must kill Nanahara in three days -- or die. 

Directors: Kenta Fukasaku and Kinji Fukasaku 

Writers: Kenta Fukasaku and Koushun Takami (characters) 

Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ai Maeda and Shûgo Oshinari 

More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338763/

Battle Royale (2001)

Followed by Battle Royale II (2003). In a future where society is on the verge of collapse, the government takes drastic action against the problem of rebellious teenagers. In the year 2002, Japan's economy has taken a dramatic turn for the worse, and massive unemployment and inflation have thrown most adults into a state of chaos; the nation's youth culture responds with unprecedented violence, delinquency, and truancy. Desperate to restore order, the Japanese parliament responds by creating the Millennial Reform School Act, in which groups of junior high students are selected at random, sent to an isolated island, and forced to play a rigorous war game, in which all but one of their number are killed. Kitano is an embittered school instructor who guides the 44 students of the Zentsuji Middle School's Class B through the deadly game known as "Battle Royale," as they struggle to survive against the elements and each other.

Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Writers: Koushun Takami (novel) and Kenta Fukasaku (screenplay)
Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda and Tarô Yamamoto
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266308/

Swimming Pool (2003)

Sarah Morton is a famous British mystery author. Tired of London and seeking inspiration for her new novel, she accepts an offer from her publisher John Bosload to stay at his home in Luberon, in the South of France. It is the off-season, and Sarah finds that the beautiful country locale and unhurried pace is just the tonic for her--until late one night, when John's indolent and insouciant French daughter Julie unexpectedly arrives. Sarah's prim and steely English reserve is jarred by Julie's reckless, sexually charged lifestyle. Their interactions set off an increasingly unsettling series of events, as Sarah's creative process and a possible real-life murder begin to blend dangerously together.

Director: François Ozon
Writers: François Ozon and Emmanuèle Bernheim
Stars: Charlotte Rampling, Charles Dance and Ludivine Sagnier
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324133/

Special (2006)

Les Franken leads an unassuming life that rarely deviates from a strict regiment of working, eating, sleeping, and comic book reading. His only two friends are a pair of stoners who own a local comic shop, so Les determines to shake things up a bit by volunteering as a test subject for an experimental drug designed to curb depression. When the drug appears to give Les special powers, the doctor in charge of the clinical controlled test insists that Les is simply experiencing an unanticipated psychological reaction to the medication. But Les is convinced that his powers are genuine, and as he ditches his work uniform in favor of more superhero-appropriate threads, he is about to find out once and for all whether he truly is able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, or his depression, combined with the strange side-effects of the drug, has somehow propelled his superhero fantasies to the forefront of his damaged psyche.

Directors: Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore
Writers: Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore
Stars: Michael Rapaport, Paul Blackthorne and Josh Peck
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479162/

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004)

Follows Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004). The doomed sisters are wandering the wilderness when they stumble across a broken down outpost whose supplies have been cut off for nearly two months. Sadly, while they've been waiting, they've also been dying -- not of starvation, but from werewolf attacks. While Bridget recovers from an unfortunate encounter with a bear trap, the two lone women in the camp are faced with growing hostility stemmed from the fire and brimstone preacher and a dangerous secret that lands Ginger back in werewolf land once again. With tensions rising as the bloodthirsty creatures try to break down the fort walls, how will the group react when one of its own starts becoming the one thing that they want to keep out?

Director: Grant Harvey
Writers: Christina Ray and Stephen Massicotte
Stars: Katharine Isabelle, Emily Perkins and Nathaniel Arcand
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365265/

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004)

Follows Ginger Snaps (2001) and followed by Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004). Brigitte is found by the police after being attacked and taken to rehab when it's assumed that the wolfbane serum that keeps her from turning into a monster is a narcotic. Once inside the facility and denied the substance, Brigitte must strike deals with one of the orderlies to obtain it; meanwhile, she is pursued by another werewolf, and escapes with Ghost, another female patient, to that girl's vacant old house, which sets the stage for a brutal showdown -- made even nastier when the orderly, a hospital doctor, and the elderly Barbara show up and decide to intervene.

Director: Brett Sullivan
Writers: Megan Martin
Stars: Emily Perkins, Brendan Fletcher and Katharine Isabelle
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353489/

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003)

Will Graham is a former London gangster who moved out to the country after suffering a breakdown of some sort. He works clearing forests, and lives out of his van, until he loses his job over a lack of proper documentation. Meanwhile, Will's younger brother, Davey, is enjoying his life as a womanizing man about town, and dabbling in drug dealing, until one night, when an older man, Boad, has him followed and brutally assaults him. The traumatized Davey returns home and takes his own life. Will, uncertain as to where to go, finds himself drawn back to London, where he learns of Davey's death from Mrs. Barz, his landlady. Will investigates what happened that night with his old friend, Mickser. As Will tries to piece together what happened, he goes to visit Helen, his former lover, who is less than thrilled to see him after he abandoned her years earlier and eventually cut off all contact. The current neighborhood crime boss, Turner, knows what Will is capable of, and sees him as a threat. Eventually, Will uncovers the truth, and is faced with the unpleasant prospect of avenging Davey's death.

Director: Mike Hodges
Writer: Trevor Preston
Stars: Clive Owen, Malcolm McDowell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319531/

The Shrine (2011)

After a young American backpacker goes missing in Europe, a group of journalists link his disappearance to a remote village in Poland. They travel there hoping to get the story, but as they unravel the secrets behind this mysterious village, they are suddenly pursued by hostile locals. Unable to escape, they soon become the next victims of ritualistic human sacrifice. Forced into the gruesome reality of true survival horror, the journalists will discover that this village hides a much darker secret than they could ever imagine.

Director: Jon Knautz
Writers: Jon Knautz
Stars: Aaron Ashmore, Cindy Sampson and Meghan Heffern
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1341710/

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/