Amsterdamned (1988)

A great title, a great premise and indeed a great film.

A maniac in a wet suit is killing people in Amsterdam with a rather large knife and using the city's extensive canal network to get away. The police force's top man Eric Visser (Huub Stapel) is on the case though doesn't really have much to go on in the way of any leads except maybe the perpetrator can swim. 

He hooks up with Laura (Monique van der Ven) who has something to do with a diving club but mostly because he fancies her. With the government putting the police under pressure as the victims start to mount up, it seems Laura might have some idea that her therapist friend Martin (Hidde Maas) is the killer, or is he?

The police work is rather haphazard and the film does meander at times but this is overall a very solid crime / slasher horror drama with some superb action set pieces including an incredible speed boat chase through the canals of Amsterdam. The ending is rather bleak and abrupt but it suits such a bloody and gruesome film.

The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)

It is every teenage boy's fantasy but the reality is quite different...

Dr Xavier (Ray Millard) is working hard on a special new eyedrop which can help the eye see more of the electromagnetic spectrum. Despite misgivings from his colleagues Dr Fairfax (Diane van de Vlis) and Dr Brant (Harold Stone), he pushes on with his experiments and uses himself as a guinea pig! The results are tremendous, he can see inside a sick child and thus can save her life in surgery. However, with the plug pulled on his funding Xavier kills Stone by mistake...

He goes on the run and ends up using his super vision for coin at a low-rent seaside attraction run by the spiv Crane (Don Rickles). Reunited with Dr Fairfax, he heads to Las Vegas to use his powers to make a fortune however no one breaks the bank in Vegas without raising suspicion...

A highly enjoyable and well paced science fiction film, this is one of those rare films that a modern day remake could probably improve upon as the special effects are rather limited. Yes Dr Xavier does get to see a lot of women naked but he also sees a lot more, and it drives him insane in the end.

And Then There Were None (1945)

A decent version of the Agatha Christie classic tale, set on an isolated island.

A number of people are invited to a house on a remote island. When they arrive there they are told their host is yet to arrive, while waiting they hear a recorded message from a Mr U.N. Owen who accuses them all of having got away with murder! Then the deaths begin, each time one of the guests dying a statue of a little Indian is destroyed...

The remaining guests including Judge Quincannon (Barry Fitzgerald), Dr Armstrong (Walter Huston) and Vera Claythorne (June Duprez). One of their number of U.N. Owen - Unknown - and is killing them off but who is it?

A complicated and intricate plot with some twists and surprises. Good performances and the right amount of humour, plus a creepy setting. Maybe not the very best version of this story on film but certainly a contender. 

Charlie Chan in Reno (1939)

An excellent Charlie Chan drama, one of the best.

An arrogant socialite Bently (Louise Henry) is found dead in Reno hotel, with Mary Whitman (Pauline Moore) standing over her though she protests her innocence. Her husband Curtis (though Mary had gone to Reno to get a divorce) asks Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) to travel to Reno to help prove Mary's innocence...

Charlie investigates a complicated case involving mysterious visits to mines, acids, crooked doctors and many suspects. Quite a few people had motive to kill Bently. If not Mary then was it the hotel manager (Phyllis Brooks) who has a crush on Doctor Ainsley (Ricardo Cortez) who has his own dark secret?

With the help of his son (Victor Sen Yung) and the rather more dubious help of the sheriff (Slim Summerville), Charlie unmasks the true culprit, and the Whitmans also have a happy reunion. One of the better entries in the long series (though none of the Charlie Chan films are bad). 

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Mad scientist creates super strong super intelligent sharks, what could go wrong?!

On a research platform in the ocean, scientists are extracting a protein from sharks' brains to create a cure for Alzheimer's. What Dr McAlester (Saffron Burrows) doesn't tell her backer Franklin (Samuel L Jackson) though is that the sharks have been genetically modified to be bigger and highly intelligent (bigger brains you see)... 

During a storm the sharks plan to escape goes into action, can the crew aboard the platform survive the surging waters and the violent sharks?

Surprisingly, despite the fact sharks in film these days often means over the top cheese, this isn't a bad film at all. Well paced and with some terrific action scenes (and gore) and effects. Good performances too especially from Carter (Thomas Jane) and Preacher (LL Cool J).

One of the better shark attack films you'll see.