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The other day, while waiting for my car to be serviced, I had the chance to re-watch Cloverfield, this time on a much-smaller screen of a laptop. If you couldn’t stomach the big-screen version with all the shaking, you should catch up on this flick on the small screen.

Cloverfield is a monster destroying New York City. What makes this movie compelling is the cast of normal twenty-somethings who are suddenly thrust into a situation they don’t know and that they can’t get out of. At Rob’s going away party, Hud starts documenting his last day in New York City before he jumps in a plane and head to Japan. Rob’s brother Jason, and Jason’s girlfriend as well as Malena, a girl that Hud has a crush on, try to survive when something attacks New York and start destroying building after building.

Supposed to be a video footage of the group surviving the beast, the footage does look indeed authentically amateur with all the shaking, sometimes off focus and oftentimes without proper lighting. In dark alleys and even darker subway tunnels, pitch black screen and monsters hissing will send chills down your spine.

The movie starts slow as it focuses on the party and introduces all the relevant character relationships. However once the monster shows up, the movie doesn’t let its pacing down as the main characters scramble to get away, go find their loved ones, and just try to survive against both the monster and the military’s attacks.

Not everyone will find the ending satisfying, and at some points in time, the main characters choose a course of action that a normal sane New Yorker will never choose. They do betray the scripted nature of the movie: however, suspend your logic and you will find one of the best monster movies this side of the ocean.

Rating: 70%

Teeth is a puzzling movie that doesn’t know what it is supposed to be: it tries to be too many things at the same time and ends up becoming a mess not worth seeing. The topic of "vagina dentata" (basically vagina with teeth) seems to suggest it is a horror movie as this monster lurks beneath and strikes unsuspecting male victims with very graphic castrations. On the other hand, it is also a female empowerment movie as the main character learns to control her teeth down below to punish those who try to take advantage of her, including her stepbrother.

The movie tries to make an environmental point - and blames the "vagina dentata" on a radiation from nearby nuclear power plant. But the problem is the movie doesn’t have a focus and becomes a parade of male mutilations until the end. It tries hard to be a dark comedy, without any comedic payoff, and it becomes increasingly hard to root for a heroine who turns her mutation into a weapon of revenge.

In the end, this movie will be known for its shock value, and the performance of Jess Weixler that won her a special jury prize at Sundance Film Festival in 2007. The problem with shock value is, after the first scene of severed male genitalia with blood pumping out, the rest becomes gratuitous.

Rating: 15%

The Mist is pretty formulaic if you drill it down to its core elements. It’s the story of a bunch of diverse characters stuck together in a confined space in order to seek refuge from monsters that want to eat them. What sets it apart from countless mediocre horror movies is the exploration of what happens when people become irrational and start following a fanatic.

David Drayton (played by Thomas Jane) and his son Billy go to the local supermarket after a night of storms in order to gather emergency supplies when thick fog-like mist rolls into town. Soon they discover there’s something in the mist that’s killing people. As a few dozen local folks are stuck inside the supermarket, wondering what’s going on outside and devising ways to escape, two factions are formed: one, led by David, composed of mainly sane people seeking realistic answers, and the other led by local fanatic Mrs. Carmody who convinces people that this is God’s wrath and that everyone is going to die. You do get to see the monsters (such as big tentacles, big bugs and big towering… things), but the real scare comes from what people are capable of doing.

Adapted from Stephen King’s novella, the ending is modified for the movie, actually for the better. The movie is bleak from start to finish, and the revised ending has a Twilight Zone quality to it. Acting is pretty solid, and Marcia Gay Harden plays her role convincingly.

Rating: 70%

Sweetney Todd

Johnny Depp has a knack for playing odd characters, and the latest entry to his resume is a cannibalistic barber… With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, Tim Burton manages to create a film that both musical and horror fans can enjoy, and that is no easy feat. All-star cast includes Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter.

Up next: Best Sci-Fi Movie of 2007