Scarface (1983)

In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and succumbs to greed.

Deliberately sleazy, but engrossing gangster saga (clearly an Oliver Stone script!) with no redeeming character in sight with screechingly over-the-top performances by Pacino and Pfeiffer, a gawdawful 80s soundtrack (which was already dated at the time of its release) and lots of explicit violence.

Halliwell (no star): "Absurdly brutalized remake, with detailed violence and a superabundance of foul language; the film seems to want to make a political statement."

Maltin*1/2: "...but this film wallows in excess and unpleasantness for nearly three hours, and offers no insights except that crime doesn't pay. At least the 1932 movie moved. Even so, this has become a pop-culture phenomenon, with Pacino's Montana an underdog hero!"

Lifepod (1993)

Nine survivors of an explosion are lost in space, drifting out of rescue range with a saboteur aboard.

A sci-fi reimagination of Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat is OK as standard TV fare, but nowhere comes near the original.

Psycho II (1983)

 

After twenty-two years of psychiatric care, Norman Bates attempts to return to a life of solitude, but the specters of his crimes - and his mother - continue to haunt him.

Amazingly imaginative (late) sequel makes you route for the former villain, Anthony Perkins in a wonderfully ambiguous role, and actually continues the saga with some surprising twists.

Halliwell*: "A reasonably inventive sequel, if on the gory side. It probably holds the record for the longest delayed follow-up."

Maltin**1/2: "Surprisingly good sequel, with Perkins in a wonderfully canny reprise of his role as Norman Bates...Director Franklin builds some terrific suspense scenes, but finally goes for graphic violence toward the end, and tacks on a silly conclusion, undermining an otherwise first-rate shocker."