When oppressed peasants unleash a metal-eating demon in hopes of fending off an invading army, their would-be savior becomes a nightmarish monster! Soon the entire countryside is laid to waste as the towering behemoth does what giant monsters always do when visiting South Korea. Sweeping epic vistas and spectacular special effects produced by members of the "Godzilla" team highlight this monstrous tale of feudal savagery and revenge! BANNED FOR A DECADE by the government of North Korea, Pulgasari has finally arrived. Original Korean version with English subtitles.

This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is more than a classic: it's a cinematic archetype that has served as a template for many a film since. (Its most direct influence was on a Western remake, The Outrage, starring Paul Newman and directed by Martin Ritt. ) In essence, the facts surrounding a rape and murder are told from four different and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute. The cast, headed by Kurosawa's favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune, is superb. -Tom Keogh.

Not for the faint-hearted. Baise-Moi defies categories-it features pornographic sex scenes and violent shootings, but it won't fit anyone's definition of an erotic thriller. After separately committing murders, two French women join together in a spree of crime and sex. Because both have endured abuse at the hands of men, the movie seems to start as a self-righteous parable-but the women's actions quickly degenerate into amoral, near random killings, with women shot as casually as men. One reviewer described Baise-Moi as "Thelma & Louise with actual penetration," but it's actually Thelma & Louise without Hollywood sentiment. By refusing to condemn or justify the protagonists' actions, and by depicting both sex and violence with unglamorous realism, Baise-Moi forces the viewer to respond in the most contradictory and basic ways. You may find the lead characters surprisingly sympathetic. Jarring, unsettling, and well worth watching. -Bret Fetzer.

In synopsis The Sweet Hereafter may sound like a devastatingly unpleasant downer, but don't be discouraged. The real subjects of this luminous picture (adapted by director Atom Egoyan from Russell Banks's novel) are hope and renewal-avoiding the cheap emotions suggested by those clichéd terms. Like other Egoyan films (Exotica, for one), it's an intriguing sort of mystery, a puzzle in which the big picture is not revealed until the very last piece is in place. A metropolitan attorney (Ian Holm) travels to a small British Columbian town where 14 children have been killed in a school bus accident to prepare a class-action suit. With sensitivity and empathy, he approaches relatives with promises that the suit will give focus and closure to their grief. And as he investigates the circumstances of the accident, he not only uncovers a few local secrets, but dredges up some painful pieces of his own past. Slowly, deeper mysteries are revealed-eternal mysteries at the very heart of human nature: Who is to blame for a tragedy like this? And why do people feel such a need to assign blame? Is that how they give meaning to otherwise inconceivable events? How does one reassemble a shattered life? The Sweet Hereafter is too honest to offer bromides, but it shows how a few people struggle, as best they can, to answer these questions for themselves. DVD extras include audio commentary by Egoyan and Banks, a Charlie Rose interview with Egoyan, and a panel discussion with the filmmakers. -Jim Emerson.