The inventive, witty, energetic and occasionally gory Companion from writer/ director Drew Hancock is an early instalment in what will no doubt be a growing movie subgenre, the ‘personal robot thriller’. Iris (Sophie Thatcher) is a young woman who we see at the start of the film in a ‘meet cute’ at a supermarket with the goofy Josh (Jack Quaid,
Read moreOften creepy and thought provoking, The Heretic is almost one of the year’s best thrillers but some loose story threads and a third act descent into cliché diminish this film’s overall impact. The set up is a familiar one in the horror/ thriller genre: unsuspecting and apparently vulnerable people unwisely enter the ominous looking home and encounter an intimidating weirdo.
Read moreTodd Phillips’ Joker (2019) reimagined the supervillain origin story as a study of a fracturing mind with the beaten down incel Arthur Fleck transforming into the weirdly charismatic murdering psychopath clown of the title. In this age of superhero/ villain obsession it was an ambitious and subversive take on an iconic character but not always a riveting one. For those
Read moreStrange Darling is guaranteed to be a favourite of those who enjoy blood-soaked cinema. While it’s certainly violent and confronting, it’s also inventive in the way it gleefully plays with the conventions of the serial killer film and with audience expectations. Written and directed by JT Mollner, the film cleverly goads us into thinking in a certain way about the
Read moreThe eccentric, super rich tech entrepreneur has become a strange 21st Century icon. It should come as no surprise that one should figure as the central character in an oddball Hollywood movie. Writer/ director Zoe Kravitz’ darkly comic, at times disturbing but derivative and underweight mystery thriller Blink Twice, features one such figure in a story that has creepy resonances
Read moreWriter/ Director M. Night Shyamalan has become a strange addiction for filmgoers. After the first magical rush of The Sixth Sense 25 years ago, we’ve been chasing that cinematic high ever since… but it has never come. Some of his films have started promisingly, featured some novel ideas and contained inventive visuals but they’ve invariably given way to glaring tonal
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