CINEMA & HOME RELEASES

Well, bi-Adolf Hitler BDSM is not something (a) I thought I’d ever see 5 minutes into a movie and (b) ever expected to write in my lifetime to be fair but this spicy start is pretty standard for the work of exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer.

Ti West’s The House of the Devil makes a wonderful companion piece to his film The Innkeepers. Both maintain the director’s referential approach to horror, incapsulating it in a slow burning 90 minutes that manages to build and maintain tension while cheekily winking to the audience and showing the mechanisms behind the scares.

Warfare is a film based on true events and the memories of Ray Mendoza. During the Iraq war a group of young Navy SEALs begin a surveillance mission. But after everything goes horribly wrong, how will they escape and how will they cope?

After an unexpected stroke, former Judge ‘Stefan’ is forced into an assisted living facility. Whilst there, he is forced into sadistic encounters with another psychopathic resident and his vicious puppet companion.

Filmmakers would kill for a scene as recognisable as the exploding head scene early into Scanners. A moment so sudden and exciting that it was shown out-of-context in place of a trailer in some regions, and has been a horror touchstone, even for those who haven’t seen the film.

Old Guy suggests that being a hitman is a young man’s game but could the same could be asked of action film directors? Well, possibly given what’s on show in this sadly pedestrian action comedy.

Amongst the backdrop of the seedy stage shows of Las Vegas, ex-Baywatch and Playboy model Pamela Anderson stars as Shelly - a middle-aged showgirl dealing with family feuds and the ever-decreasing popularity of the old-style stage event at the Razzle Dazzle venue.

A family move into a new home for a fresh start after the tragic death of the daughter's best friend, but as soon as they arrive, they feel a strange presence around the house. Watching and waiting.

With Nosferatu released to high acclaim, two other classic creature inspired flicks head tobluray this month. However, for every The Invisible Man (and Leigh Whannel’s follow up The Wolf Man) there’s a Renfield, so do these recent monster shockers deliver on their legendary statuses? Let’s open the coffin and find out.

Back in the late 90s/early 2000s there was an influx of cinematic supernatural thrillers, and as well as the biggies like The Sixth Sense (1999), What Lies Beneath (2000) and The Others (2001) there were a slew of smaller movies that similarly mixed drama and otherworldly aspects.

After huge hits in the 80s and 90s, director Zemeckis has a patchy record of recent releases of late, but here he combines aspects of previous films to create a gentle piece exploring our regular lives and interactions with others over time.

2022’s horror film Smile came and went with a pretty big shrug from most - including myself - so anticipation for an inevitable franchise sequel hardly set pulses racing.

Coming off movies about Ned Kelly and mass murderer Martin Bryant director Justin Kurzel shifts his focus from Australian history to a dark topic in America’s past with his new crime film exploring racism and violence.

Magpie stars Daisy Ridley as Anette, a wife and mother-of-two whose responsibilities to her family are tested when she suspects her husband of infidelity.

There’s definitely something in the pipes in this lovingly made homage to Ghostwatch, the generation scarring 1992 BBC production from Lesley Manning and Stephen Volk. Writer and director Dominic O’Neill uses the same basic setup (an established television host teaming with a beloved children’s programme presenter to explore reports of poltergeist activity) and incorporates a good dose of humour and some interesting plot moves towards the finale.