Movie of the Week

• Five Nights at Freddy’s

Cinemas

• Cat Person
• Typist Artist Pirate King
• Doctor Jekyll
• How to Save the Immortal
• 20,000 Species of Bees
• Suitable Flesh
• Beyond Utopia
• Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn
• Savage Waters

Streaming/On-Demand

• Pain Hustlers
• Retribution
• Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed

Re-Releases

• Beetlejuice
• Peeping Tom
• Crossroads

CAST: Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Matthew Lillard, Kat Conner Sterling, Mary Stuart Masterson, Lucas Grant, Jessica Blackmore, Cory DeVantè Williams

CREW: Emma Tammi (director, writer), Scott Cawthon (writer, producer), Seth Cuddeback (writer), Jason Blum (producer), The Newton Brothers (composers), Lyn Moncrief (cinematographer), William Paley and Andrew Wesman (editors)

PLOT: Desperate for work, Mike Schmidt (Hutcherson) accepts a job as the night-time security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, an abandoned family entertainment restaurant. However, Mike soon learns that the restaurant’s various animatronics are not only alive, but brutally kill anyone who is still there after midnight, forcing him to try and make it out alive…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• After years of development, the big-screen adaptation of the popular video game franchise finally arrives
• Since first being announced by Warner Bros in 2015, several filmmakers including Gil Kenan and Chris Columbus were attached to the project before horror mega-producer Jason Blum acquired the rights
• Game creator Scott Cawthorn is credited as both a writer and a producer, ensuring that this is going to stick very closely to the beloved source material
• Hunger Games veteran Josh Hutcherson plays the hapless security guard Mike Schmidt from the first game in the series, while Matthew Lillard leaves an impression in a role that’s rumoured to be rather villainous
• For anyone seeking a new Halloween favourite, this pretty much has “future cult classic” written all over it

Five Nights at Freddy’s is showing in cinemas from Wednesday 25 October 2023

CAST: Emilia Jones, Nicholas Braun, Geraldine Viswanathan, Isabella Rossellini, Hope Davis, Fred Melamed, Christopher Shyer, Liza Koshy, Josh Andrés Rivera, Isaac Cole Powell, Liza Colón-Zayas, Michael Gandolfini

CREW: Susanna Fogel (director), Michelle Ashford (writer), Helen Estabrook and Jeremy Steckler (producers), Heather McIntosh (composer), Manuel Billeter (cinematographer), Jacob Craycroft (editor)

PLOT: Margot (Jones), a college student working at a cinema, agrees to go on a date with older patron Robert (Braun) after flirting with him over text. However, she soon finds that Robert himself is not quite as charming as he seems…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• The horrors of online dating are on full display in this darkly funny psychological thriller
• It is an extension of the 2017 New Yorker article which went viral after it struck a chord with younger women who have been through similar ordeals in their dating life
• Director Susanna Fogel creates an uncomfortable atmosphere that should make anyone think twice about who they’re messaging
• BAFTA-nominee Emilia Jones and Succession’s Nicholas Braun make for an increasingly awkward couple that gets more sinister as the film goes along
• It goes in some directions that are already getting a divisive response, but it works to deliver an unnerving and all too relevant message

Cat Person is showing in cinemas from Friday 27 October 2023

CAST: Monica Dolan, Kelly Macdonald, Gina McKee, Christine Bottomley, Kieran Bew, James Jaysen Bryhan, Kya Brame, Joanne Allen, Gavin Kitchen, Matilda Firth

CREW: Carol Morley (director, writer), Ameenah Ayub Allen and Cairo Cannon (producers), Carly Paradis (composer), Agnès Godard (cinematographer), Alex Mackie (editor)

PLOT: Audrey Amiss (Dolan), an artist suffering from mental illness, convinces her psychiatric nurse Sandra (Macdonald) to take her across the country to display her work at an art gallery, resulting in a road trip where Sandra learns the full extent of her patient’s artistic talent…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• Filmmaker Carol Morley pays tribute to a forgotten artist in this charming and compassionate comedy-drama
• Inspired by the eccentric work of Audrey Amiss, who died in 2013, Morley crafts a fictional story that celebrates her tenacity and unique talents
• Monica Dolan gives a pitch-perfect turn as the troubled Audrey, along with Kelly Macdonald who also shines as her fictional psychiatric nurse
• It is filled with plenty of light comedy, tender emotion, and feel-good vibes that make this an utterly pleasant viewing experience
• You’ll be encouraged to seek out the artist’s work, and make her an even bigger name more than ten years after her passing

Typist Artist Pirate King is showing in cinemas from Friday 27 October 2023

CAST: Eddie Izzard, Scott Chambers, Lindsay Duncan, Robyn Cara, Jonathan Hyde, Morgan Watkins, Simon Callow, Tony Jawawardena, Isabella Inchbald

CREW: Joe Stephenson (director, producer), Dan Kelly-Mulhern (writer), Louis Coutts and Guy de Beaujeu (producers), Blair Mowat (composer), Birgit Dierken (cinematographer), TBA (editor)

PLOT: The reclusive scientist Dr. Nina Jekyll (Izzard) hires ex-convict Rob (Chambers) as her new assistant, and soon forms a friendship with him. However, when Jekyll’s evil alter-ego Rachel Hyde (also Izzard) slowly reveals herself, Rob must team with Jekyll to prevent Hyde from destroying both their lives…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is given a modern update while still retaining the source material’s gothic horror edges
• Gender-fluid comedian Eddie Izzard portrays both Jekyll and Hyde as trans women, in one of the many new additions that make the timeless tale much more intriguing
• Legendary British horror studio Hammer, the home to iconic performances such as Christopher Lee’s Dracula, distributes the film to a whole new generation of scary movie fans
• The overall filmmaking and atmosphere gives it the feel of something that could easily have been made during Hammer’s heyday (if it weren’t for the modern-day digital effects)
• As often is with this particular story, its creepy and often disturbing psychological edge makes it a genuine thrill to experience

Doctor Jekyll is showing in cinemas from Friday 27 October 2023

CAST: Andrey Kurganov, Liza Klimova, Daniel Barnes, Michael Kleeman, Jordan Worsley, Stephen Peter Krisel, Richard Wilson, Petrr Scott, Kate Lann, Leadie Jo Flowers, Brodey Milburn, Bernard Jacobsen, Nikki Aaron, Richard Epstein, Katrin Assi

CREW: Roman Artemyev (director, writer), Genrikh Nebolsin (writer), Sergey Selyanov, Vadim Sotskov and Sergey Zernov (producers), Anton Silaev (composer), TBA (editor)

PLOT: Drybone (Kurganov), an immortal demon who has been living for three hundred years, is forced to kidnap the noble warrior Barbara the Brace (Klimova) as part of the evil King Lentil’s (Kleeman) plan to take over the world. However, as he begins to form a bond with Barbara, he becomes willing to sacrifice his immortality to stop the nefarious plot…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• Russia’s latest animated adventure is a spooky, but surprisingly noble-hearted, family treat
• The plot takes inspiration from several Slavic fairy tales and folklore to create an original and subversive story
• There is some zippy and fast-paced animation to keep the young ones largely amused
• Some fun slapstick and a few hilarious side characters will also entertain your kids
• If for whatever reason the Hotel Transylvania movies aren’t available, then this is a fine pre-Halloween alternative

How to Save the Immortal is showing in cinemas from Friday 27 October 2023

CAST: Sofía Otero, Patricia López Arnaiz, Ane Gabarain, Itziar Lazkano, Sara Cózar, Martxelo Rubio, Miguel Garcés, Unax Hayden, Andere Garabieta

CREW: Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (director, writer), Valérie Delpierre and Lara Izagirre (producers), Gina Ferrer (cinematographer), Raúl Barreras (editor)

PLOT: Lucía (Otero), an eight-year-old transgender girl, slowly discovers more about her gender identity as she spends the summer with her family in a village house by a bee farm…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• This tender Spanish drama looks at the discovery of one’s femininity from the perspective of an inquisitive young transgender girl
• It is the narrative feature debut of director/writer Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, who previously gained attention for her documentary Voces de Papel
• Young lead Sofía Otero won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, making her the youngest-ever recipient of the award
• To ensure accuracy in her film, Solaguren collaborated with Naizen, a regional association for families of transgender minors, which gave the filmmaker and Otero further insight into how best to bring this character to life
• You’ll find yourself stung in the heart by this film’s pure and delightful soul

20,000 Species of Bees is showing in cinemas from Friday 27 October 2023 (and will be available to rent exclusively on Curzon Home Cinema)

CAST: Heather Graham, Judah Lewis, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Davison, Johnathon Schaech, Giovannie Cruz, JD Evermore, Ann Mahoney, Drake Malone, Chris McKenna, Brett Newton, Jonah Ray, Hunter Womack

CREW: Joe Lynch (director), Dennis Paoli (writer), Barbara Crampton, Bob Portal, Inderpal Singh and Joe Wicker (producers), David Matthews (cinematographer), Jack N. Gracie (editor)

PLOT: Psychiatrist Elizabeth Derby (Graham) becomes obsessed with helping her young and troubled new patient Asa (Lewis), who has an extreme personality disorder. However, she soon finds herself drawn into a terrifying nightmare that she can’t seem to escape from…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• Horror filmmaker Joe Lynch taps into H.P. Lovecraft territory with his loose but no less bonkers adaptation of the writer’s popular short story The Thing on the Doorstep
• Lynch also pays stylistic homage to the late horror legend Stuart Gordon, the man behind such cult hits as Re-Animator and From Beyond (both of which were also loosely based on Lovecraft stories)
• There are plenty of recognizable faces among the cast, including Boogie Nights breakout Heather Graham, The Babysitter‘s Judah Lewis, and horror icon Barbara Crampton (who’s also a producer on the film)
• The aesthetic is reminiscent of an 80s-era “video nasty” that would have been discovered by horror fans through an underground VHS release back in the day
• There’s enough stomach-churning gore and psychological twists for this to be a horror cult classic in the making

Suitable Flesh is showing in cinemas from Friday 27 October 2023 (and will be available to rent/buy on most digital platforms)

CAST: Kim Sung-Eun, Lee Hyeun-Seo, Lee So-Yeon, Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, Kim Jong-Nam, Barbara Demick, Douglas MacArthur

CREW: Madeleine Gavin (director, editor), Rachel Cohen, Jana Edelbaum and Sue Mi Terry (producers), Taylor Page and Adam Taylor (composers), Kim Hyun-Seok (cinematographer)

PLOT: The personal stories of the last known defectors from the oppressive regime of North Korea, including Pastor Kim Sung-Eun who has made it his life’s mission to assist those brave enough to escape the place they believed to be paradise…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• The real-life horrors of living in one of the most authoritarian countries in the world are explored in this harrowing but essential new documentary
• Some of the numerous defectors whose stories are told throughout include families and elderly citizens, all of whom risked their lives to escape North Korea
• The film explores just how the country’s succession of dictators, including current leader Kim Jong-Un, kept generations of residents under line with lies and manipulation about the outside world
• We also see things through the eyes of Pastor Kim Sung-Eun, the human rights activist who has worked to assist North Korean defectors, alongside exposing the country’s various crimes against humanity
• It is a painful reminder of how brutal and oppressive such totalitarian states can be, making it all the more admirable that these people managed to escape at all

Beyond Utopia is showing in cinemas from Friday 27 October 2023

CAST: Isata Kanneh-Mason, Alison Langer, Chi-Chi Nwanoku, Robinson McClellan, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Anna Beer, Éric Heidsieck

CREW: Sheila Hayman (director, writer, producer), Claudia Steffen (producer), TBA (cinematographer), Evelyn Franks (editor)

PLOT: A look at the life of Fanny Mendelssohn, the sister of celebrated composer Felix Mendelssohn who, like her more famous brother, set out to compose her own music before her tragic early death, only for her work to finally be discovered more than 100 years later…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• Classical music buffs will be most fascinated by this insightful new documentary about an unrecognised nineteenth century talent
• The life and tragic death of Fanny Mendelssohn, whose brother Felix is best known for composing the iconic “Wedding March” tune, is a triumphant tale of art living far longer than its creators
• Fanny’s descendant, BAFTA-winning filmmaker Sheila Hayman, directs the incredible tale of her musically gifted ancestor
• In a special moment within the film, famed pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason performs a special rendition of Fanny’s “Easter Sonata”, the first time it has been publicly performed as originally written
• It is an eye-opening portal into the work of a neglected genius who, even 200 years prior, was centuries ahead of her time

Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn is showing in cinemas from Friday 27 October 2023

CAST: Charles Dance, Matt Knight, Andrew Cotton, Alex Botelho, Ross Edgley, Suzanne Hobbs, Harriet Knight, Jemima Knight, Peony Knight, Taz Knight, Ed Smith

CREW: Mikey Corker (director, writer, cinematographer), Ghislaine Couvillat and Kathleen Glynn (producers), Aisling Brouwer and Anna Phoebe (composers), Jordan Montminy (editor)

PLOT: After discovering a passage in a nineteenth century explorer’s journal, thrill-seeking skipper Matt Knight and big wave surfer Andrew Cotton set out with their friends and family to uncharted waters within the Atlantic Ocean to find and surf a mythical wave…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• Set sail for a dangerous but thrilling new voyage in this adventurous new documentary
• The film is structured like an old-fashioned treasure hunt, if the treasure was a giant wave in the middle of the Atlantic
• Game of Thrones alumni Charles Dance narrates the exploits of skipper Matt Knight and surfer Andrew Cotton as they test their own limits in pursuit of the ultimate rush
• Surfers with similar thrill-seeking desires will gasp in awe at the sheer might of waves that have reportedly never been tackled by man
• It is hard to resist its appetite for adventure, which is more than enough to help you float all the way through it

Savage Waters is showing in cinemas from Friday 27 October 2023

CAST: Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Andy García, Catherine O’Hara, Jay Duplass, Brian d’Arcy James, Chloe Coleman, Aubrey Dollar, Amit Shah, Willie Raysor

CREW: David Yates (director, producer), Wells Tower (writer), Lawrence Grey (producer), James Newton Howard and Michael Dean Parsons (composers), George Richmond (cinematographer), Mark Day (editor)

PLOT: Liza Drake (Blunt), a high school dropout and single mother, is offered a job by Pete Brener (Evans) at a failing pharmaceutical start-up company in Florida, which she accepts in order to build a better future for her and her daughter Phoebe (Coleman). Soon, Liza’s charm and ambition catapults her and the company into the big leagues, but also towards the heart of a major criminal conspiracy…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• David Yates’s latest film takes him far away from the Wizarding World (thank goodness!) and straight into a darkly funny corporate satire
• There are some eye-catching star turns from Emily Blunt, Chris Evans and Andy García as pharma reps caught between wealth and morality
• Its vibe is certainly aping that of Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, but it has enough wit and charisma to stand on its own
• The film addresses some of the most controversial aspects of the pharmaceutical business, including certain firms’ roles in the escalating opioid epidemic
• It’s a lean, mean and sharp condemnation of the greed that fuelled said epidemic, as well as the personalities that enabled it all

Pain Hustlers is streaming exclusively on Netflix from Friday 27 October 2023

CAST: Liam Neeson, Noma Dumezweni, Lilly Aspell, Jack Champion, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Modine, Arian Moayed

CREW: Nimród Antal (director), Chris Salmanpour (writer), Jaume Collet-Serra, Shanna Eddy, Alex Heineman, Andrew Rona and Juan Sola (producers), Harry Gregson-Williams (composer), Flavio Martínez Labiano (cinematographer), Steve Mirkovich (editor)

PLOT: Matt Turner (Neeson), a successful American bank executive based in Berlin, is driving his kids Zach (Champion) and Emily (Aspell) to school, when he receives a mysterious phone call informing him that a bomb rigged underneath his seat will explode unless he completes a specific number of tasks in a short space of time. Forced to race across the city with his kids in tow, Matt must find a way to solve the mystery and keep his family safe…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• Liam Neeson is back in full-on action mode as he drives through a tense and deadly series of events
• It is the third remake of the hit 2015 Spanish film El Desconocido, after versions were previously made in Germany and South Korea
• Even though he’s trapped behind the wheel for much of the running time, Neeson still finds a way to deliver that gruff and tough action persona he’s become known for in recent years
• The Berlin backdrop allows for plenty of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sightseeing across the German capital
• This is a fast-paced and action-packed ride that will surprise you in many ways

Retribution is streaming exclusively on Sky Cinema from Friday 27 October 2023 (and is also showing in selected cinemas)

CAST: Rock Hudson

CREW: Stephen Kijak (director), Greg Berlanti, George Chignell, Will Clarke, Carolyne Jurriaans and Sarah Schechter (producers), Laura Karpman (composer), Brian Rigney Hubbard and Derek Wiesehahn (cinematographers), Claire Didier (editor)

PLOT: The life and times of renowned actor and popular movie star Rock Hudson, who famously led a private life as a gay man, in contrast to his public persona as a sought-after womaniser…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• Rock Hudson, one of cinema’s original heartthrob actors, is the central focus of this biographical documentary
• Filmmaker Stephen Kijak combines archival footage and interviews with those who knew him best to sensitively explore who Hudson truly was
• His secret identity as a gay man forms an extremely prominent focus of the film, up to and including his death from AIDS at the age of 59 (making him one of the first high-profile personas to publicly disclose their diagnosis)
• The tragedy behind Rock Hudson also lends itself to a further conversation within the film about LGBTQ+ identity within Hollywood, both then and even now
• Fans of the actor will appreciate this in-depth look at his life and career, as well as being given access to sides of him that were closed off until fairly recently

Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed is available to rent/buy on digital platforms from Monday 23 October 2023

CAST: Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder, Sylvia Sidney, Robert Goulet, Dick Cavett, Glenn Shadix, Maree Cheatham, Tony Cox, Jack Angel, Susan Kellermann, Adelle Lutz, Annie McEnroe, Patrice Martinez

CREW: Tim Burton (director), Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren (writers), Michael Bender, Richard Hashimoto and Larry Wilson (producers), Danny Elfman (composer), Thomas Ackerman (cinematographer), Jane Kurson (editor)

PLOT: On the way to their idyllic country home, couple Adam (Baldwin) and Barbara (Davis) are killed in a car accident, leaving their spirits to haunt their house. When the property is sold to the Deetz family, including Charles (Jones), Delia (O’Hara) and their teenage daughter Lydia (Ryder), the ghosts struggle to scare them away, forcing them to contact the bio-exorcist known as Beetlejuice (Keaton) for assistance…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• Tim Burton’s wildly funny supernatural comedy returns to cinemas in celebration of its 35th anniversary
• One of the auteur’s first films, it set the tone for his imaginative and vivid gothic style that became more and more prominent in all his following films
• Michael Keaton steals more than the show in his limited but wholly memorable role as the title character, with fun support from the likes of Winona Ryder and Geena Davis
• Burton is also behind the upcoming long-awaited sequel that sees the return of Keaton and Ryder in their roles, along with new additions like Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe
• It is fondly remembered as one of the most standout cult comedies of the 1980s, as well as one of the most original and stylish

Beetlejuice is showing in cinemas from Friday 27 October 2023

CAST: Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley, Brenda Bruce, Miles Malleson, Esmond Knight, Martin Miller, Michael Goodliffe, Jack Watson, Nigel Davenport, Shirley Anne Field, Pamela Green, Columba Powell

CREW: Michael Powell (director, producer), Leo Marks (writer), Brian Easdale (composer), Otto Heller (cinematographer), Noreen Ackland (editor)

PLOT: Mark Lewis (Boehm), a troubled young man who works among a film crew and aspires to become a filmmaker himself, lives a double-life where he murders young women and films their dying expressions of fear, which he then splices together into a feature-length snuff film to satisfy his own pleasure…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• The cult British psychological thriller is back on the big screen in an all-new 4K restoration
• It was one of the first films that director Michael Powell made after the end of his regular collaboration with Emeric Pressburger
• At the time, the film was highly controversial for its provocative and violent subject matter, with extreme critical backlash causing some serious damage to Powell’s directing career
• However, it has since gained far more favourable retrospective views, with Martin Scorsese even labelling it as one of the two films he considers to be fundamental in order to understand filmmaking (the other being Federico Fellini’s 8½)
• The film remains a creepy and unnerving delight for fans of psychological horror, as well as fans of film in general

Peeping Tom is showing in cinemas from Friday 27 October 2023

CAST: Britney Spears, Zoe Saldana, Taryn Manning, Anson Mount, Kim Cattrall, Dan Aykroyd, Justin Long, Beverly Johnson, Kool Moe Dee, Jamie Lynn Spears, Dajiné Colón, Crystal Milton

CREW: Tamra Davis (director), Shonda Rhimes (writer), Ann Carli (producer), Trevor Jones (composer), Eric Edwards (cinematographer), Melissa Kent (editor)

PLOT: Lucy (Spears), Kit (Saldana) and Mimi (Manning) are former childhood friends who reunite for a road trip to Los Angeles for a record contract audition…

FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:

• The cult classic road trip drama, best known as the acting debut of Britney Spears, is back for a special two-night event
• Its re-release coincides with the release of Spears’ anticipated tell-all memoir The Woman in Me, which details the singer’s difficult struggles with mental health and, until recently, her controversial conservatorship
• Spears forms an engaging on-screen chemistry with co-stars Zoe Saldana (in one of her first roles) and Taryn Manning of Orange is the New Black fame
• While the film received plenty of negative feedback at the time, Spears’ performance was widely celebrated, and the film has had a lasting impact on audiences who first saw it twenty years ago
• It’s an opportunity to witness Spears at the height of her powers, in a pleasing movie role that also sees her get to use her iconic vocals from time to time

Crossroads is showing in cinemas from Monday 23 October 2023