Cinema The Royal Hotel
A suitably tense and unforgiving thriller about two American hitchhikers who embark on an adventure to see the great Australian outback, The Royal Hotel plays to all the deeply rooted fears we've tucked neatly away in our subconscious about all the bad places, bad things and bad people we can encounter when taking an ill-advised walkabout Down Under.
If you've ever seen Wolf Creek, you'll know the terror that awaits any gullible foreign hitchhikers or road-tippers foolish enough to trust an unshaven and toothless Aussie local with a collection of sharp knives and an uncontrollable twitch.
While not as horror-heavy as Wolf Creek, The Royal Hotel offers a slower and more passively aggressive build of fear and tension, and director Kitty Green sets the scene perfectly very early on in this gripping yet intense chiller.
Our protagonists – played brilliantly by Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick – are Liv and Hannah, two skint travellers who decide to make some much-needed money and take up an opportunity working at a dusty and grimy old inn located in a very remote mining town in the middle of nowhere.
All they need to do is to serve the locals alcohol and keep the place standing for a few months, then they'll be ready for move on to pastures new with pockets full of hard-earned cash.
Unfortunately, the ragtag band of locals who frequent The Royal Hotel are a mean, nasty and aggressive bunch, and it's only a matter of time before the tension finally breaks and blood begins to spill.
It's dark, subversive and will suck you in completely. Give this one a go if you're looking for a thriller that's really going to get under your skin.
Netflix
All the Light We Cannot See
An adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, director Shawn Levy takes this sweeping and immersive story and gives us a four-part series that's got to be top of your binge list this November.
IMMERSIVE: Mark Ruffalo stars in the Netflix adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning World War 2 drama All the Light We Cannot See
Set during World War II, the action follows blind French girl Marie-Laure and her father Daniel who escape German-occupied Paris with a mysterious diamond that's very much sought after by the Nazis. With a great cast and an incredible story, this one is well worth a go is you're in the mood for an epic period drama.
Amazon Prime Video Invincible – Season Two
If Robert Kirkman's hugely enjoyable animated series struck a chord with you first time around, then you're sure to be up for more of the hard-hitting action and dark humour that made the first season such a joy to behold.
The action here sees teenager Mark Grayson struggle to get to grips with some very special super powers on his seventeenth birthday. Son of the amazing Omni-Man, Mark has a lot to learning to do as he gets to grips with his fantastic new powers.
