Cinema
Abigail
Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett won over global audiences with their recent reboots of the much-loved Scream franchise, and now the directing duo go back to their spooky roots by giving us a devilishly gory and entertaining vampire flick that's sure leave horror fans gasping for more.
The story plays out like a bog-standard heist movie, with a gang of deviant crooks executing a plan to kidnap the helpless 12-year-old daughter of a wealthy crime boss. Indeed, little Abigail poses little threat to her captors, dressed as an adorable ballerina and looking like butter wouldn't melt.
Holed up in a secluded mansion with no phones, no Wi-Fi and no way out, our ragtag band of criminals soon find that little Abigail is not as innocent and defenceless as she seems, and their foolproof kidnapping plan soon turns into an unholy bloodbath from hell.
Building up the tension nicely and unleashing the blood, guts and horror at just the right moment, you get the impression that Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are having enormous fun with this bloody and ridiculous horror flick. They get the pacing just right and deliver the blood-soaked goods exactly when the audience is in need of some vampy, violent action.
Alisha Weir steals the show as the demented monster Abigail, while the likes of Dan Stevens and Melissa Barrera dive head-first into the hammy, OTT horror of it all. If you're a horror aficionado, you won’t want to miss this one!
The Book of Clarence
If you saw the ballsy, kick-ass Western The Harder They Fall, directed with grit and punch by Jeymes Samuel, then you'll know just how much this director enjoys flipping a well-worn genre on its head. Indeed, The Harder They Fall gave the old fashioned and somewhat outdated Western genre a new lease of life, with an unapologetically modern, urban slant that gave voice to black characters placed at the centre of the action and hell-bent on shaping the outcome of their own destinies.
The Book of Clarence does the same number on the tried and tested biblical movies you may have seen in the past – think Jesus of Nazareth and The Eagle, but delivered with the same empowering ethos and style that made The Harder They Fall such an enjoyable and fresh feast for the senses.
Sorry to Bother You star LaKeith Stanfield plays Clarence, twin brother to the apostle Thomas. After losing a chariot race and down on his luck, Clarence decides that he wants to get in on the Messiah action that's making a name for this Jesus fella, but it soon becomes clear there is more to being the son of God than initially expected.
Visually immersive and told with a playful wit and charm, The Book of Clarence is well worth a go if you're in the mood for a film that bravely doesn't play to the biblical genre norms.
