Critical Week: Rock the block

With summer weather finally arriving in Britain (we basically skipped spring this year), it's tricky for us to go back to the newly reopened cinemas or spend time outside in the sunshine. But it's been too long since we were able to watch movies! My screenings this week included In the Heights, the film of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical celebrating New York's Caribbean subculture. It's exuberant and fun, and has a terrific cast. But the songs felt a bit thin to me. And both Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are back for a third go-round with the supernatural in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, a genuinely creepy thriller about demonic possession based on a true story. That narrative is somewhat watered down by rather a lot of effective movie nonsense.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Sublet • The Father
The Dose • Ellie and Abbie
To the Ends of the Earth
ALL REVIEWS >

The British comedy-thriller School's Out Forever is a fresh but over-violent take on the genre, as teens go into military mode following a deadly pandemic. From Australia, Ellie & Abbie (and Abbie's Dead Aunt) is a charming romantic comedy about teen girls in love, with an added witty ghost. Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman's It Must Be Heaven is a serious charmer, a surreal trip from Nazareth to Paris to New York packed with witty and very pointed observations. From Japan, To the Ends of the Earth is an offbeat and very likeable odyssey for a confused young TV host on location in Uzbekistan. And the riveting Swedish documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World follows the life of actor Bjorn Andresen following his explosion onto the world scene in Visconti's Death in Venice.

This next week I have a screening of the sequel Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, plus review links to watch include Disney's animated adventure Luca, Willem Dafoe in Lansky, the spy thriller The Serpent and the comedy Untitled Horror Movie.

House of Horror: Terror in Essex

Opening on 28th September in an abandoned building in the woods near Brentwood, Essex, House of Horror calls itself an immersive 4D experience. But that doesn't quite go far enough. This is a freak-out that puts you right in the middle of a series of bonkers scenarios lifted from horror movies in a deliberate attempt to scare the liver out of you.

They let the press in for a dress rehearsal a few weeks before launching to the public, and I have to say it was more fun than I expected. And not quite as scary as I hoped. But then, I'm a jaded film critic who finds it difficult to blur the line between fact and fiction. Elements of the event were disorienting, creepy and downright revolting, but I never felt in danger. That said, I never got to enter the final, dreaded Room 13. But the effort that went into creating the previous 12 rooms was impressive. 

Here's the scoop without any spoilers...

When you arrive, you're asked to sign a rather long waiver consenting to possible injury and death, then turn over everything you have in your pockets (the only thing you can carry into the house is the cloakroom ticket). There's street food and drinks while you wait your turn, then a shouting masked man verbally abuses you as he drags your group of 10 into the superbly dilapidated building.

Inside there's a brief orientation video after which a hood is placed over your head and you're led into the next room. A series of carefully staged experiences follow, as each room combines wit and nastiness to keep you as off-balance as possible. There are ghostly spirits, evil demons, mechanical mishaps and maniacal medical workers with knives and chainsaws. In one room, there's a challenge to complete that involves something truly disgusting. In another you're blinded by strobe lights and told to find a way out. There's also more pitch-black weirdness and some claustrophobic grisliness.

Finally you emerge, blinking into a large area where there's more food and drink, plus a chance to strike an appropriate pose in the photo booth (see below) and recover before signing another waiver and entering the ominous Room 13, if you dare. I wasn't able to go in there, sadly. But I had a lot of fun in the previous 12, and I didn't need to evoke the safe words. 

The actors are all excellent, with a few stand-out stars along the way. Some are funny and others are creepy, but each is hugely engaging, staring you down and involving you in improvised dialog that's often hilariously aggressive. This is a thoroughly physical experience, throwing you right into scenarios that are skilfully designed and constructed. Surprises lurk around each corner. Some rooms are astonishing in their attention to detail, others are a little more rough and ready. There are elements in each room that are seriously inventive, and there's no doubt that it will get better (and scarier) as the cast push the limits of each scenario.

House of Horror runs from 28th September to 31st October. For tickets and detailed information, visit: www.houseofhorror.co.uk

Note that the location is a challenge for anyone without a car, as it's too far to walk from Brentwood station. Also, the experience is not accessible for anyone with limited mobility. And it's advised to wear comfortable shoes and clothing you don't mind getting (ahem!) blood on.

Critical Week: The right stuff

I caught up this week with HBO's movie All the Way, recounting how, in the wake of Kennedy's assassination, President Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr (Bryan Cranston and Anthony Mackie, above) begrudgingly cooperated to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, standing up to opposition because it was the right thing to do. Reteaming Cranston with Trumbo director Jay Roach, the film has a bristling sense of humour that brings the situation to life. And the performances are full of punchy emotional undercurrents, from Cranston and Mackie to ace supporting players like Bradley Whitford, Melissa Leo, Frank Langella, Stephen Root, Ray Wise and Joe Morton. While the plot and themes are important and strongly relevant, the film feels oddly muted in tone, contained within rooms rather than encompassing the bigger picture. This is perhaps due to the script's stage origins, so thankfully it doesn't water down the story's powerful kick.

My only proper screening this past week was The Conjuring 2, the London-set sequel featuring real-life ghostbusters Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga). Like the 2013 original, the film is genuinely terrifying, even though director James Wan can't resist using every cliche available. I also caught three films in the upcoming East End Film Festival: Desire Will Set You Free is a freeform drama with documentary elements set in Berlin's sexually ambiguous club scene; Uncle Howard is a moving documentary about filmmaker Howard Brookner (Burroughs) by his nephew Aaron; and Transit Havana is a beautifully shot doc following transgendered men and women as they navigate Cuba's health care system. I'll have more on these and others when the festival kicks off on 23rd June.

Screenings this coming week include Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart in Central Intelligence, the animated adventure The Secret Life of Pets, the cat-kidnapping comedy Keanu and the acclaimed doc Notes on Blindness. I've also got several more EEFF movies to watch.

Critical Week: Through the dangerzone

Speed was the name of the game at press screenings this week, as critics boarded Disney's Planes, the spin-off from Pixar's Cars movies; Ron Howard's Formula One drama Rush, about the rivalry-respect between 1970s champs James Hunt and Niki Lauda; Johnny Depp's latest wacky sidekick in The Lone Ranger, which is bloated but more fun than expected; and Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson in Michael Bay's Pain & Gain, an over-pumped comedy based on a true story of torture and murder (!).

Our pulses slowed a bit for the all-star sex-addiction comedy-drama Thanks for Sharing, with Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Gad, Tim Robbins and Alecia Moore (better known as Pink); the dark drama Ain't Them Bodies Saints, with Rooney Mara and Dane DeHaan; the warm, funny and extremely telling Saudi drama Wadjda; and two docs: the straightforward biographical Hawking and an exploration of privacy-erosion in Terms and Conditions May Apply. Finally, we were jolted back out of our seats by a horror double bill: Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in the demonic possession chiller The Conjuring, and a family under siege by masked killers in You're Next.

Coming up this week: Hugh Jackman is The Wolverine (again), those all-star retired killers are back for RED 2, Sandra Bullock teams with Melissa McCarthy for The Heat, there's more muscled men in skirts in Hammer of the Gods, Ulrich Seidl closes out his trilogy with Paradise: Hope, The Great Hip Hop Hoax documents Scots pretending to be American rappers, And we get a look at a reissued-remastered version of the 1981 epic Heaven's Gate.