Thank Flickering Myth it’s Friday…
| In Sinister, even the paper is haunted. |
Sinister
Now October’s here, the cinema appears to be going into scare-overdrive. This one’s the latest from “The Producer of Paranormal Activity and Insidious,” and shares a similar narrative: nice, white, middle-class family in very haunted house.
But, for once, found footage is a plot point rather than a stylistic convention. The movie’s shot conventionally, but the father (Ethan Hawke) finds a box of old 8mm reels. They’re home videos and the like. Just with a bit more of the murder stuff.
The trailer looks terrifying, and, by all accounts, it ain’t that bad. Read our ★★★★ review here.
Sinister is out now.
The Knot
Noel Clarke is a one-man film-producing machine. In his 72nd movie this year, he’s co-written, -produced and stars a little bit in this British wedding comedy. He’s well on his way to having the longest IMDb page on the Internet.
It’s strange the way he works, jumping from genre to genre. He made Fast Girls before the Olympics, a sports film with an exploitative release date. Storage 24 came after, a sci-fi/horror movie about being stuck in a warehouse. You can appreciate the man’s work-rate, but there’s something so scattergun-exhausting about it all.
His latest jumps into yet another genre, the romantic comedy. It’s set in London, of course, and is a roll call of all the usual stag do/wedding joke cliches. It’s British, though. Support the industry!
The Knot is out today.
Sparkle
Until they figure out reanimation, this is Whitney Houston’s final film role. She plays the mother of an all-sisters 60s girl group, with the power of super-sassiness.
It’s a remake of the 1976 musical, and centres on the the girl group’s song writer and film’s titular character, Sparkle. Melodrama’s turned up to 11, but if you like that kind of schmaltz, apparently the film’s rather enjoyable.
But you’ll have to get passed Cee-Lo Green’s weird face. There are scenes where he doesn’t wear sunglasses.
Sparkle is out today.
Enjoy the philms…
Oliver Davis
Originally published October 5, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
