Total Film - November 2023

The celebrated director of Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and Dune on a sci-fi legend. AS TOLD TO JANE CROWTHER Ridley Scott is an absolute visual master. He is by far one of the greatest world-builders of our time. His level of aesthetic sophistication can be matched by very few in cinema history. For sci-fi filmmakers of my generation, he’s a legend, an enduring reference. He revolutionised science fiction by blending it with other genres, by bringing a disturbing realism. He is also one of the first filmmakers, after Kubrick, who made science fiction for adults without concession. He is a force of nature. His level of energy and his work ethics are impressive. He is one of the most prolific filmmakers I’ve known. responsible, I think, for the whole anime/manga genre. Ridley’s got a phenomenal eye. The best eye there’s ever been in cinema, potentially. I don’t know how you can work that fast and so constantly. I think his weapon of choice is having all these ingredients in front of the camera and then he’s curating them to get this perfect cinematic moment. And that’s something he can do to his dying day. It’s not something you lose over time. A lot of people as they get older, their skill set diminishes, but a lot of painters did their best work until their last days. And I think he’s very painterly in the way that he makes films and visualises them. What’s most heartbreaking about Ridley Scott is, in those first, early films that inspire you to want to make films, he achieved the ultimate high score. They are unbeatable. It’s a double-edged sword because he’s inspired me and other filmmakers like me to aspire to that greatness, but we can’t beat him. You’re doomed to failure. So it’s kind of a love-hate thing: ‘Damn you, Ridley, what’s the point of carrying on, because we’re never going to make something better than Alien or Blade Runner.’ Scott with Blade Runner 2049 collaborators Denis Villeneuve, Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 51 TRIBUTES

EDITED BY JAMIE GRAHAM WORDS JORDAN FARLEY, MATT GLASBY, JAMIE GRAHAM, KEVIN HARLEY, SIMON KINNEAR, LEILA LATIF, MATTHEW LEYLAND, JAMES MOTTRAM, RAFA SALES ROSS, KIM TAYLOR-FOSTER

2020 Dementia haunts Australian writer/ director Natalie Erika James’ affecting debut, robbing a poor matriarch (Robyn Nevin) of her memories, as her daughter (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter (Bella Heathcote) try to intervene. Taking cues from The Shining, James gives the family home a malevolent character of its own, the walls creaking and choked with mould. BEST BIT Heathcote gets trapped in a labyrinth without end. 2019 ‘Nothing good happens when two men are trapped in a giant phallus,’ quipped director and co-writer Robert Eggers. His film is clear evidence to the contrary. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson star as a pair of 19th-century ‘wickies’ driven insane by isolation, their full-bore commitment a perfect match for Eggers’ exquisitely ornate dialogue. BEST BIT ‘Hark Triton, hark!’ Thomas Wake blows up over an indifferent review of his lobster. 2001 Before Nicole Kidman played Grace in Lars von Trier’s seminal Dogville, she played Grace in Alejandro Amenábar’s skin-tingling suspenser about a mother living with two photosensitive children on a haunted Victorian estate. Weaving themes of religion, subservience and disability, The Others is aptly described by its director as a ‘story about human ghosts… and that can be even scarier.’ BEST BIT Grace finds the Book of the Dead… 2009 ‘I wanted it to feel like this is something that could have really happened,’ said writer/director Ti West of his babysitterin-peril flick. Against her better instincts, cash-strapped teen Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) agrees to spend the night looking after a spooky old lady called Mother, the slow-burn set-up building to a gratifyingly gonzo climax. BEST BIT Samantha meets Mother for a drink – of blood. 2014 ‘Mulholland Drive meets Rosemary’s Baby, with gnarly body horror’ might have been the pitch for a film that tracks struggling actress Sarah (Alex Essoe) as she sells body and soul to land a role, then falls apart – mentally and physically. ‘I was ravenous to be a part of it,’ said Essoe, which is all rather meta. Directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer landed studio horror Pet Sematary off this low-budget stunner. BEST BIT Vomiting maggots. 2007 Most time-travel films’ internal logic eventually breaks down, but writer/ director Nacho Vigalondo’s horror sci-fi is both clever and coherent. In a torturously twisted tale, Hector (Karra Elejalde) has his holiday ruined when he’s attacked by a man with a bandaged face. As time begins to spiral and Hector repeatedly quests for answers, each loop only thickens the atmosphere and sharpens the scares. BEST BIT Scissors! 2019 The novel and film of The Shining are both brilliant but very different, with Stephen King famously loathing Stanley Kubrick’s take. So kudos to Mike Flanagan for lovingly adapting the author’s personal sequel novel while also ensuring it follows in the (snowy) footsteps of the director’s iconic creation. The three-hour Director’s Cut of Doctor Sleep is especially good, digging deeper into the characters as Danny, all grown up to look like Ewan McGregor, helps young Abra (Kyliegh Curran) to control her power and turn it on the cult of nomadic psychic-vampires (led by a chilling Rebecca Ferguson) who seek to devour her. BEST BIT Heeere’s the Overlook Hotel! 2000 The bond between two sisters can be profound, but in the case of Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald (Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle), it’s also kind of all they have. The gothy siblings are outcasts in their wholesome Canadian town, and even before any werewolves make their presence known, things are looking bleak. The first words its scribe Karen Walton wrote down were, ‘Being a teenage girl is a nightmare,’ and this astute Canadian horror captures the alienation, the rage and the hormones – lycanthropes have monthly cycles, after all. That it’s also funny and gory is a bonus. BEST BIT Piercing a werewolf’s naval with a silver ring proves a massive error. 2003 Known as Haute Tension (High Tension) in its native France, and fully living up to the billing, Alexandre Aja’s turbo-charged slasher is like a banger you can’t help dancing to, even if the words don’t make sense. Students Alex (Maïwenn) and Marie (Cécile de France) head to Alex’s parents’ house, only for a psycho (Philippe Nahon) to break in, kill the spares and kidnap Alex. A frenzied chase follows, spiked with ultra-violence and building to a reveal that infuriates even the faithful – critic Richard Roeper called it, ‘An extremely wellmade, very grisly and ultimately dishonest slasher film.’ BEST BIT Heads do more than roll during the home invasion... 2021 Tangled remade by Ben Wheatley is a near fit for the Adams family’s homegrown marvel. Teenager Izzy (Zelda Adams) is kept isolated by her mother (Zelda’s mum Toby Poser), who claims the girl has an autoimmune condition. But it turns out they’re not exactly human – and once Izzy realises she’s a supernatural being who draws power from fear-laced blood, all bets are off. Co-written/ directed by Zelda, Poser and father John Adams, the result is a woodsy riot-grrrl freak-out, powered by raucous tunes from Izzy and Mum’s in-film garage band. ‘Witchy and dark and crooked and gnarly,’ as Toby puts it, Hellbender rocks. BEST BIT ‘Now it’s my turn…’ Izzy raises hell. For numbers 51-100, see pages 62-63. TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 53 HORROR MOVIES

2016 The rise of Iranian horror (see also #33) has reminded us that the genre is never more potent than when scratching at societal itches. Tehran-born director Babak Anvari mined his roots for his 80s-set tale of a mother (Narges Rashidi) under siege three-fold: from Iraqi bombings, the clerical thoughtpolice, and her daughter’s possession by a malevolent djinn. BEST BIT The perfectly executed smashed-window jump scare. 2012 Need to soundtrack a torture? Snap a radish. That’s the gig facing mildmannered Foley wizard Gilderoy (Toby Jones), in Peter Strickland’s playful, perplexing giallo homage. The masterstroke is that, while we hear everything, we never see what Gilderoy sees – a disassociation that mirrors his disintegrating sanity. BEST BIT A voice actor records his role as an ‘aroused goblin’. 2014 Dan Stevens turned his TV persona upside-Downton here as ex-army man David, who charms his way into a dead soldier’s family. His increasingly deadly antics reap both alarm and dark LOLs: ‘The humour comes from the situation itself,’ says director Adam Wingard. ‘The expectation that builds is funny because you’re always wondering where we’re going to take things.’ BEST BIT David owning a bar fight: beatings, broken bottles, bribery. 2018 ‘An extraordinary piece of work,’ raved Stephen King. ‘The SILENCE [sic] makes the camera’s eye open wide in a way few movies manage.’ A Quiet Place also made audiences behave in a way few movies manage, compelling soda-slurpers and crisp-crunchers to stow their appetites lest they break the unnerving spell cast by a story where sightless ETs with super-hearing stalk humanity. Birthing a franchise (Day One is next on the cards), AQP established director/actor/co-writer John Krasinski as a triple threat and made a star of deaf actress Millicent Simmonds, central to the film’s success as a layered and deeply felt portrait of (post-apocalyptic) family life. BEST BIT Lee’s final sign-off. ‘I have always loved you…’ 2018 ‘I did a lot [of drugs] in high school. I smoked weed and did mushrooms and acid.’ No shit. Visionary writer/director Panos Cosmatos followed his psychedelic debut Beyond the Black Rainbow with this bizarro midnight-madness feature, in which Nicolas Cage’s lumberjack embarks on a roaring rampage of revenge after being forced to view his wife’s death at the hands of a hippy cult. Set in 1983, in a ‘mythological landscape’, and shot on 16mm with colour filters to a synth score by the late Johann Johannsson, the whole thing look like the covers of a rack of 80s heavy metal albums, viewed through an opium haze. A bloody, druggy masterpiece. BEST BIT Chainsaw fight! Or Cage sat on the loo unleashing guttural howls of anguish. 2004 Despite being culpable for the largely regrettable ‘torture-porn’ era, James Wan’s Saw is far craftier than the films that rode its blood-soaked coattails – including the nine Saw movies to follow. Jigsaw killer John Kramer has imprisoned two men in a grotty bathroom. The question ‘why’ is answered by Leigh Whannell’s sly script through a series of flashbacks-withinflashbacks, and twists-within-twists. Shot for just $700,000, Wan envisioned a classically Hitchcockian thriller, but adopted a ‘more gritty and rough around the edges’ shooting style ‘due to the lack of time and money’. Add Jigsaw’s iconic traps, and the result is the most influential horror of the early 21st century. BEST BIT ‘Game over’ for Adam. 2021 Phil Tippett is a VFX wizard who’s won two Oscars and worked on RoboCop, Jurassic Park, Starship Troopers and various instalments of the Twilight Saga. But it’s this obsessional work, 30 years in the making, that most plummets jaws, as much for its technique as the fact it’s so imaginatively, viscerally, relentlessly grim. Set in an underworld, this dialogue-free mix of puppetry, stop-motion and fleeting live-action dishes non-stop cruelty and horror, as hundreds are killed, pulped, relieved of their innards, and worse. ‘It’s like Pasolini made a Pixar movie,’ wrote Sight and Sound. BEST BIT: The diving bell taking our ‘hero’ to hell (?) goes down and down and down. And down. And down and down and down. And down. 54 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS TF LIST

2010 Gareth Edwards’ debut maps out fresh, fertile creature-feature turf. A photographer (Scoot McNairy) escorts a woman (Whitney Able) across ‘infected’ Mexican terrain to the US border; tentacular aliens occupy the territory. Awful and awesome, Edwards’ off-world octopi are low-budget wonders, looming luminously and ominously over an improv love story. BEST BIT From beauty to time-loop terror, the climax kills. 2007 The fear of abandonment haunts J.A. Bayona’s elegantly gothic debut, which follows a couple re-opening the children’s home she grew up in, but losing their adopted son in the process. Equal parts scary – hello, creepy sackcloth-clad child – and sad, the film retains a powerful ambiguity. Critic Roger Ebert called it, ‘A superior ghost story, if indeed there are ghosts in it.’ BEST BIT Evil Benigna is knocked down by an ambulance. GOTCHA! 2016 Julia Ducournau’s coming-of-age body horror sees Justine (Garance Marillier) navigate veterinary school, hazing rituals and sex – learning more about herself and her family than she can chew on. ‘I could have made a gore-fest. But no, I wanted the audience to understand that it’s actually very human to be like this,’ said Ducournau of her cannibal drama. BEST BIT Justine eats her sister’s middle finger. 2014 Born in Britain to an Iranian family and raised in the US, writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour had quite the cultural mix of references growing up. They cleverly permeate her feature debut, a vampire movie set in Iran by way of Jim Jarmusch with a touch of Gus Van Sant. The result is a heavily stylised black-and-white chronicling of the illicit activities of an abaya-wearing vampire (Sheila Vand) who roams the derelict streets of fictitious Bad City to a sharply curated soundtrack that would become synonymous with Amirpour’s daring, vibrant work. ‘You’re free to extract as much subtext as possible,’ said Amirpour. BEST BIT Our vamp on a skateboard. It’s how she rolls. 2011 Five pals-slash-archetypes book a weekend at the titular locale… then find themselves in what could be described as H.P. Lovecraft’s The Truman Show. After writing gigs on Buffy, Lost and Cloverfield, Drew Goddard made his directorial bow with a movie as genre-savvy, twisty and monster-y as any of the above, and then some. ‘We love horror movies, and we sort of set out to make the ultimate version,’ he revealed. Indeed, the affection is so palpable, Cabin never risks being skewered by its own knowingness – the jolts are genuine and those archetypes invite emotional investment, especially ‘Virgin’ Dana (Kristen Connolly) and scene-stealing stoner ‘Fool’ Marty (Fran Kranz). BEST BIT Every elevator ‘ding’ yielding a new nightmare. 2015 Karyn Kusama’s fraught horror-thriller plays out like a drama for most of its runtime – it’s only in retrospect that the true awfulness becomes apparent. Grieving dad Will (Logan Marshall-Green) takes his new girlfriend Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi) to a party hosted by his ex-wife, Eden (Tammy Blanchard), and her new too-perfect partner David (Michiel Huisman), who are keeping an almighty secret. ‘What The Invitation allowed me to do was go straight into the heart of the concerns of my nightmares,’ said Kusama. ‘What does it mean to be human, and what are humans capable of?’ The results positively jitter with dread. BEST BIT Will escapes for some fresh air – there goes the neighbourhood. 2017 Horror fans thought they’d seen It all before, thanks to the well-remembered 1990 TV adap of Stephen King’s source novel. But they soon found themselves feasting on Andy Muschietti’s fresh reinterpretation, which cannily rode Stranger Things’ 80s-set wave. Muschietti’s movie is grislier and more intense than that King-influenced series, anchored in Bill Skarsgård’s viciously gleeful turn as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, who aims to make the kids of Derry his Maine meal. ‘Pennywise is constantly on the level of bursting,’ Skarsgård told the New York Times. ‘At almost any moment, he could lunge at you…’ BEST BIT He may be evil incarnate, but Pennywise sure can bust a move. TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 55 HORROR MOVIES

2019 If Gaspar Noé and Abel Ferrara combined to remake Phantom Thread as a grindhouse vampire flick with a doom metal soundtrack, it might be something like this. More-is-more director Joe Begos shoots on grainy, neon-drenched 16mm for this frenziedly intense tale of Dezzy (Dora Madison), an LA artist who binges on drugs, sex and murder to shift her creative block, and awakens from blackouts to a macabre masterpiece daubed in blood. ‘A gritty-ass fucking drug movie [with] vampire shades to it,’ is how Begos describes his hallucinogenic horrorshow. Quite. BEST BIT Dezzy cruising seedy LA in an open-top convertible. 2016 Part-drawn from truth, Ben Young’s terrifically-played kidnap thriller is no Kate Bush tribute. His 1987-set tale pulls us grimly close to murderous spouses (Stephen Curry, Emma Booth) whose sick-pup home life in suburban Perth takes all the fun out of dysfunctional. As they kidnap 17-year-old Vicki (Ashleigh Cummings), her eyes become our harrowed POV. Hounds bites hard, Young generating a distressed intensity from his washed-out images and controlled leads, favouring taut, tortured restraint over gratuitous shocks. ‘It’s not about what does happen, it’s about what can happen,’ the director explained. BEST BIT ‘Always danger…’ Joy Division’s Atmosphere features to fiercely cathartic effect. 2007 Like The Blair Witch Project relocated to the bedroom, Oren Peli’s foundfootage frightener is a demonic display of low-budget, high-focus dread. In San Diego, a static camera watches Micah and Katie as they sleep. Doors move, duvets are tugged… might the demon that disturbed younger Katie’s nights be here? Peli churns up psychological ambiguities to draw us in, then deploys ingenious uses of pacing (those fast-forwards…) and perspective to max our immersion until – slowly, surely – home becomes right where the horror is. ‘You can never avoid being asleep at your own home,’ said Peli. Sweet dreams. BEST BIT ‘I think we’ll be OK now…’ Or not. 2020 How do you make H.G. Wells’ 19th-century creation scary again? ‘You’ve got to make him mysterious,’ says writer/director Leigh Whannell, whose film centres not on the title character but on his ex, whom he seemingly persecutes from beyond the grave. This is a fantastical but horribly recognisable study of abuse, driven by Elisabeth Moss’ astonishingly committed performance as a woman enduring untold (and unseen) trauma before fighting back. Universal’s scaled-back standalone emerged in the wake of its failed Dark Universe… so at least we have The Mummy (2017) to thank for something. BEST BIT The restaurant kill leaves innocent Moss with blood on her hands. 2001 Transposing a classic spook story to Civil War-torn 1930s Spain, Guillermo del Toro’s masterly horror finds its monsters in men, and vice-versa. Beautifully shot, tenderly acted and, in places, properly creepy, it concerns an orphanage haunted by a childish spectre known as ‘the one who sighs’. Perhaps del Toro gained inspiration from once hearing the ghostly sighs of his deceased uncle as a youngster? But it’s a political, as well as a personal, work, with the director calling it ‘a gothic tale set against the backdrop of the greatest ghost engine of all: war’. BEST BIT Santi gets his final, watery revenge on his killer. 2019 Scandi pagan rituals get the Ari Aster treatment in his sophomore film, an ambitious folk horror that riffs on The Wicker Man while torching toxic masculinity. ‘It’s such a large film – the colour, the sound, the quality, the content,’ says Florence Pugh, who plays Dani, a traumatised American student who attends a midsummer festival with a group of friends in rural Sweden. Bad move. Or is it? What we know for sure is that Aster’s drama is a trip: sex, drugs and WTF brown bear costumes. We prefer the theatrical cut, but the Director’s Cut should also be seen. BEST BIT The elders jumping from the cliff truly rocks. 56 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS TF LIST

2016 The pitch: zombies on a train. Sometimes, it really is that easy. Yet Yeon Sang-ho’s action blockbuster transcends such apparent simplicity by sweating the details. No wonder Edgar Wright called it the ‘best zombie movie I’ve seen in forever’. Key to its freshness is setting. Yeon’s aim was to give it ‘elements of Korean emotion and tone that aren’t felt in Hollywood films’. Like fellow Korean Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer, Yeon’s train is a metaphor for class difference, the film’s plot a parable about helping others instead of being selfish. Yeon milks every source of tension from putting fast zombies in a confined space; the film’s inventive, relentless set-pieces are logically structured as a station-by-station, carriage-by-carriage survival odyssey. Yet by adding characters we care about, it’s moving in both senses of the word. BEST BIT The passengers attempt to leave the train at Daejeon station. Bad idea. 2007 Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza’s [Rec] is horror cinema at its breathlessly intense best. A Spanish found-footage gem, it follows a TV reporter and her cameraman who are quarantined inside an apartment building where an unholy infection is turning the residents into feral creatures. A zombie movie in all but name, [Rec] unfolds in real time over its pacy 78 minutes – an ethos worlds away from methodical genre grandaddy Night of the Living Dead. Taking a page out of Ridley Scott’s playbook, many of the surprises were sprung on the cast in the moment. ‘Don’t stop, react to anything that’s going to happen,’ were Plaza and Balagueró’s instructions. The result: pure terror. ‘The film corners you with the ferocity of a Spanish inquisitor with a branding iron and holds you there to the bitter end,’ noted late Observer critic Philip French. BEST BIT What’s lurking in the attic? 2007 Does The Mist – Frank Darabont’s sublime Stephen King adaptation – have the best horror-movie ending of the 21st century? There’s a strong case to be made. Writer/director Darabont was so committed to his soul-crushing send-off – a King-approved change to the original novella – that he accepted an $18 million budget to keep his ending intact, when $40 million was on the table. Great call. Set largely in a Maine supermarket, where locals seek refuge from the nightmarish eldritch abominations that have descended on their town (perhaps from a Lovecraft story) in a thick mist, the film’s true monsters are the people walking the aisles who forget their humanity at the end of the world. As Darabont puts it, ‘It’s Lord of the Flies that happens to have some cool monsters in it!’ (Note: the black-and-white version kills.) BEST BIT The cavalry arrives… too late. 2002 ‘Cinematic navel-gazing,’ huffed The Washington Post, but the protagonist played by Marina de Van, who also directs, is obsessed with all parts of her body, poking and pulling, pricking and cutting, biting and chewing. This stomach-churner explores self-harm as a form of release, of self-control, and of pleasure. It’s body horror to make Cronenberg shiver. BEST BIT Rolling sensually in her own blood. 2020 ‘We were being told that outside is scary and inside is safe,’ says director Rob Savage, whose seance horror upended that COVID-19-era wisdom in sensational fashion. Six friends invite a medium to their weekly Zoom call; unexpected guests join, too, yielding a succession of resourcefully mounted no-budget shocks. The cast’s authentic chemistry heightens the impact. BEST BIT The final session-expiry countdown: 3, 2, WTF! 2002 ‘I found zombies a bit daft,’ reckoned Danny Boyle, before screenwriter Alex Garland’s canny reimagining changed his mind. Mining John Wyndham’s speculative sci-fi and Brit-grit realism, Boyle’s ‘zombies’ are anything but daft. They’re angry, they’re infected and – uh-oh – they go like the clappers. Ruuuuun! BEST BIT Cillian Murphy wanders a deserted London in scenes eerily prescient of lockdown. TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 57 HORROR MOVIES

AL AMY, GET T Y 2008 The vampire movie gets reborn in this Scandinavian tale as chilly as a Stockholm winter. Adapted from John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel, it tracks bullied Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) as he finds comfort in his friendship with Eli (Lina Leandersson), a new kid on the block who only appears at night, carries a strange odour and thirsts for blood. As they bond, Eli becomes Oskar’s protector. ‘I see them as the same character,’ said director Tomas Alfredson, suggesting that Eli is somehow a manifestation of Oskar’s muted anger at the world. Putting its own unique spin on vampire lore – these creatures even send cats into a frenzy – Alfredson’s minimalist masterpiece may have inspired an American movie remake and TV series, but neither boasted its sensitivity and strangeness. BEST BIT The underwater-POV swimming pool attack, as Eli takes out Oskar’s tormentors. 2008 Perhaps the most bruising film of the New French Extremism movement, writer/ director Pascal Laugier’s masterwork is wreathed in pain. Beginning in the realms of J-horror, as kidnapping victim Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï) is tormented by a mysterious figure from the past, it moves towards torture porn (or ‘anti-torture porn’ as Laugier put it) when she and childhood friend Anna (Morjana Alaoui) kill a seemingly innocent family, only to discover [SPOILERS AHEAD!] a subterranean chamber beneath their home… ‘Horror shouldn’t be a unifying genre,’ said Laugier, who doesn’t flinch from exploring the aftershocks of abuse, and the brutalities perpetrated in the name of religion. ‘It must divide, shock, make cracks in the certainties of the audience.’ Consider that a warning. BEST BIT Skin flayed, eyes aflame, Anna finally sees the truth. Both troubling and transcendental. 2014 Jennifer Kent’s outstanding debut tackles grief, loss, guilt, mental health, motherhood and the absent-father theme – by terrorising a mother and son via a supernatural monster with a taste for fine millinery. Amelia (Essie Davis) has raised six-year-old Samuel (Noah Wiseman) alone after her husband was killed in a car accident, and must watch in horror as his behaviour spirals when a sinister pop-up book – Mister Babadook – mysteriously appears. Made for just $2.5 million, The Babadook based its top-hatted monster on stills of Lon Chaney’s vampire in lost silent film London After Midnight, and brought it to life via stop-motion animation and practical effects. Boy, does it work. ‘I’ve never seen a more terrifying film,’ said The Exorcist’s William Friedkin. BEST BIT When Amelia goes full big bad Babadook, uttering unimaginable things to her son. 2022 The Exorcist for the TikTok age? Vividly and cinematically playing with the theme of possession, writerdirectors Danny and Michael Philippou pair this with grief, as 17-year-old Mia (Sophie Wilde) is offered a hand in communing with her late mother... or not. “We wanted it to feel dangerous and unpredictable,” says Danny. Mission accomplished. BEST BIT Handshakes all round for the ballsy ending. 2011 Essentially a cursed kitchen-sink thriller, Ben Wheatley’s second feature closes around you like a trap. Two contract killers take a job, but do they know why they’re signing in blood? No, and the blackly comic horrors that ensue steadily intensify. Come the climax, there’s no escape, no catharsis: ‘You’re supposed,’ says Wheatley, ‘to be suffering.’ BEST BIT The Librarian. It’s hammer time. 2014 Powered by a spectacular synth score, this ultra-stylish chiller puts a contemporary spin on Ringu by swapping a haunted VHS for a cursed STD. Maika Monroe is the unlucky victim, pursued by a relentless, shapeshifting slow-walker that turns every background player into a potential heart attack. ‘The best horror film in years,’ screamed Vice. BEST BIT The Tall Man makes an entrance. 58 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 TF LIST

2015 Suffused with dark magic, Robert Eggers’ chiller was inspired by the 17th-century Salem Witch Trials, which took place near to where he grew up and haunted his childhood dreams. For his directorial debut, the former production designer strikes a rich seam of realism, using natural light, accurate sets and authentic (British) accents to anchor the more fantastical elements. In 1630s New England, young Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her god-fearing family are banished by the other settlers following a religious disagreement, and forced to fend for themselves in the unforgiving wilderness. But when their baby is stolen by something, it’s not God who’s pulling the strings. ‘I wanted this film to be like a nightmare from the past,’ said Eggers, ‘like a Puritan’s nightmare that you could upload into the mind’s eye.’ Amen to that. BEST BIT ‘Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?’ asks a mysterious figure. 2001 ‘When I’m told that Kairo predicted the future, I have to say that was not my original intention,’ says Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Well, we can only assume that his intention was to reduce terrified viewers to whimpering wrecks, because it’s the only thing this does better. Made as the world was getting to grips with the internet, Kairo (Pulse) anticipated 21st-century disconnection. Its young protagonists set out to find why Tokyo is growing emptier by the day, and learn that malevolent spirits are entering our world through these portals. As suicides rack up and the shadow-drenched city – all stains, scratchy sound design and dissonant spaces – becomes more and more sinister, Kairo seeps wider and deeper until it feels apocalyptic. Along with Hideo Nakata’s Ringu, this is the apex of J-horror. BEST BIT A distorted ghost walks towards us in slow motion. Terrifying. 2005 Who’s afraid of the dark? In Neil Marshall’s hands, we all are. The power of The Descent is that (unless you’re watching the punch-pulling US cut) the title is a hideous promise. Down we go. Jangling nerves from the opening scene, Marshall dials up the tension as a sextet of friends go spelunking in an uncharted cave system. They’re in trouble long before they realise they’re not alone. ‘There was malicious intent on my part,’ admitted Marshall. ‘I wanted to scare the shit out of people.’ In impressively cramped, soundstage-built locations, Marshall heightened realism and claustrophobia by only using appropriate light sources (flares, glowsticks) wielded by his cast. And that’s without mentioning his inspired decision to make his heroes women, offering an authentic portrait of frazzled friendship undone by grief, betrayal and troglodyte predators. BEST BIT The night-vision reveal. 2004 A great comedy, yes, but also a great horror film. Raised on Raimi and Romero, Edgar Wright and star/co-writer Simon Pegg understand every trope of the zombie movie, and that’s why Shaun is so effective. From having to brain friends and family before they turn, to the cathartic disembowelling of the arsehole in the group, the film doesn’t stint on guts, emotional or literal. Shaun’s genius is to bring these familiar beats across the Atlantic. ‘In American zombie movies, everyone had high-powered weapons,’ pondered Wright. ‘What would someone do without all that?’ Hence the climactic siege takes place in the local pub, a zombie bite can be dealt with simply by ‘running it under the tap’, and the reaction to a blood-stained shirt is to politely point out that ‘you’ve got red on you’. BEST BIT The jukebox plays Don’t Stop Me Now. TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 59 HORROR MOVIES

ALAMY 2017 Who would have thought a former puppeteer turned comedian who was best known for an Obama impersonation would make the most searing horror satire of the 21st century? Jordan Peele, with then barely-known British actor Daniel Kaluuya, brought to the screen a portrait of race in America, where Black bodies are prized while Black lives aren’t. Talented photographer Chris (Kaluuya) somewhat reluctantly agrees to spend a weekend with his white girlfriend’s family in upstate New York. At first, all he faces are microaggressions, but soon, things get dangerous. Part of Peele’s mission was to acknowledge just how ridiculous the image of America being a post-racial utopia was.‘We’re in the Obama presidency, and race was not supposed to be discussed,’ he explained. ‘It was almost like, if you talk about race, it will appear!’ Get Out not only got audiences to take in the unspoken horrors that African Americans face but also received love letters from critics, won Peele a well-deserved Oscar, and brought the Black horror genre back from The Sunken Place. BEST BIT ‘I would have voted for Obama a third time if I could.’ 2013 ‘The human skin in their [alien] eyes is similar to a carrier bag of shopping,’ says director Jonathan Glazer, explaining how Scarlett Johansson’s visitor perceives us. With inky style, Glazer’s otherworldly chiller makes us see humanity and horror anew, unsettling audience certainties. Johansson’s ET stalks Scotland, a predator seeking naturally occurring resources: men. Glazer asserts his intent to derail perceptions right from his cosmic prologue, paring cinema down to the base matter of light, darkness, eyes… Johansson also takes shape before us, putting on new skin for stalking in. And when she brings home the bacon – ‘vodsel’, in source author Michel Faber’s term – Glazer’s gloopy abstract images suggest just enough of the abattoir to horrify. Surprise twists seed hints of hope for humanity, but not before Glazer has made us feel terribly small. BEST BIT The baby on the beach haunts for years. 2008 Appearing out of nowhere like a face in the darkness, Australian writer/director Joel Anderson’s insistently spooky 2008 debut lingers long in the mind. A fake documentary exploring the mutability of grief and truth, it introduces us to the Palmers, a family living in smalltown Ararat, Victoria, whose 16-year-old daughter, Alice (Talia Zucker), drowns while swimming at the local dam. Only Alice isn’t really gone, returning to haunt them in dreams, home movies and old photographs as they try to process their loss. Inspired by Twin Peaks and the eeriness of the Australian outback, Anderson presents a psychologically convincing ghost story shot through with a deep vein of dread. ‘I like the idea of disquiet,’ he said. ‘I don’t find jumping-out-of-the-closet moments scary.’ To his credit, Lake Mungo isn’t just disquieting; it’s heartbreaking, too. BEST BIT Alice captures something terrifying on her camera phone. 60 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS TF LIST

2018 Hail, Paimon! Ari Aster’s petrifying debut has been crowned Total Film’s #1 horror movie of the 21st century; don’t lose your head over it. Combining elements of The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby and Don’t Look Now into a ferociously effective new beast, Hereditary is a devastating family drama, where the everyday horrors of loss and grief are – in a way – even more distressing than a demon with a proclivity for shock decapitations. In a just world, Toni Collette’s fiercely committed performance wouldn’t only have been nominated for an Academy Award, she’d have won. Exemplary through to its dizzyingly bleak finale, Aster’s wildly assured script is matched by his strikingly artful visuals, employing destabilising day/ night match cuts and a dollhouse motif that takes on sinister new meaning with the foreknowledge that the Graham family are little more than playthings for an incomprehensible higher power. After receiving ecstatic notices out of Sundance 2018 (‘A modern-day horror masterpiece,’ said USA Today) the myth of Hereditary was assured when the trailer accidentally played before a screening of Peter Rabbit in Perth, sending young families fleeing. ‘It’s just wonderful filmmaking,’ said Martin Scorsese. ‘It reminds me of the best of horror films.’ You and us both, Marty. BEST BIT Off with her head. mploying destabilising day/ lhouse motif that takes on he foreknowledge that more than playthings for ower. s out of Sundance terpiece,’ said USA assured when the creening of Peter es fleeing. ‘It’s n Scorsese. ms.’ You and NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 61

2009 Anyone with a love of Mario Bava and Dario Argento’s giallo movies needs to see this gorgeously lurid BelgianFrench homage. Death has never been so sensual. 2009 Arthouse meets torture porn in Lars von Trier’s cabin-in-the-woods shocker. Punishment, forgiveness, ejaculating blood, a talking fox. Chaos reigns, indeed. 2016 If ghosts invade your holiday home, who you gonna call? Not this exorcist. A delightful horror-(cringe)com with likeable characters and consistent chuckles. 2022 Two strangers find they’ve double-booked an Airbnb. And that’s the least of their problems in Zach Cregger’s outrageous fright ride full of sharp left turns. 2012 Jeremy Gardner writes, directs and stars in a lowbudget, existential zombie movie with real pathos. The extended one-take climactic sequence is extraordinary. 2002 Soldiers v werewolves in Neil Marshall’s raucously funny and super-gory calling card. The action is fast, furious and admirably gutsy: ‘Sausages.’ 2023 Lee Cronin relocates the gnarly action to a rundown LA tower block and gives us the best Evil Dead movie since the 80s. Now, where’s our cheese grater… 2016 Simon Rumley makes off-beam horror as imaginative as it is intense. This fractured breakdown of a clothes-obsessed woman would unnerve Nicolas Roeg. 2001 The family that slays together… Bill Paxton’s directorial debut locks onto a religious fanatic (Paxton himself) who forces his sons to join him in killing ‘demons’. 2017 Mike Flanagan cracks Stephen King’s ‘unfilmable’ novel about a woman left handcuffed to a bed after her hubby carks it during spicy lovemaking. One word: degloving. 2016 A modern-day witch uses magic to bamboozle the patriarchy. Anna Biller wrote, directed and edited. She also handmade the spellbinding sets and costumes. 2002 A lonely, socially awkward young woman builds herself a friend. Like if Carrie was Victor Frankenstein. The dark humour will have you in stitches. 021 A woman is paralysed by visions of murders. So far, so Eyes of Laura Mars. Then a bonkers final act accelerates James Wan’s movie straight on to this list. 2022 Set in 1918, during the Spanish Flu, Ti West’s prequel to X nods to the Golden Age of Hollywood and features a deliriously unhinged Mia Goth in the title role. 2008 A virus that’s passed through language? This claustrophobic Canadian zombie flick is all talk (in a good way) and boasts a top turn by Stephen McHattie. 2017 As slick and postmodern as any Scream movie, this entertaining slasher-comedy focuses on two social-media obsessed teens. Should have been a mainstream hit. 2007 The most fun horror anthology since heyday Amicus – or at least since Creepshow – serves up serial killers, werewolves and more. There’s warmth to the chills. 2019 Jordan Peele proved he was no one-hit wonder with this potent doppelgänger(s) movie full of nightmarish imagery. It’s not outsiders who are terrifying, it’s… 2020 A troubled woman returns home and seeks revenge in one of the toughest films on the list. The rape-revenge sub-genre gets a morally complex, artistic overhaul. 2016 ‘Luis Buñuel spliced with Hieronymus Bosch,’ yelped TF upon the release of this hellish vision. Provocative in the extreme. 2022 Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Woodsboro… This ‘requel’ repackages the essentials: smarts, scary set-pieces and Neve Campbell’s Sidney. 001 Never mind a haunted house, how about a haunted psychiatric hospital? Brad Anderson turns the screws tight as things get freaky for an asbestos-cleaning crew. 2011 Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar applies his scalpel-sharp talents to an Eyes Without a Face-alike tale of surgery, sex and shifting identities. 2011 [Rec]’s Jaume Balagueró slows things down to a holdyour-breath standstill, as a doorman lets himself into a woman’s apartment and sleeps under her bed. 2022 This bleak Danish offering will put you off ever making friends on holiday. The dread grows and grows until we reach the most horrific climax since The Vanishing. SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS TF LIST 62 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023

WORDS JAMIE GRAHAM 2021 An 80s film censor views a video nasty that speaks to her own buried trauma. Prano Bailey-Bond’s debut is an oppressive study of grief, guilt and gratuitous violence. 2018 Spiced sangria whips a dance troupe into a bloodthirsty orgiastic frenzy in Gaspar Noé’s danse macabre. Seems like the camera operator drank most of it. 2008 Found-footage movies normally seek intimacy and realism. Matt Reeves and J.J. Abrams applied the format to a giant monster movie. There goes New York… 2013 James Wan’s super-slick suspenser thrust real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren into spine-icing action, launching a cinematic universe. 2016 Sorcery and grief. This Irish occult horror starring Steve Oram and Catherine Walker should be much better known. A seriously atmospheric chamber piece. 2016 A deaf and mute writer is terrorised by a masked man in her isolated house. Mike Flanagan has two other movies on this list, but this is his scariest offering. 2021 The cruelty of children is quietly explored as kids with dark powers begin to flex their abilities. A slow-burn Norwegian chiller that rightly became an international hit. 2007 Home alone, a heavily pregnant woman is besieged by a crazed Béatrice Dalle, who’s after her baby. Grisly AF, with the technical control of a Fincher movie. 2010 The successful horror franchise that James Wan and Patrick Wilson conjured up first. Haunted-house chills and an inspired jump-scare cameo from Darth Maul. 2019 All shadow, shimmer and synth soundscapes, Jennifer Reeder’s beguiling teen noir evokes echoes of Lynch as a young girl disappears in a Midwest town. 2009 Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza return to the quarantined building to deliver 90 dread-drenched minutes. [Rec] 3 went for something different. 2012 Deconstructing genre tropes, the DIY debut of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (see also Spring, below) is a cabin-in-the-woods horror like no other. 2017 A hunting trip goes horribly south in this taut, stylish French thriller. Writer/ director Coralie Fargeat brings a female perspective to the rape-revenge film. 2017 Bickering friends go hiking in Sweden and stumble into a superior creature feature. The reveal does that rare thing of matching the atmospheric build-up. 2019 Rose Glass’ attentiongrabbing debut sees nurse Morfydd Clark try to save the soul of a dying patient. Think Persona meets Repulsion. The climax scorches. 2013 An elegant US remake that actually improves on the original – in this case Mexican cannibal-family film Somos lo que hay. 2001 Producer/director/actor Larry Fessenden is a god of indie horror. Wendigo shows why, blending city folks’ fear of rural locals with a folkloric monster tale. Brrr. 2014 ‘We drink virgin blood because it sounds cool.’ Ace vampire mockumentary by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. See also the TV show. 2018 Writer-director Andy Mitton makes wonderfully delicate films. This is his best, a ghost story as a father and son flip an old Vermont farmhouse. 2022 Young filmmakers shooting a porno in rural Texas get cut down to size in Ti West’s wellcrafted ode to 70s slashers. Prequel Pearl was released later the same year. 2014 Imagine, if you can, a walking and talking romantic drama in the Richard Linklater vein, spliced with H.P. Lovecraft or Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession. WTF, basically. 2008 The poster child of modern home-invasion movies. When the victims ask their tormentors why they’re doing this, ‘Because you were home’ is the chilling reply. 2003 Two sisters, one creaking house, a creeping camera and masterful art direction make for a super-scary South Korean chiller. 2006 Many home-invasion movies are graphic and grim. This fast-moving French effort instead relies on intense suspense and is all the more terrifying for it. 2009 There are stylish, propulsive serial-killer movies, and there are grubby character studies. Tony squats firmly in the latter camp. Post-viewing shower obligatory. TOTALFILM.COM HORROR MOVIES NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 63

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Set in the most unsettling movie hotel since The Shining, Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter brings us a double dose of Tilda Swinton for a fog-shrouded tale about parents, children and the ties that bind. A quivering, shivering Total Film digs into a uniquely elegant ghost story. WORDS JAMES MOTTRAM Set in the most unsettling movie hotel since The Shining, Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter brings us adouble dose of Tilda Swinton for a fog-shrouded tale about parents, children and the ties that bind. A quivering, shivering TotalFilm digs into auniquely elegant ghost story. WORDS JAMES MOTTRAM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 65

BFI DISTRIBUTION oanna Hogg is sheltering in a shopping centre about two hours north of Rome. The British filmmaker has taken time out from her vacation to talk to Total Film about her new movie, ghostly tale The Eternal Daughter, which she seems pleased to do. ‘I’m not very good on holiday,’ she says. ‘I wish I was better at just relaxing, but I just can’t do it.’ Still, it feels apt to speak during such an excursion, given The Eternal Daughter follows the story of a mother and her grown-up daughter holidaying in an isolated hotel where things really do go bump in the night. The idea grew out of personal experience. From the age of 12, Hogg and her mother would go on short trips together, for a few days at a time, often venturing north of the border to attend the Edinburgh Festival. ‘We’d go and stay in a little hotel or a pub with rooms above it… We’d go and stay somewhere,’ she recalls. ‘And it was always really nice, but there was also always a point where things got… It wasn’t always easy. And of course, my mother’s not around any more now. So I miss those times together. They were really precious.’ She’s not the only one. Tilda Swinton, the star of The Eternal Daughter, has been a close friend of Hogg’s right back to 1971, when they were both in dorms at West Heath Girls’ School. As Swinton explained at last year’s Venice Film Festival, long before the SAG-AFTRA strike: ‘Joanna and I have spoken for 50 years about our mothers and neither of our mothers are with us any more. My mother moved on earlier than shooting this film. And Joanna and I had talked a lot about the entanglement of a mother and a daughter – even after the mother has left – and the projections involved.’ Previously, Swinton featured in both The Souvenir (2019) and The Souvenir Part II (2021), Hogg’s acclaimed, autobiographical tales from her time as a young film student. In those, she played Rosalind, mother to Julie, the film student played by her own offspring, Honor Swinton Byrne. In The Eternal Daughter, the mother and daughter are also called Rosalind and Julie, the latter a middle-aged filmmaker looking to document her parent’s life. So is this some kind of warped sequel to the Souvenir films? Is Hogg playing a little game with us? ‘I mean, not even a little game. The only names that rang true for this story, which I never saw as an extension of The Souvenir actually… Well, the only names that rang true were Rosalind and Julie. And then I feel… Well, maybe you see it a different way. But for me, the connections stopped there because it’s in a very different key. Stylistically and thematically. I was playing with something different. So in some ways, I now think, “Oh, I wish I’d given them other names.” So people didn’t think that it was a third part or something. Very much in my mind, it isn’t.’ Where the film really twists is that Swinton doesn’t just play Julie. Aged up, sporting tweeds, she is Rosalind as well. Taking on multiple roles is nothing new to her, having featured in various guises in Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Dario Argento’s Suspiria. But Hogg never intended for something similar: ‘It never entered my head that she would also be Rosalind.’ After discussing various actors who could take on the part, it was only when Swinton casually suggested it that the idea took form. ‘The thing I was worried about is that it would seem like a gimmick,’ says Hogg. For Swinton, it was anything but. ‘This idea of them being played by the same person… makes it an entirely different film.’ Returning to this idea of the dynamic between a mother and a daughter, it morphs into something more profound. ‘How much do we separate? And how much of our mother is our projection, how much of our daughter is our projection? This whole question then became alive for us. And so once we’d had this idea, we didn’t look back.’ Hogg originally thought about writing The Eternal Daughter back in 2008, but at that point it wasn’t a ghost story. ‘I eventually put it aside… out of guilt and not wanting to trespass on my mother’s life. So framing it as a ghost story helped to remove it from my own experience and my own relationship with my mother.’ When she picked it up again, during the first lockdown, she had help from one Martin Scorsese, who had been executive producer on her 2013 movie Exhibition and the Souvenir films. ‘I asked him to recommend me some short ghost stories – not films, but books. And he gave me a fantastic list of stories to read, including one by [Rudyard] Kipling called They, which ended up having a big influence on the film because it’s a very moving story, partly based on Kipling’s own experience of losing a child. And that was the first time I’d read a ghost story that reduced me to tears and made me think this film, The Eternal Daughter, can have an uneasy atmosphere. But also, hopefully, go very deep emotionally.’ Uneasy is the word. Kipling aside, Henry James’ classic tale The Turn of the Screw and the ghost stories of Edith Wharton were also 66 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

them both in the same frame, but otherwise, they’re very much individuals.’ As Swinton puts it: ‘It’s inspired… to have no over-the-shoulders, to have no paraphernalia, no doubles. No somebody else with a similar wig. None of that. Just this person. And then this person. It’s a very brave and inspired artistic choice and not only on her behalf, but the team. I mean, Ed Rutherford, who’s the extraordinary director of photography, just committed to that and lit it in such a way that for my money, you don’t question.’ Even more remarkably, the dialogues were improvised by Swinton, who role-played the conversations, fleshing out the exchanges between the two characters. ‘Tilda was incredible, keeping the energy going from the first half of the conversation,’ says Hogg. ‘And then I didn’t mind if what the mother responds to isn’t exactly the same; the fact that it didn’t always match, I thought was interesting. We’re not always on the same wavelength in [life].’ Says Swinton: ‘[It’s a] glorious way of working, because it means that you can go any which way.’ Less audible than the dialogue, though just as crucial, was the meticulous sound design. Hogg worked in Dolby Atmos for the first time, creating an immersive soundscape for the hotel. ‘It really goes beyond just surround sound. It really does envelop you,’ she says. ‘The sound was a huge part of it… It’s really elaborate.’ She even asked Davies, when she wasn’t playing the receptionist, to help out by creating a unique, ethereal groan. ‘Carly is also a singer and has a wonderful voice,’ explains Hogg, ‘and she’s sometimes the sound of the wind.’ It all feeds into The Eternal Daughter’s disquieting atmosphere, conjuring up a ghost story – or a grief story – with an emotional core. If it’s a film about fears of mortality, of the inevitable pain of losing a parent, Swinton points out there’s catharsis to be had: ‘Making the film was partly an exercise in making friends with projection, not being frightened of it, not being frightened of being haunted. And also acknowledging that just because someone exits the building, the conversation can continue. It doesn’t have to end.’ THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 24 NOVEMBER. Tilda Swinton was speaking at the Venice Film Festival 2022, ahead of the SAG-AFTRA strike. In reality, Hogg’s team shot in Soughton Hall, a Grade II-listed country house in Flintshire, Wales, an experience that left her ‘spooked’, she says. ‘I made myself stay there while we were filming. There were just a handful of us who opted to stay in the hotel, and I did it, a lot out of convenience, because it meant I could just jump out of bed and be on the set straight away. But also, I thought, well, maybe something useful will come out of it. And I didn’t sleep very well. Everyone’s imaginations got more and more active. And I don’t know whether it’s because of the film that we were making, but, yeah, all sorts of things were heard and not quite seen.’ Aside from the technical challenges of creating a landscape drenched in fog (‘A fair amount of effort and money went into making sure that was always there,’ says Hogg), the biggest decision was how to shoot Swinton in both roles. Filmed in story order, there were to be no tricks, no over-the-shoulder shots where you’re aware of mother and daughter both in the frame. ‘I had to do it very simply,’ says Hogg. ‘I think twice or three times you see mood-setters for a tale based in a fog-shrouded hotel. As the floorboards creek and the wind groans, Julie is rattled by a faint but persistent thumping. The hotel, she’s told, is full, but where is everyone? Aside from Rosalind’s dog Louis (Swinton’s spaniel in real life), the only other souls are the frosty receptionist (CarlySophia Davies) and the hotel’s kindly night porter Bill (Joseph Mydell), very much channelling vibes from Stanley Kubrick’s own masterly hotel horror, The Shining. I ntriguingly, Hogg also makes use of Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, which Kubrick also mined for his film. ‘It’s another movement from the same piece of music,’ she says, outlining that she was careful not to choose exactly the same music ‘because it’s got such direct connections with The Shining’. You won’t find rivers of blood flowing through the maze-like corridors, but this space appears to be haunted by events of the past. As we discover, the hotel was Rosalind’s former family home, the walls witness to more than one painful memory. ‘THIS IDEA OF THEM BEING PLAYED BY THE SAME PERSON MAKES IT A DIFFERENT FILM’ TILDA SWINTON TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 67 THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER

An actor researches a decades-old, tabloidfuelled scandal with disturbing consequences in MAY DECEMBER, Todd Haynes’ devilish and delicious story of identity, duality and morality. Total Film meets with the director and his cast to discuss one of the slipperiest movies of the year. WORDS JAMES MOTTRAM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 69

SKY ow I felt reading it… was so uncertain, fascinated, troubled,’ admits Todd Haynes, talking about the script for his beguiling new film May December, when Total Film meets him pre-strike at the Cannes Film Festival. The day before, at the press conference, the esteemed American filmmaker behind Carol and Far from Heaven brought the house down when he explained the meaning of the film’s title – a relationship, of course, defined by a huge age gap. ‘Some people in France called it “Le Macron”,’ he quipped, alluding to the French President’s much older partner, Brigitte, whom he met when he was 15. Scripted by casting-director-turned-writer Samy Burch, May December also turns on a coupling between a young man and an older woman. As the film’s opening informs, Gracie Atherton was 36 when she met Joe Yoo, a 13-year-old who worked in the same pet store she did. When they were caught having sex, she was arrested, later giving birth to his baby in jail. Yet they remained together, marrying when she was released – defiant in the face of a national scandal that, even 20-or-so years later, still sees them abused with hate mail. Loosely, the story is inspired by Mary Kay Letourneau, a teacher from Washington who pleaded guilty to felony seconddegree rape of a child in 1997, after having sexual relations with a 12-year-old boy. She gave birth to their first child while H awaiting sentencing. A plea agreement was reached meaning she only spent three months in jail, but shortly after she was released, police caught her with the boy again. This time, she served six years, giving birth to their second daughter while incarcerated. A year after her release, they married, remaining together for a further 14 years. Yet that is just the inciting incident for May December, which twists on the notion that Gracie has consented for her and Joe’s story to be told in a new movie. The actor playing her – Elizabeth Berry – arrives at Gracie’s home in Savannah, Georgia, to shadow her. ‘You think Elizabeth will be our way into this weird story and this crazy lady and this young man, and that she’ll be our kind of stable proxy,’ continues Haynes. ‘And then as the story unfolds, you start to question Elizabeth, her motives, the way she treats the people around her.’ This notion stood out for Haynes when he first received the script from star Natalie Portman, after launching her production company MountainA. Portman, 42, was desperate to play Elizabeth, especially having experienced what it’s like to explore real-life characters – whether it’s Anne Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl or former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in Jackie, which gleaned her an Oscar nomination. ‘I mean, it definitely has felt like my entire life’s work has been research for this role,’ she nods, sporting a chic black trouser suit when we speak in a rooftop space of Cannes’ J.W. Marriott hotel. For Portman, though, May December touched on so many issues beyond the potentially vampiric nature of acting. ‘I think that the movie really is asking if art can be amoral,’ she states. ‘We make so many movies and television shows about serial killers, about all sorts of human transgression. And we have this approach of, like, we just want to depict human behaviour. And we’re curious about human behaviour even when it’s a crime. But can we really depict it without passing judgement?’ When Portman and Haynes met, they began to talk about who might play Gracie. ‘That was an easy choice,’ grins Haynes, who went to his long-time collaborator Julianne Moore. The same age – they’re both 62 – they first worked together on Haynes’ 1995 virus drama, Safe. ‘For me, personally, I feel like I understand Todd,’ Moore says. ‘I see his point of view.’ Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) and Joe (Charles Melton) Actor Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) visits Gracie (Julianne Moore) while researching a movie role 70 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

Moreover, this is one actor tailor-made for risqué material – be it a porn star in Boogie Nights or an incestuous socialite in Savage Grace – which explains her fascination in Gracie’s transgressions. ‘The reason this movie feels so dangerous, I think, watching it, is that people don’t know where anyone’s boundaries are,’ she says. ‘You’re in a social situation, somebody does something wildly inappropriate, you’re like, “Why do I feel so uncomfortable? I really feel uncomfortable, I want to get out of here.” It’s because someone has transgressed a social boundary, or an emotional boundary and you feel unsafe. And that’s what I think Todd has captured so beautifully in this film. And that I think is most compelling to me.’ T o play Joe, Haynes brought in Alaskaborn Charles Melton – best known for playing Reggie on The CW series Riverdale. When we first see Joe, he’s texting flirty messages to someone else, suggesting all is not well in paradise. ‘The arrival of Natalie’s character just serves as this catalyst for his own awakening,’ adds the 32-year-old, a comment that chimes with Haynes’ notion that the film ‘is ultimately Joe’s story’. A devoted father determined ‘to put his family first’, adds Melton, Joe is more than just a footnote in a scandal. ‘Life does go on beyond the tabloids,’ he adds. When the production got underway, Haynes and co. decamped to Savannah, Georgia, a city that’s often been used in ‘very gothic’ films like Clint Eastwood’s murderous tale Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, he notes. ‘It’s beautiful; the antebellum architecture that was preserved and has never changed since the Civil War. But now it’s a tourist town 365 days of the year with roaming white tourists with open-container beers at all hours. And so I wanted some of that ugliness in the movie to de-romanticise and take the piss out of Savannah a little bit, too.’ The Atherton-Yoo house was found at nearby Tybee Island. ‘Every place we shot was a real place,’ adds Haynes. ‘No sets at all.’ Haynes provided his cast with a list of movies to watch as part of their prep – films like British infidelity drama The Pumpkin Eater, starring Anne Bancroft and Peter Finch, and Ingmar Bergman’s Persona, a film that deals with duality in much the way May December does. In this case, in one crucial scene, Haynes films Gracie and Elizabeth next to each other as they stare into a mirror, adjusting their make-up. ‘Using the camera as a mirror,’ suggests Portman, ‘it had a sense of reflecting the performance, even when you’re alone. How do we even perform for ourselves? How do we wear masks for ourselves?’ As the scene unfolds, they go from looking directly at the audience to seeing themselves reflected in one another’s eyes. An ‘X’ tape mark aided the actors’ eyelines shooting the scene, ‘so it was technically not intuitive,’ explains Portman, ‘but it was really just an incredible way to have to face the camera and be bare in a weird way, even though you’re self-conscious – exactly like a mirror. Because you’re self-conscious in the most profound sense, looking at yourself. But you’re also alone with yourself. And so there’s a real exposure and rawness you can have. So it was a really interesting exercise.’ Another film that shaped Haynes’ vision here was Joseph Losey’s 1971 film The Go-Between, and in particular the score by Michel Legrand. ‘I saw the movie a year ago and it made me think, “Oh, this is the kind of music I want to try to use in the film,”’ he says. Noting that it puts the viewer on high alert, the dramatic piano strains being ‘so full of dread and foreboding’, Haynes began by writing cues from Legrand’s music into the script, then played it on set. ‘It’s very bold and airy,’ says Melton. ‘It really had an influence in just how those scenes went.’ Later, Haynes’ regular editor Affonso Gonçalves began using Legrand’s work as temp music. ‘By the end, the film was built on the score,’ says the director. ‘The tone of the film was resting [on it].’ The film’s composer, Marcelo Zarvos, then rerecorded it, folding it into the original music he’d written. ‘It really was a collaboration between Marcelo and one of the great masters of music and film,’ Haynes adds. Still, moments like Gracie exclaiming, ‘I don’t think we have enough hotdogs,’ as the music booms and the camera zooms play for laughs. It’s what makes May December one of Haynes’ most complex films – funny, tragic, tawdry and tender. ‘I think it’s maybe my only comedy,’ he feels. ‘I think it is a very dark comedy. It also has real sadness. It is an incredibly witty script. But it took these actors playing it straight and subtly to allow for all of the big gestures around them to make you go, “Oh, OK. We’re allowed to laugh at this!” It gives you permission to enjoy watching it… and not feel too bogged down in it, even though it’s dealing with very disturbing and complex and disquieting themes.’ Or as Portman simply puts it: ‘The movie’s risky.’ MAY DECEMBER OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 17 NOVEMBER AND IS ON SKY CINEMA FROM 8 DECEMBER. All interviews completed ahead of the SAG-AFTRA strike. ‘I THINK IT’S MAYBE MY ONLY COMEDY – A VERY DARK COMEDY’ TODD HAYNES transgressions. hink, watching ndaries body does y do I feel so t to get out of ocial boundary, nd that’s his film. aor erdale. lirty well in erves as -year-old, t the film ‘is ned ‘to put st a footnote ,’ he adds. nd co. en been murderous es. ‘It’s reserved ow it’s white Haynes began by writing cu script, then played it on set ‘It really had an influence in Later, Haynes’ regular e Legrand’s work as temp mu on the score,’ says the direc [on it].’ The film’s compose it, folding it into the origina was a collaboration betwe masters of music and like Gracie exclaimi hotdogs,’ as the zooms play for It’s what m most complex f tender. ‘I think i ‘I think it is a very sadness. It is an inc these actors playing all of the big gestures “Oh, OK. We’re allow permission to enjoy w bogged down in it, ev disturbing and comp Or as Portman simp MAY DECEMBER O AND IS ONSKY CINE completed ahead oft TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 71 MAY DECEMBER

A multihyphenate who often also writes, shoots and edits his own movies, Alfonso Cuarón is the full moviemaking package. As Gravity prepares for re-entry with a 10th anniversary re-release, Total Film meets a director who’s always able to beguile audiences without leaving them feeling cheated. ALFONSO CUARÓN ‘A FILMMAKER NEEDS TO BE A LITTLE BIT OF A CON ARTIST’ INTERVIEW MATT MAYTUM VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES PORTRAITS VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO 72 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

here’s no boilerplate example of an Alfonso Cuarón movie. Certain themes recur frequently (parent-child bereavement being a key motif); the environments are crucial; they’re often based on books; and there’s rarely a shortage of technical h{fhoohqfh1#Exw#orrn#dfurvv#klv#Ľoprjudsk|/# dqg#qr#wzr#Ľopv#duh#txlwh#dolnh1#Iurp# intimate black-and-white family drama wr#julww|/#srolwlfdoo|#fkdujhg#vfl0Ľ/#wr# a superlative franchise blockbuster hqwu|/#khġv#ghprqvwudwhg#frqvlghudeoh# range from humble beginnings. Starting out as a crew member and an dvvlvwdqw#gluhfwru/#kh#fxw#klv#whhwk#rq#WY# dqg#Ľop#lq#klv#qdwlyh#Ph{lfr1#ĠWkhuhġv#qr# question’ that working his way up through various crew roles informed his approach dv#d#gluhfwru/#kh#whoov#Total Film. 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Zhoo/#wkdw#lv#lqhylwdeoh1#Dfwxdoo|/#L#wklqn#wkh# experience on a plane is good. With a little wxuexohqfh/#Lġp#vxuh#wkdw#frxog#frpsohphqw# the experience… And maybe thinking that you may fall [laughs]. Could you ever see yourself making d#6G#Ľop#djdlqB \hv/#suredeo|1#L#wklqn#wkdw#wkh#ehvw# dssolfdwlrq#ri#6G#wkdw#lv#uduho|#xvhg/#lv#wkh# srwhqwldo#iru#lqwlpdf|1#L#wklqn#wkdw#6G/# xvxdoo|/#kdv#ehhq#xvhg#iru#elj#vhw0slhfhv/# dqg#L#wklqn#wkdw#wkh#juhdw#srwhqwldo#iru#6G#lv# pruh#lq#mxvw#vfhqhv#derxw#shrsoh#Ğ#shrsoh# wdonlqj/#shrsoh#being#Ğ#mxvw#wr#jlyh#d#vhqvh#ri# space and depth to the relationship between those people and the environment. You co-wrote the Gravity screenplay with your son, Jonas. Do you remember where wkh#Ľuvw#vhhg#ri#wkh#lghd#fdph#iurpB Zh#kdg#zulwwhq#d#Ľop/#dqg#kdg#wkh#exgjhw/# wkh#orfdwlrqv/#d#fdvw#Ğ#dqg#wkhq#suhww|#pxfk# lw#ihoo#dsduwĩ#Wkh#vkruw#dqvzhu#lv#wkdw#L# qhhghg#wr#sd|#wkh#uhqw1#Dqg#wkdw#Ľop#zdv#d# vpdoohu/#nlqg#ri#pruh#duwkrxvh#Ľop1#^L#vdlg/`# ĠL#grqġw#kdyh#wlph#wr#olfn#p|#zrxqgv1#Zloo# |rx#khos#ph#zulwh#dqrwkhu#Ľop#uljkw#dzd|B# Something that I feel I can attract studios dqg#elj#lqyhvwruvBġ# We started talking about what it could eh/#dqg#zh#vwduwhg#wdonlqj#derxw#Ľopv#Ğ#wkh# hprwlrq#ri#wkrvh#pdlqvwuhdp#Ľopv#wkdw#zh# have seen throughout the years that deliver a certain experience: an emotional h{shulhqfh/#dqg#hprwlrqdo#lpsdfw1 Iluvw/#kh#kdg#zulwwhq#d#vfuhhqsod|#wkdw# L#kdg#mxvw#uhdg#iru#d#Ľop#wkdw#kh#odwhu# directed called Desierto1#L#vdlg/#Ġ\hdk/# something like that.’ In the sense that the whole grammar and the whole thematic elements were led by the action. ^Zh#zhuh`#wdonlqj#derxw#Ľopv#wkdw#zh# oryhĩ#Wkh#wzr#prghov#wkdw#L#wklqn#zh#wrrn# T 2001’s Y tu mamá también helped put Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal on the path to superstardom 74 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS INTERVIEW

were Duel#e|#Vslhoehuj/#dqg#A Man Escaped by Urehuw#Euhvvrq#Ğ#lq#wkh#vhqvh#wkdw#zh#zdqwhg# wr#gr#vrphwklqj#wkdw#zdv#flqhpdwlf/#lq#whupv# of the language of cinema conveying the uhdo#wkhpdwlf#hohphqwv1#Wkdw#lq#wkh#dfwlrq/# it’ll contain some other kind of attempt to explore things about human nature. I think that that was the point of departure. Lv#lw#d#ohds#ri#idlwk#zkhq#|rx#pdnh#d#Ľop# like that, hoping that the technology will be able to live up to your vision? Zhoo/#L#wklqn#wkhuhġv#d#sduw#ri# d#Ľoppdnhu#wkdw#qhhgv#wr# be a little bit of a con artist [laughs]. You have people around you that have the answers and solutions. Lq#uhdolw|/#lwġv#|rxu# uhvsrqvlelolw|/#exw#|rx# have no idea what the heck you are doing. Zkhq#L#Ľuvw#wrog#Fklyr#Ğ#Hppdqxho# Oxeh}nl#^flqhpdwrjudskhu#dqg#iuhtxhqw# frooderudwru`#Ğ#wkdw#zh#kdg#d#gudiw/#L#vdlg/# ĠWklv#lv#vrphwklqj#wkdw#L#zdqw#wr#gr#lq#wkuhh# weeks. I want to do it in a very contained vwxglr1#Lwġv#rqo|#rqh#fkdudfwhu1#Wzr# characters tops. And I think we can do it djdlqvw#d#eodfn#edfnjurxqg/#zlwk#d#frxsoh# of blue screens. And we can do it very quickly and contained.’ Zkhq#kh#uhdg#wkh#vfulsw/#kh#vdlg/#ĠDuh# |rx#vxuhBġ#Dqg#kh#zdv#pdnlqj#ixq#ri#ph1 Dqg/#|hdk/#zh#glg#vrph#whvwv1#Wkh#zd|# that I thought it could be done was not the zd|1#Iurp#wkhq#rq/#lw#zdv#d#zkroh#mrxuqh|# ri#Ľyh#|hduv#wr#wu|#wr#Ľjxuh#rxw#krz#wr#gr#lw1# L#jrw#dgylfh#dqg#frpphqwv#rļ#shrsoh#olnh# Mdphv#Fdphurq#dqg#^Gdylg`#Ilqfkhu1#Dqg# both said the technology is not ready yet. Dqg#wkh|#zhuh#uljkw1#Dfwxdoo|/#wkh|#zhuh# vr#dffxudwh/#ehfdxvh#lw#wrrn#xv#qhduo|#Ľyh# |hduv/#dqg#zkdw#wkh|#vdlg#lv=#ĠL#grqġw#wklqn# the technology is there yet. Pd|eh#lq#Ľyh#|hduv1ġ#Dqg# pretty much it was the time it took us to develop the whole thing. Is there a trick to great FJLB#Vr#pdq|#Ľopv#grqġw# manage it, but the VFX in Gravity hold up really well. Zhoo/#rqh#wklqj#lv#Wlp#Zheehu/#wkh#ylvxdo# hļhfwv#vxshuylvru1#Khġv#d#jhqlxv#lq#klv#Ľhog/# dqg#d#wuxh#duwlvw/#dovr1#Khġv#qrw#rqo|#d# whfkqlfldq/#khġv#dq#duwlvw1#Xvxdoo|/#p|# eljjhvw#frooderudwlrq#lv#Fklyr1#Lq#wklv#fdvh/# lw#zdv#wkh#wkuhh#ri#xv/#zrunlqj#doo#wkh#wlph/# taking every single decision together. Something that is fundamental for visual hļhfwv/#dqg#vrphwklqj#wkdw#zh#zhuh#yhu|# vshflĽf#derxw/#Fklyr#dqg#L/#lv#wkdw#lq#rughu# wr#fuhdwh#lqwhjudwlrq/#|rx#qhhg#Ľuvw#wr# kdyh#oljkw#lqwhjudwlrq1#Wkhuh#fdqqrw#eh#d# discrepancy between the light that you’re creating practically and the light that your hļhfw#lv#jrlqj#wr#kdyh1 It’s not only about the direction of light; lwġv#wkh#txdolw|#ri#oljkw1#Wkdwġv#vrphwklqj# that was very challenging on Gravity/# ehfdxvh#|rx#kdyh#d#vlqjoh#oljkw#vrxufh#Ğ#wkh# vxq1#Zkhq#|rxġuh#vslqqlqj/#lwġv#lq#frqvwdqw# prwlrq1#Dqg/#dovr/#|rx#kdyh#vxuidfhv#olnh#wkh# spacesuit bouncing the light into the face of rxu#fkdudfwhu/#sod|hg#e|#Vdqgud#Exoorfn1 So was it, in a sense, a bit like making an dqlpdwhg#ĽopB Not in a sense. It was literally like doing an dqlpdwhg#Ľop1#L#jxhvv#wkdw#;3(#ri#wkh#Ľop# is animated. I think the most important wklqj#zlwk#ylvxdo#hļhfwv#lv#qrw#rqo|#wkh# whfkqlfdo#hohphqw#ri#lw1#Wkdw#lv#yhu|# lpsruwdqw/#exw#lqhylwdeo|#whfkqrorj|#lv# going to be dated. It’s going to age. And you have comparisons with the latest whfkqrorj|/#dqg#wkhq/#dovr/#|rxu#vwxļ#vwduwv# to look old. But what prevails is the flqhpdwlf#frqfhsw1#Wkdwġv#zk|#vr#pdq|# Ľopv#lq#wkh#vlohqw#hud/#|rx#fdq#vhh#wkdw#wkh# hļhfwv#duh#pd|eh#qrw#wkh#prvw#whfkqlfdoo|# dgydqfhg/#exw#qhyhuwkhohvv#|rx#fduh#derxw# lw1#Lq#wkh#hqg/#L#eholhyh#wkdw#wkh#odqjxdjh# goes above the technique. ‘GRAVITY WAS LITERALLY LIKE DOING AN ANIMATED FILM’ ALAMY The Oscar-winning Gravity is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a cinema re-release. TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 75

Lwġv#kdug#wr#lpdjlqh#dq|rqh#hovh#rwkhu# than Sandra Bullock in the lead role now. Was it a long process to settle on her? Zhoo/#lw#zdv/#mxvw#ehfdxvh#ri#wkh#wlph#wkdw# lw#wrrn#iru#xv#wr#eh#uhdg|1#L#kdyh#wr#vd|/# I couldn’t imagine any other person shuiruplqj#dqg#grlqj#wklv#Ľop#wkdq# Sandra. It is incredible how she holds the zkroh#Ľop#wrjhwkhu1#Dqg#dovr#khu#dpd}lqj# emotional intelligence. Once she got lqyroyhg/#wkhq#zh#zhuh#irxu#pdlq# frooderudwruv1#Lw#zdv#Fklyr/#Wlp/#Vdqgud/# and me. She started challenging some ghflvlrqv/#dqg#vkh#zdv#devroxwho|#uljkw1# Vr#lw#zdv#derxw#wu|lqj#wr#Ľjxuh#rxw#krz# to make those decisions work. Dqg/#dovr/#lq#rughu#wr#eh#deoh#wr# programme the computers and the robots that were going to be performing the whfkqlfdo#dvshfw#rq#vhw/#zh#glg#wkrvh# dqlpdwlrqv#zlwk#suh0uhfrughg#wlplqj/#vr# dq|#dgmxvwphqw#zdv#yhu|#glĿfxow1#Vrph# gd|v/#Vdqgud#vdlg/#ĠGrqġw#zruu|/#L#zloo#pdnh# wklv#kdsshq1ġ#Dqg#lw#zdv#lqfuhgleoh/#krz#khu# glvflsolqh#zdv#wkdw#ri#d#gdqfhu/#zlwk#yhu|# suhflvh#fkruhrjudsk|#lq/#sk|vlfdoo|/#yhu|# challenging situations. Was it intentional that after Gravity, the qh{w#Ľop#|rx#gluhfwhg#zdv#Roma, which was a much more ground-level, familyvshflĽf#vfdohB Zhoo/#L#grqġw#nqrz#li#lw#zdv#Ġlqwhqwlrqdoġ#lq# the sense that… Sometimes I think I have qhyhu#wdnhq#pxfk#ghflvlrq#lq#wkh#Ľop#wkdw# Lġp#pdnlqj1#Wkh|#mxvw#kdsshq1#Exw#lq#wkdw# rqh/#|hv/#L#jxhvv#wkdw#diwhu#Gravity/#L#mxvw# needed to keep my feet on the ground. After doo#wkh#whfkqlfdo#dvshfwv/#dqg#dovr#krz#lw# qhhgv#wr#eh#vr#suhfrqfhlyhg#Ğ#L#zdqwhg#wr#gr# vrphwklqj#wkdw#L#zdv#glvfryhulqj/#dqg#wkdw# L#glgqġw#nqrz#zkdw#lw#zdv#jrlqj#wr#eh1#Zhoo/# lq#pdq|#zd|v/#zh#glgqġw#nqrz#li#Gravity was going to work until a few weeks before we frpsohwhg#wkh#Ľop1#Zh#wkrxjkw#wkdw#lw# was a gamble. But with Roma/#lw#zdv#d# frpsohwho|#glļhuhqw#jdpeoh1#Lw#zdv#d# gamble more from the standpoint of a creative approach to the piece. Ghvslwh#wkdw#glļhuhqfh#lq#vfrsh/#Roma still has a lot of really technical aspects to it as well. Are those technical challenges part of the fun for you? L#grqġw#vhh#wkrvh#iru#wkh#vdnh#ri=#ĠL#zdqw#wr# gr#d#ylvxdo#hļhfw1ġ#\rx#kdyh#vrphwklqj#lq# plqg/#hyhq#lq#dq#hqylurqphqw#wkdw#lv# absolutely naturalistic like in Roma/#dqg#|rx# want to achieve something. And it becomes vhfrqg#qdwxuh1#\rx#vd|=#ĠRN/#Lġp#jrlqj#wr#gr# it like this.’ And it’s a combination of the glļhuhqw#wrrov#wkdw#flqhpd#rļhuv1#L#phdq/# ylvxdo#hļhfwv#lv#qrwklqj#exw#d#wrro1#L#grqġw# kdyh#dq|wklqj#djdlqvw#ylvxdo#hļhfwv1#Wkh# Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN 2001 Cuarón had already made English-language films before returning to Mexico for this calling-card breakout that evades easy categorisation, and wrongfoots anyone expecting simply a sexy road trip. HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN 2004 Cuarón nailed the darker tone and introduced Sirius Black in the best of the Potter movies. ‘The most important thing was to be faithful to the spirit of the book,’ Cuarón said at the time. CHILDREN OF MEN 2006 ‘Children of Men is not a prophetic piece,’ says Cuarón. But viewed post-Brexit and against the backdrop of an ever-intensifying climate crisis, Cuarón’s skilfully immersive vérité sci-fi feels more resonant than ever. GRAVITY 2013 Cuarón picked up his first Best Director Oscar for the space-set sci-fi that sees Sandra Bullock stranded where no one can hear her scream. It’s that rare thing: a monumental VFX achievement that’s also profoundly moving. ROMA 2018 Exploring his own childhood, Cuarón’s semiautobiographical tale pays tribute to the woman who raised him. The director/writer/ producer/DoP/editor describes the film as ‘a year in the life of a family and a country’. MM ALAMY FIVE STAR TURNS 76 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 INTERVIEW

ixqq|#wklqj#lv/#zkhq#shrsoh#wdon#derxw# ylvxdo#hļhfwv/#dqg#juhdw#gluhfwruv#derxw# ylvxdo#hļhfwv#Ğ#L#wklqn#wkdw#hyhu|erg|#wdonv# derxw#elj/#erpedvwlf#Kroo|zrrg#Ľopv1#Iru# ph/#wkh#ehvw#gluhfwru#ri#ylvxdo#hļhfwv#lv# Qxul#Fh|odq/#wkh#Wxunlvk#Ľoppdnhu1#Klv# Ľopv#duh#Ľoohg#zlwk#ylvxdo#hļhfwv1#Lwġv#mxvw# wkh#zd|#wkdw#kh#lqwhjudwhv#wkh#ylvxdo#hļhfwv# into his story. The extended takes in Children of Men are viewed as some of your biggest technical achievements. How did you think about those sequences when you were putting them together? Zhoo/#wkh#lqwhqwlrq#lv#qhyhu#whfkqlfdo1#Wkh# technical is the pain in the ass you have to make to achieve what you have in your khdg1#Wkdw#kdv#wr#gr#pruh#^zlwk`#frqfhswv# wkdw#|rx#lpsrvh#rq#|rxuvhoi/#wrjhwkhu#zlwk# your collaborators. Wkhuhġv#d#orw#derxw#Children of Men being prophetic. But it also feels very British. Were you thinking about Britain vshflĽfdoo|#zkloh#pdnlqj#lw/#ru#glg#|rx# see it as something more global? Qr1#Wkh#vrxufh#pdwhuldo#0#L# phdq/#L#kdyh#wr#frqihvv#L# never read [the P.D. James errn#lwġv#edvhg#rq`/#exw#L#uhdg# the one-page cover of it. And I found that there was vrphwklqj#yhu|#vpduw1#Dqg/# dovr/#ehfdxvh#S1G1#Mdphv#lv# obviously a British writer. But e|#vhwwlqj#lw#lq#Eulwdlq/#lw#zdv# vrphwklqj#wkdw#zdv#yhu|#vshflĽf#wkdw#uhdoo|# dwwudfwhg#ph1#Wkh#reylrxv#jhrjudsklfdo# reason is that it’s an island. It can keep lwvhoi#lqvxodwhg/#dv#rxu#srolwlfldqv#duh#wu|lqj# wr#suryh#wr#xv1#Dqg/#vhfrqgo|/#lw#lv#d#qdwlrq# that refuses to give up. [But] what I’m trying to say is that it’s not exclusively about Britain. We were trying to explore the things that were shaping the 21st century. Exw/#ri#frxuvh/#wkh#XN#jdyh#xv#wkh#shuihfw# geographical landscape. Was conquering Hollywood something you had in your sights from the very beginning of your career? Qr1#Djdlq/#xqiruwxqdwho|/#L#grqġw#wklqn#olnh# wkdw1#L#phdq/#Lġp#qrw#wkdw#vpduw#derxw#p|# fduhhu1#Lwġv#ehhq#pruh#ri#d#surfhvv1#Wkh#lghd/# zkhq#L#zdv#vwduwlqj#p|#fduhhu/#ri#grlqj# ylvxdo#hļhfwv#Ğ#lw#zdv#frpsohwho|#rxw#ri#wkh# txhvwlrq1#L#dozd|v#hqmr|ĩ#qrw#wkh#whfkqlfdo# dvshfwv/#exw#wkh#zkroh#wklqj#ri#krz#flqhpd# zloo#Ľqg#wkh#wrrov#wkdw#lw#qhhgv#iru#wkh# creative requirements. If you see cinema iurp#wkh#rog#gd|v/#dqg#li#|rx#vhh/#iru# lqvwdqfh#zlwk#Pxuqdx1#Zkdw#shrsoh#irujhw# derxw#Pxuqdx#lv#wkdw#Pxuqdx#zdv#dq# dpd}lqj#lqqrydwru1#Lwġv#qrw#ehfdxvh#khġv# frqvlghuhg#d#whfkqlfdo#Ľoppdnhu1#Lwġv# a vision of what he wants to achieve in flqhpd1#Dqg#vrphwlphv#kh#glgqġw#Ľqg#wkh# wrrov#durxqg#klp#wr#pdnh#wkdw#kdsshq/#vr# he needed to create those new tools. You broke through around the same time as Alejandro Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro. How impactful was that friendship with those guys on your career? I think my friendship with Guillermo goes iurp#zd|/#zd|/#zd|#ehiruh1#Zh#vwduwhg# zkhq#zh#zhuh#dvvlvwdqwv/#dqg#zh#zhuh# eoxh#frooduv#ri#Ľop1#Zh#zhuh#zrunlqj#zlwk# wkh#fuhz#rq#glļhuhqw#wklqjv#Ğ#Jxloohupr# prvwo|#zlwk#vshfldo#hļhfwv#dqg#pdnh0xs1# I travelled from being the boom operator to camera to production assistant. And then L#vhwwohg#rq#ehlqj#dq#dvvlvwdqw#gluhfwru#Ğ#d# Ľuvw#DG#Ğ#iru#d#orqj/#orqj#wlph#lq#Ph{lfr1 Vr#wkdwġv#krz#zh#phw/#rq#wkdw#vwxļ1# Dqg#wkhq#zh#vwduwhg#dw#wkh#vdph#wlph/# pdnlqj#rxu#Ľopv1#Lw#zdv#doprvw#wkh#vdph# |hdu#Ğ#rqh#|hdu#dsduw#Ğ#rxu#Ľuvw#ihdwxuhv1# And then we ended up kind of getting into the eyes of Hollywood. It was not so much my plan. But then we vwduwhg#rxu#mrxuqh|#wkhuhĩ L#phdq/#ehfdxvh#|rx#vd|# Ġeuhdnwkurxjkġ#Ğ#L#grqġw#wklqn# wkh#Ľuvw#43#|hduv#ri#rxu#fduhhu# uhsuhvhqw#rxu#euhdnwkurxjk/# because we were struggling olnh#fud}|1#Rq#wkdw#mrxuqh|/# zh#phw#Dohmdqgur/#dqg#zh# became very close. When Dohmdqgur#eurnh#Ğ#kh#zdv#suredeo|#wkh# Ľuvw#rqh#wkdw#eurnh#^zlwk#5333ġv#Amores Perros`/#d#|hdu#ehiruh#Jxloohupr#dqg#L#Ğ#zh# were already very close. It’s not that we became close after we broke through. Did that help keep you grounded, having friends who were in a similar place? \hv/#ri#frxuvh1#Exw/#|rx#nqrz/#li#|rx#kdyh# iulhqgv#wkdw#gr#wkh#vdph#wudgh#dv#|rxĩ#Wkh|# duh#yhu|#krqhvw1#L#phdq/#zh#duh#euxwdoo|# honest with each other. But it comes from a place of love and generosity. We know that. Exw#wkdw#lv#qrw#derxw#Ľop/#lwġv#derxw#olih1 Ryhu#wkh#|hduv/#|rxġyh#dgdswhg#vhyhudo# books and, early on, you did A Little Princess and Great Expectations. Does that process fascinate you, or were you drawn wr#wkrvh#surmhfwv#iru#glļhuhqw#uhdvrqvB A Little Princess Ğ#L#kdyh#wr#frqihvv#wkdw#L#kdg# suredeo|#vhhq#wkh#Vkluoh|#Whpsoh#Ľop/#dqg# it was kind of blurred in my memory. But I read the screenplay by Richard LaGravenese that was really beautiful. It spoke to me. And Great Expectations was one of those wklqjv#wkdw/#L#jxhvv/#diwhu#orrnlqj#iru# ‘VISUAL EFFECTS IS NOTHING BUT A TOOL’ ALFONSO CUARÓN IN NUMBERS Films with Robert Altman. Best Director Oscars won Amount of times he had read P.D. James’ novel The Children of Men before writing the screenplay adapted from it. Different categories in which Cuarón has been Oscarnominated (a record he shares with Sir Kenneth Branagh) 2 0 7 5 $798M FEATURES ON WHICH CUARÓN HAS BEEN CREDITED AS EDITOR AS WELL AS DIRECTOR BOX-OFFICE TAKE OF CUARÓN’S HIGHESTGROSSING FILM, HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 77 ALFONSO CUARÓN

SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS d#surmhfw#iru#d#zkloh/#lw#zdv#vrphwklqj# wkdw#fdph#lqwr#p|#kdqgv/#dqg#L#ihow#olnh#L# qhhghg#wr#pdnh#d#Ľop/#ehfdxvh#wlph#zdv# passing. But it was a period that I consider p|#orvw#shulrg#Ğ#p|#orvw#ghfdgh1#Zkhq# L#jrw#dwwhqwlrq#iurp#Kroo|zrrg/#L#irujrw# vrphwklqj#wkdw#lv#ixqgdphqwdo/#ehfdxvh# lwġv#sduw#ri#zkdw#wkh|#whoo#|rx#Ğ#wkh|#vd|/# ĠGrqġw#vd|#wkdw#|rxġuh#d#zulwhu/#ehfdxvh# wkhq#wkh|#zrqġw#dwwdfk#|rx#wr#surmhfwv1ġ#Vr# L#zdv#lq#gdqjhu#ri#ehfrplqj#d#uhdghu/#ru# uhdfwlqj#wr#zkdw#surmhfwv#zrxog#idoo#lq#p|# hands. And unless you’re in a very powerful srvlwlrq/#|rx#whqg#wr#uhfhlyh#d#surmhfw#zkhuh# another 15 directors have passed on it. Vr#wkhuh#zdv#d#gdqjhu#wkdw#L#zdv#mxvw# wkdw1#Dqg#lw#zdv#mxvw#diwhu#Great Expectations wkdw#L#vdlg/#ĠHqrxjk#ri#wklv1#Wkh#uhdvrq#L# olnh#flqhpd#lv#ehfdxvh#ri#Ľopv#wkdw#L#oryh1# L#oryh#wkh#surfhvv/#dqg#L#oryh#zulwlqj1ġ#L# ghflghg#wr#jr#edfn#wr#Ph{lfr/#dqg#gr#Y tu mamá también1#Wkdw#uhnlqgohg#p|#sdvvlrq# for writing. Did it surprise you that Y tu mamá también broke out in the way it did? \hdk/#ghĽqlwho|1#Lw#zdv#olnh#dq|wklqj#Ğ#dq|# wlph#rqh#ri#|rxu#Ľopv#frqqhfwv/#lwġv#d# vxusulvh/#sduwlfxoduo|#li#|rxġyh#kdg#wkh# other experience. If you’ve had the other h{shulhqfh/#|rxġuh#olnh/#ĠDk/#RN1ġ#L#mxvw# stop second-guessing the reason why it connects. I don’t think you can make d#Ľop/#wklqnlqj#lwġv#jrlqj#wr#frqqhfw#ru# qrw#frqqhfw1#\rx#mxvw#gr#zkdw#|rx#eholhyh# is truthful to yourself… I tend not to know zkdw#wkh#uhvxow#lv#jrlqj#wr#eh/#dqg#wkhq# Lġp#lqwuljxhg1#Vrphwlphv#wkh|#zrun/#dqg# sometimes they don’t. Did you feel a lot of pressure when it came to directing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? The books were so ehoryhg/#dqg#wkh#Ľuvw#wzr#Ľopv#kdg#ehhq# vxfk#elj#klwv#dw#wkh#er{#rĿfh1 Qrw#uhdoo|1#Djdlq/#sduw#ri#Ľoppdnlqj#lv#wklv# part of being completely responsible. You kdyh#wr#eh#d#olwwoh#elw#ri#d#frqpdq/#dqg#gr# make-believe that you have everything xqghu#frqwuro/#hyhq#li#|rx#qhyhu#nqrz#zkdw# the heck you are doing. One of our writers argued that Prisoner of Azkaban#lv#d#kruuru#Ľop#^TF 334]. What gr#|rx#wklqn#derxw#wkdw#wdnh#rq#wkh#ĽopB Zhoo/#ghĽqlwho|1#Zkhq#L#uhdg#wkh#errn/#wkhuh# zhuh#wzr#hohphqwv#wkdw#L#olnhg1#Wkhuh#zdv# wkh#kruuru#Ľop#hohphqw/#exw#dovr#wkh#qrlu# dvshfw#ri#lw1#Lq#d#zd|/#zkhq#L#zdv#grlqj#lw/#wkh# model was more of the German cinema at wkh#hqg#ri#wkh#vlohqw#hud/#dqg#wkh#wudqvlwlrq# lqwr#wkh#wdonlhv/#olnh#Iulw}#Odqj#wr#Pxuqdx1# \rx#fdq#vhh#wkdw#vrph#ri#Iulw}#Odqjġv#Ľopv# duh#nlqg#ri#qrlu/#exw/#dw#wkh#vdph#wlph/#wkh|#

VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES, WARNER BROS. ‘ANY TIME ONE OF YOUR FILMS CONNECTS, IT’S A SURPRISE’ Liam Cunningham, Liesel Matthews and Eleanor Bron in 1995’s A Little Princess TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 79 ALFONSO CUARÓN kdyh#nlqg#ri#kruuru#hohphqwv#wr#wkhp1#Dqg/# pruh#lpsruwdqwo|/#sduwlfxoduo|#zlwk#Iulw}# Odqj/#wkurxjk#wkh#jhquh/#kh#zdv#wu|lqj#wr# frqyh|#Ğ#ru#mxvw#wr#surmhfw#Ğ#wkh#dq{lhwlhv#ri# klv#wlph1#L#wklqn#wkdw#zkdw#M1N1#Urzolqj#glg# zlwk#Srwwhu/#lw#zdv#d#uhihuhqfh#ri#rxu#wlphv/# of human behaviour. The Harry Potter series is being turned into a TV show. Could you ever be tempted to return to that world, or is it one and done for you? Zhoo/#zkhq#L#glg#p|#Ľuvw#rqh/#L#zdv#yhu|# nlqgo|#rļhuhg#wr#gr#wkh#qh{w#rqh1#Dqg#L#vdlg# qr/#ehfdxvh#L#ihow#wkdw#L#zrxog#eh#ryhuvwd|lqj# p|#zhofrph1#Iru#ph/#Kduu|#Srwwhu#zdv#dq# dpd}lqj#h{shulhqfh1#Lw#zdv#dpd}lqj/#dqg# I found that I was learning every day. It was d#juhdw#vfkrro#iru#ylvxdo#hļhfwv1#Lġp#yhu|# judwhixo#iru#rwkhu#wklqjv#zlwk#Kduu|#Srwwhu/# ehfdxvh/#diwhu#wkdw/#wklv#zkroh#wklqj#zlwk# ylvxdo#hļhfwv#ehfdph#vhfrqg#qdwxuh1#Zkhq# I went to do Children of Men - before Harry Srwwhu/#L#zrxog#kdyh#ehhq#gdxqwhg#derxw# grlqj#lw1#Lw#jdyh#ph#wkh#frqĽghqfh#iru#wkdw1# And then I felt like I had learned so much. Lw#zdv#vxfk#d#mrxuqh|#ri#glvfryhu|1#Exw# wkhq#L#ihduhg#wkdw#li#L#vwd|hg#iru#orqjhu/# L#zrxog#pd|eh#jhw#frpiruwdeoh1#L#olnh#Ľopv# wkdw#nhhs#ph#rq#p|#wrhv#Ğ#lq#rwkhu#zrugv/# ^Ľopv`#wkdw#L#grqġw#nqrz#krz#wr#gr1# Wkhuhġv#d#p|vwhu|#wkdw#L#grqġw#xqghuvwdqg# and that I cannot resolve. You have a TV miniseries, Disclaimer, coming up, which is also adapted from a novel. What can you say about that? Zhoo/#qrw#pxfk/#uljkw#qrz1# Lġp#vwloo#zrunlqj#rq#lw1#Wkdw# was another thing for me. Part of the challenge was to explore the irup#lq#d#orqjhu#irupdw#^ri#WY`1#L#phdq/# L#fdqqrw#wdon#pxfk#derxw#lw/#exw#L#krsh#wkdw# |rx#jhw#wr#vhh#lw/#wkh#nlqg#ri#vwuxfwxudo#wklqj# that we play with. Zh#zrxog#dvn#li#lwġv#ehhq#lqwhqwlrqdo#wkdw# |rxġyh#hqghg#xs#zrunlqj#rq#d#ihz#WY# vkrzv#uhfhqwo|/#exw#|rxġyh#douhdg|#vdlg# |rx#grqġw#kdyh#d#fduhhu#pdvwhusodqĩ Zhoo/#qr1#Lwġv#olnh#hyhu|wklqj1#L#zurwh# Children of Men before Harry Potter but qrerg|#zdqwhg#wr#gr#lw#wkhq1#Wkhq/#diwhu# Kduu|#Srwwhu/#L#jrw#wkh#rssruwxqlw|#wr#gr#lw1# And I think that that’s what happens with prvw#Ľoppdnhuv1#Wkh#Ľopv#frph#zkhq# they come. You can see with Scorsese that khġv#pdqdjlqj#wr#gr#Ľopv#wkdw#kh#frxogqġw# do before. And obviously your experience as d#Ľoppdnhu#lq#olih#lv#jrlqj#wr#lqirup#wkh# result of that other thing that maybe he conceived in his youth. Do you think some stories are better suited to the small screen or big screen? To bring it back to Gravity, does it require something with that kind of spectacular scale and visuals to get people into a cinema? I think that what the big screen requires is an emotional experience. You can make the argument that some of the best writing nowadays is in television. Exw#jhqhudoo|#vshdnlqj/#L#phdq/#zlwk# h{fhswlrqv/#whohylvlrq#lv#vwulfwo|#d#zulwhuġv# medium. You can see so much of it in series where directors come and go. It’s more the narrative that is leading the story. L#eholhyh#wkdw#iru#flqhpd/#wkh#uhtxluhphqw#lv# for cinema to be driving the piece. I mean wkdw#flqhpd#lqfoxghv#Ğ#dprqj#pdq|#rwkhu# wklqjv#Ğ#qduudwlyh1#Lq#qduudwlyh#flqhpd/# obviously narrative is very important. I’m not saying that it’s one format or the other. If you think of Twin Peaks/#wkdw#lv#dq#dpd}lqj# cinematic experience. Or if you think of L\^g^l_khfZyFZkkbZ`^/#wkdw#lv#dqrwkhu#rqh1# And those were originally shot for television. I think it’s more about the fuhdwlyh#dssurdfk#ri#wkh#Ľoppdnhu1#Dqg# the creative intent. Dqg#Ľqdoo|/#|rxġyh#zrq#wzr#Ehvw# Director Oscars, among many other accolades. Do those awards mean a lot to you? Lwġv#dozd|v#yhu|#sohdvlqj/#wkh#uhfrjqlwlrq/# sduwlfxoduo|#iurp#|rxu#shhuv1#Dqg/#dovr/# reylrxvo|/#wkh|#kdyh#dq#lpsdfw#rq#pdnlqj# lw#hdvlhu#wr#sxw#wrjhwkhu#|rxu#qh{w#surmhfw1# Exw/#|rx#nqrz/#dzdugv#duh#vrphwklqj#wkdw# duh#^ri`#d#vshflĽf#prphqw1#Wkh#rqo|#wklqj# that tells the truth about cinema is time. Wlph#lv#wkh#rqo|#mxgjh1 GRAVITY IS BACK IN CINEMAS FROM 20 OCTOBER. ALFONSO CUARÓN LINE READING ‘Everything is a mythical, cosmic battle between faith and chance.’ JASPER CHILDREN OF MEN ‘YOU GOTTA PLANT BOTH YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND AND START LIVIN’ LIFE.’ MATT KOWALSKI GRAVITY ‘A CHILD’S VOICE, HOWEVER HONEST AND TRUE, IS MEANINGLESS TO THOSE WHO’VE FORGOTTEN HOW TO LISTEN.’ DUMBLEDORE HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN

EDITED BY MATTHEW LEYLAND @TOTALFILM_MATTL ★★★★★ STREETS AHEAD ★★★★★ SHINES A LIGHT ★★★★★ NOT BAD, NOT BAD, NOT REALLY, REALLY BAD ★★★★★ RAGING BS ★★★★★ FUN DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE THE WORLD’S MOST TRUSTED MOVIE KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON An American tragedy... 82

OUT NOW 20 Days in Mariupol ★★★★ p91 The Creator ★★★★ p89 Expend4bles ★ p91 Golda ★★ p92 A Haunting in Venice ★★★★ p88 Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story ★★★ p89 Mind-Set ★★★ p92 The Retirement Plan ★ p92 Saw X ★★ p85 Time Addicts ★★★★ p88 Where the Wind Blows ★★★ p91 13 OCTOBER Cassius X: Becoming Ali ★★★ p85 Daliland ★★ p91 The Miracle Club ★★★ p87 Smoke Sauna Sisterhood ★★★★ p88 Spooky Night: The Spirit of Halloween ★★ p88 20 OCTOBER Foe ★★★★ p85 Killers of the Flower Moon ★★★★★ p82 Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose ★★ p87 Our River... Our Sky ★★★★ p87 The Pigeon Tunnel ★★★ p85 23 OCTOBER Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed ★★★ p92 27 OCTOBER 20,000 Species of Bees ★★★★ p91 Beyond Utopia ★★★★★ p88 Cat Person ★★★★ p85 Doctor Jekyll ★★★ p87 How to Save the Immortal ★★ p89 The Killer ★★★★ p86 Pain Hustlers ★★ p90 Savage Waters ★★★ p89 Suitable Flesh ★★★★ p87 Typist Artist Pirate King ★★★ p90 3 NOVEMBER The Bystanders ★★★★ p87 How to Have Sex ★★★★ p84 Nobody Has to Know ★★ p92 On the Adamant ★★★★ p89 Quiz Lady ★★★★ p84 The Royal Hotel ★★★★ p87 7 NOVEMBER Muzzle ★★★ p87 ALSO RELEASED We couldn’t see them in time for this issue, so head to gamesradar.com/totalfilm for reviews of the following: TITLE RELEASE DATE The Exorcist: Believer Out now Five Nights at Freddy’s 25 October For more reviews visit gamesradar.com/totalfilm EXTRAS Archive/Blu-ray reviews p93-94 Tech Preview, Extras, TV, Soundtracks, Games, Books p95-100 84 86 89 REVIEWS 90 AW he of TI ThFi FoE Ar Te Ga 90 NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 81

Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio star in this true story of the brutal injustices faced by the Osage Nation in the 1920s 82 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

★★★★★ OUT 20 OCTOBER CINEMAS C oyote wants money,’ Mollie (Lily Gladstone), a young Osage Nation woman, notes sagely when feckless WW1 returnee Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) starts courting her in early 1920s Oklahoma, the setting for Martin Scorsese’s period epic. He’s a former infantry cook with no cash or discernible talent; she’s a wealthy owner of headrights (the inherited mineral rights to oil-rich Osage County) who understands the motives of the lascivious white men tumbling off the train in town trying to marry so-called ‘full-bloods’. Ernest may project vulpine avarice (‘I just love money!’ he admits repeatedly) but Mollie might as well fall for him as any of them; after all, her sisters are all ‘blanket’ wives to unscrupulous layabouts, and the disenfranchisement of First Nation people is operating on an industrial scale. A tribal generation is being eradicated and stolen from via widespread conspiracy and murder - a movement spearheaded by local white ‘saviour’ William ‘King’ Hale (Robert De Niro), who masks his insidious imperialism with benefactions and a performative love for the Osage, whom he describes as ‘the most beautiful people in the world’. Torn between faithfulness to her beau and terror at the devastation happening on her own lands, Mollie hopes that authorities outside of the complicit local cops might be able to stop the killing of people and culture. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON 15 Blood and oil… DIRECTOR Martin Scorsese STARRING Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers SCREENPLAY Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese DISTRIBUTOR Apple RUNNING TIME 206 mins GANGS OF NEW YORK 2002 Scorsese and DiCaprio’s earlier expansive exploration of America’s violent past. CERTAIN WOMEN 2016 Lily Gladstone’s breakout earned her multiple awards nods; expect more to follow for Moon. THE LOST CITY OF Z 2016 Another starry period epic based on a non-fiction book by David Grann. For more reviews visit gamesradar. com/totalfilm S E E T H I S I F Y O U LIKED But as one observer notes: ‘Gotta better chance of convicting a guy for kicking a dog than killing an Indian…’ Based on David Grann’s 2017 non-fiction book of the same name, Scorsese’s western (yes, he’s finally made it) delves deep into manifest destiny, greed, racism, neocolonialism and misogyny in a movie that braids together the interests of his past projects. Faith, entitlement, persecution, racketeering, the corrupting influence of money, the disposability of life… all are present in a nailed-on awards magnet that might be some of the best work we’ve ever seen from all involved. De Niro is sheer understated elegance as Hale, a master-manipulator uncle to dumb pawn Ernest. Peering out of wireframe glasses, he imbues the character with a repulsive righteousness that is mesmerising to watch. DiCaprio, meanwhile, dials down the charisma as an unrepentant, fidgety sad sack. To see two of Marty’s muses spar in front of fireplaces, across dinner tables and in masonic lodges, evoking memories of 1993’s This Boy’s Life, is a genuine thrill. They’re part of an ensemble that feels vividly period-authentic and unreconstructed. Gladstone is a firebrand as Mollie, her silences as instructive as the way she pulls her blanket around her shoulders. And Jesse Plemons, a third-act arrival as FBI agent Tom White, evinces integrity and kindness in only a handful of scenes. It’s a shame Brendan Fraser (as a pernicious lawyer) didn’t get the memo about subtlety, but his appearance is so fleeting that it’s a minor blip. Weaving the Tulsa race riots, the KKK and the Masons into its tapestry, Scorsese’s opus questions the misdeeds of America in the last century while linking them to the pressing issues of today. Addressing racial violence, nationalism, the continued epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women and even our lurid obsession with true crime, Killers of the Flower Moon paints a robust picture of a moment in history that invites viewer introspection. As Ernest asks portentously when reading from a book on Osage history: ‘Can you see the wolves in this picture?’ Well, can you? JANE CROWTHER THE VERDICT Scorsese’s rich, 206-minute, multi-layered epic is worth every second. PREDICTED INTEREST CURVE™ THRILLED ENTERTAINED NODDING OFF ZZZZZZZZZ RUNNING TIME START 35 70 105 140 175 FINISH DiCap/DeN reunited! Headright wrongs Gladstone scene-stealing All the Oscars FBI infiltration DiCap spanking Unravelling Spouse-slaying APPLE TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 83

★★★★★ OUT 3 NOVEMBER DISNEY+ ★★★★★ OUT 3 NOVEMBER CINEMAS QUIZ LADY TBC HOW TO HAVE SEX TBC Family feud… Summer loving… S ometimes you can just sense that two actors will make a great on-screen duo. And so it proves with Awkwafina and Sandra Oh in this extremely likeable Disney+ comedy. They play chalk-and-cheese sisters who are brought back together when their mother’s gambling debts require a get-rich-quick scheme. The fastest way to recoup some cash? Get the nerdy, insular Anne (Awkwafina) to compete on the TV quiz show she’s been obsessed with her whole life. Wild-child older sis Jenny (Oh) eggs her on, while their personalities clash and past tensions still simmer. Yes, it’s extremely formulaic – you could predict all the major plot beats and emotional moments with the same automatic precision Anne uses to answer all the questions on Can’t Stop the Quiz from her sofa - but it’s so consistently funny and the leads such a winning pair that it doesn’t really matter. Whether they’re at each other’s throats or finding common ground, Awkwafina and Oh are a hoot. Will Ferrell (also a producer) adds to the charm as the avuncular longterm host of the show, while Jason Schwartzman smarms it up as a contestant on a record-breaking winning streak. Director Jessica Yu (best known for documentaries and prolific TV work) directs in an unshowy way, allowing the simple concept to serve the star chemistry and handling the surreal OTT flourishes with a light touch. MATT MAYTUM THE VERDICT A highly appealing comedy that makes good use of its playing-against-type leads. Like your favourite quiz show, this is easy, cosy couch-viewing. T eenage kicks get a timely #MeToo treatment in writer/ director Molly Manning Walker’s punchy first feature, a vividly shot, sharp-eyed take on the drunken postGCSE Mediterranean getaway that’s traditionally a frenzied, Inbetweeners-style rite of passage for British teens. Hungry for parties, passion and fishbowl cocktails, BFFs Em (Enva Lewis), Skye (Lara Peake) and Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce) throw themselves recklessly into Malia’s frenetic tourist nightlife. Walker’s fearless camera dives after them into bacchanalian pool parties, shrieking karaoke sessions and neon-strobed bars thumping with EDM. When they team up with their hard-partying hotel neighbours, goofy Badger (The Selfish Giant’s Shaun Thomas) and self-styled shagger Paddy (Samuel Bottomley), the film skilfully tracks the sudden cracks in the trio’s friendship, as they vie for these Northern likely lads’ attention. Tensions are ratcheted even higher when bubbly Tara, the baby of the group, finds herself unwittingly swept into a chaotic night or two of bad choices and tough truths. Alongside the wild carousing and sweary banter, Walker’s unflinching close-ups of McKenna-Bruce’s wary, watchful face showcase how her piercing performance covers Tara’s disorientation with wobbly bravado. Refusing to become a cautionary tale, the film explores the pitfalls as well as the pleasures of teen-holiday hook-ups; it also brings a fresh, female POV to the subject of sexual consent. KATE STABLES THE VERDICT This eye-catching, Cannes-crowned tale offers a complex, authentic take on teen hedonism. Everyone heads for the dance floor when the DJ puts on Agadoo by Black Lace ‘And if someone coughs in the audience, that’s the answer to go with…’ 84 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

★★★★★ OUT 20 OCTOBER CINEMAS FOE 15 Clone on the range… W hy does the unknown have to be a burden?’ asks Terrance (Aaron Pierre, The Underground Railroad), the handsome government operative who arrives at the Midwest farmhouse of Henrietta (Saoirse Ronan) and Junior (Paul Mescal). It’s 2065, and Junior has been selected (or conscripted) to try out for off-world habitation; the planet is dying, and humanity is looking for a way off this rock before the dust storms kill us all. So far, so Interstellar. Much to the couple’s initial horror, Terrance suggests Junior’s protracted two-year absence in space will be eased by the arrival of a ‘human substitute’, an exact AI copy. ‘We set out to create consciousness,’ he beams, seemingly unconcerned by the moral implications. Adapted from Iain Reid’s 2018 novel by the author himself and director Garth Davis (Lion), Foe is less interested in what lies beyond than in tensions beneath the surface. This three-hander is at heart a relationship portrait, in which Hen and Junior must deal with issues of jealousy. Meanwhile, Terrance’s presence – like an on-tap marriage counsellor – becomes increasingly unsettling. Ronan and Mescal make for a convincing, volatile couple, although it’s Pierre’s mysterious interloper who steals it. Admittedly, the film’s oddly paced, elliptical middle section may leave you scratching your head. But then the twisty third act pulls it all together, sending shivers down the spine. JAMES MOTTRAM THE VERDICT Thoughtful, provocative and powerfully acted, Foe is a cunning drama that you’ll want to puzzle over. Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan star as a couple threatened with separation CAT PERSON 15 ★★★★★ OUT 27 OCTOBER CINEMAS Courtship can be a minefield, as college student Margot (CODA’s Emilia Jones) discovers when a flirty encounter escalates into a round-the-clock, text-based relationship. Is Robert (Nicholas Braun, AKA Succession’s Greg Hirsch) the man of her dreams, or is she making the biggest mistake of her life? Based on a 2017 short story that became the most-read piece of fiction ever published in The New Yorker, Cat Person uses a 20-year-old’s doubts and fears as a springboard for a perceptive, funny and occasionally terrifying delve into the potential hazards of modern dating. Isabella Rossellini co-stars. NEIL SMITH SAW X 18 ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS Set between the first and second Saws, this lacklustre 10th instalment of the horror saga sees the return of John ‘Jigsaw’ Kramer (Tobin Bell), who heads to Mexico in hopes of receiving radical treatment for his terminal cancer. Realising (long after the audience) he’s been duped, he embarks on bloody revenge, employing fiendish contraptions that demand a series of set-piece self-surgeries, staged with ghoulish aplomb. The bits in-between, though, are talky and dreary; there’s also an unexpected descent into sickly sentimentality. Bell’s comeback may please some, but it’s not a sufficient X-cuse to see Saw resuscitated. NEIL SMITH CASSIUS X: BECOMING ALI TBC ★★★★★ OUT 13 OCT CINEMAS Rather than take the conventional route of recounting Muhammad Ali’s rise to sporting greatness, Muta’Ali’s documentary explores the ‘secret spiritual journey’ undertaken by a young Cassius Clay that led to him changing his name. Influenced by Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad and friend Malcom X, Clay’s evolution from trash-talking boxing amateur to politically aware cultural icon is charted via interviews and arresting archive footage. But in limiting the focus to the period 1959-64, this ultimately feels like more of a snapshot than a complete, fully satisfying portrait. MATT LOOKER THE PIGEON TUNNEL TBC ★★★★★ OUT 20 OCTOBER APPLE TV+ David Cornwell - the late author better known as John le Carré (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) - gets the docu-portrait treatment from veteran filmmaker Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line). The result is an at times revealing tête-à-têteslash-duel between two great thinkers, though you wish Morris had dug deeper. He does a competent job of raking through Cornwell’s background (the influential-but-shady dad; recruitment by the British Secret Service). But it’s clear who’s in control - not least when Morris is stonewalled by Cornwell over his private life. JAMES MOTTRAM AMA ZON, APPLE, COSMIC CAT, DISNEY, LIONSGATE, MUBI, STUDIOCANAL TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 85

chic beiges and driving pedestrian hire cars, he may fade easily into crowds, but he’s a lethal weapon – no hesitation, no mercy. Dispatching loose ends with nail guns, stair falls and backseat executions, he allows his victims to talk while he listens, unmoved. Conversely, Fassbender’s voiceover is the main draw for viewers: the internal monologue of an agnostic man who assures us from the start that luck and justice are not real. Moving and scarfing protein like a predator, he offers no real context for his job; no backstory except an allusion to legal academia. His very blankness allows us to project meaning onto him, giving one of the filmmaker’s more commercial movies a layer of added nuance. And if you’ve ever wondered what a Fincher Bond movie might look like, this could be it. JANE CROWTHER THE VERDICT Fincher in fun mode and Fassbender, ahem, killing it. An assassin thriller that really hits the mark. ★★★★★ OUT 27 OCTOBER CINEMAS 10 NOVEMBER NETFLIX THE KILLER 15 Fass-assin’s creed… DIRECTOR David Fincher STARRING Michael Fassbender, Charles Parnell, Tilda Swinton, Arliss Howard, Kerry O’Malley SCREENPLAY Andrew Kevin Walker DISTRIBUTOR Netflix RUNNING TIME 118 mins straightforward gig goes south, compromising the hitman’s practised regime, he finds himself hunted and breaking his own rules on a globetrotting revenge mission. The notion of a contract murderer making things personal isn’t new. But Fincher has fun with the genre, loading his propulsive narrative with cool needle drops, pop-culture hat-tips (Antiques Roadshow, aliases that are all TV characters) and Bondian ingenuity. Split into seven chapters that play out in different global cities, the action may be serious but the gags are plentiful, from Tilda Swinton telling a bear joke to the comedic appearance of a parmesan grater during a terrific house brawl. The pragmatic approach to death required by the job is lightly handled, too. Fassbender talks of mortality statistics and refers to body disposal in carpentry terms; those in the business understand, without undue fuss, that their time is up when he shows his face. That’s not to say Fassbender isn’t brutal. Dressed in nondescript touristA perfectionist who’s never without a banging playlist, the assassin at the centre of David Fincher’s latest is clearly a man after the filmmaker’s own heart. Based on the graphic novels by Matz and Luc Jacamon, the film itself shares DNA with Fincher’s Fight Club (nihilism, anti-materialism) and ffSJJAR¼0P=EL (same hat, similar hitman problem). The Killer follows Michael Fassbender’s monastic freelancer as he explains his craft while prepping for a job in Paris. Holed up in a vacant WeWork office, this unnamed agent of death outlines the discipline required to successfully off a mark and melt back into a city. But when a seemingly Oddly, no one complained about Michael’s back-seat driving SE7EN 1995 The Killer reunites Fincher with the writer of his big auteur breakout, Andrew Kevin Walker. ASSASSIN’S CREED 2016 Fassbender as a different sort of hitman, less inclined to talk about McMuffins. ENGLAND IS MINE 2017 A portrait of Morrissey before he formed Fassbender’s character’s fave band, The Smiths. For more reviews visit gamesradar. com/totalfilm S E E T H I S I F Y O U LIKED BLUE DOLPHIN, HAMMER, LIONSGATE, NETFLIX, SCREENBOUND, SHUDDER, SIGNATURE, TULL STORIES, UNIVERSAL, VERTIGO PREDICTED INTEREST CURVE™ THRILLED ENTERTAINED NODDING OFF ZZZZZZZZZ RUNNING TIME START 20 40 60 80 100 FINISH Paris precision New Orleans nail gun Chicago home invasion New York Swinton Dominican Republic resolve Florida cheese grater ‘Never yield an advantage…’ 86 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

DOCTOR JEKYLL TBC ★★★★★ OUT 27 OCTOBER CINEMAS Eddie Izzard headlines a modern take on the iconic horror yarn, helmed by Joe Stephenson. Hired as a caregiver for the reclusive Nina Jekyll (Izzard), Rob (Scott Chambers) is thrust into a centuries-old battle for supremacy, caught between the doctor and her sinister alter ego. Canny casting and spirited performances enliven the Hammer brand’s latest, with Izzard hamming it up in a series of outlandish monologues. Though sluggishly paced and missing the classic story’s requisite Gothic atmosphere, it redeems itself with an OTT finale and lashings of camp. JOEL HARLEY OUR RIVER… OUR SKY 12A ★★★★★ OUT 20 OCTOBER CINEMAS Set in a small Baghdad community enduring horrific sectarian violence, Maysoon Pachachi’s multi-stranded drama paints a deeply moving, at times poetic portrait of the devastation inflicted. Employing an ensemble of largely non-professional actors, Pachachi (a documentarian here making her narrative debut) illuminates the lives of those who suffer the consequences of geopolitical powers willing to sacrifice others for their own gain. Unsurprisingly, it makes for an intense two hours, yet delivers an experience that is upsetting for all the right reasons. LEILA LATIF THE MIRACLE CLUB 12A ★★★★★ OUT 13 OCTOBER CINEMAS A fine cast - Maggie Smith, Laura Linney and Kathy Bates - spearheads this sweet-natured, if unsurprising, comedy drama. Directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan (The Heart of Me), it sees a group of women from a working-class Dublin suburb make the pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, where thousands flock in the hope of witnessing a religious miracle. What follows isn’t exactly radical, but the script serves up some fun moments, largely at the expense of the hapless husbands left behind. Smith is her usual puckish self, while Linney injects genuine class. JAMES MOTTRAM NANDOR FODOR AND THE TALKING MONGOOSE 12 ★★★★★ OUT 20 OCTOBER PRIME VIDEO A true story inspired this underdeveloped curio, a film that never quite does its bizarre subject justice. Simon Pegg plays parapsychologist Nandor, a sceptic investigating claims about a talking mongoose named Gef on a farm in 1937. Writer/director Adam Sigal flirts with themes of faith/belief and celebrity/hysteria but struggles to refine his intent, ending up in a handsome but hollow nowhere zone between whimsical comedy and sincere drama. Despite on-point casting and period detail, this mystery remains stubbornly opaque. KEVIN HARLEY MUZZLE 15 ★★★★★ OUT 7 NOVEMBER PRIME VIDEO Los Angeles cop-on-the-edge Jake Rosser (Aaron Eckhart) must break in a new partner to track down the drug dealers who killed his last one. The kicker? Both old and new partners are dogs. Director John Stalberg Jr. and co-writer Carlyle Eubank (2014’s The Signal) take this Simpsons-esque concept very seriously indeed, which leads to several laugh-out-loud moments, such as when our hero grumbles, ‘There’s something you’re not telling me!’ to his four-legged pal. Eckhart deserves better, but there’s fun to be had with what basically amounts to a po-faced K9 sequel that wants to be Training Day 2. MATT GLASBY SUITABLE FLESH TBC ★★★★★ OUT 27 OCTOBER CINEMAS, DIGITAL This outrageous tale of bodily transference finds director Joe Lynch (Knights of Badassdom) channelling the late Stuart Gordon, offering up a hearty tribute to the cult Re-Animator maker. Loosely adapted from H.P. Lovecraft’s 1933 story The Thing on the Doorstep, it’s an erotic body horror that centres on a pair of psychiatrists (played by Heather Graham and Gordon fave Barbara Crampton) who become entangled in a freaky (Friday) occult ritual. Lynch’s lurid pastiche delivers all the sex and splatter of ’80s-era Gordon, while injecting an ample dose of his own metalhead sensibilities. JOEL HARLEY THE BYSTANDERS TBC ★★★★★ OUT 3 NOVEMBER CINEMAS A sci-fi concept receives a Shaun h_yma^=^Z]-ish remix in this sketchy but scruffily inventive Brit-com. Scott Haran plays Peter, a child chess prodigy turned office sad sack recruited as a ‘bystander’: an alt-dimensional angel tasked with guiding a subject’s earthly life. His bond with recruiter Frank (Seann Walsh) adds Wings of Desire-ish touches, which extend to writer/ director Gabriel Foster Prior’s colour/black-and-white images. Though stronger on set-up than story, Prior’s mix of workplace comedy and self-help satire has style, charm and wit on its side. KEVIN HARLEY THE ROYAL HOTEL TBC ★★★★★ OUT 3 NOVEMBER CINEMAS Kitty Green’s The Assistant (2019) was set in a hellish work environment presided over by a shadowy, Harvey Weinstein-esque figure. Her potent follow-up evinces similar disdain for toxic masculinity, featuring as it does the most loathsome collection of supporting male characters imaginable. Young Canadian backpackers Hanna (The Assistant’s Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) take up a gig at a pub in a remote Australian mining community. Soon we’re engulfed in an all-too-familiar nightmare of booze, bad vibes and misogyny, played out over a brisk but harrowing 91 minutes. LEILA LATIF TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 87

This chilling documentary follows families attempting to escape North Korea ★★★★★ OUT 27 OCTOBER CINEMAS BEYOND UTOPIA TBC Seeking sanctuary… M adeleine Gavin’s extraordinary, Sundance Audience Award-winning documentary follows North Korean dissidents fleeing for their lives from Kim Jong Un’s repressive regime. They’re helped by an ‘underground network’ of anonymous brokers overseen by Chinese pastor Seungeun Kim, a true guardian angel whose aim is to get them through fellow Communist countries China, Vietnam and Laos to the safety of Thailand. Along the way, they face untold potential dangers - being shot by border guards, captured by organ harvesters, or lost in the jungle - but staying means torture, imprisonment and death, so what choice do they have? Skilfully edited together from various clandestine sources, Beyond Utopia focuses on Kim’s attempts to help the Roh family, whose harrowing, heart-in-mouth progress is captured in panicky snatches of camera-phone footage. Other defectors - such as anguished mother Soyeon Lee - aren’t so fortunate. In between, Gavin builds a damning portrait of North Korea, the ‘utopia’ of the title, where abject poverty and state-sponsored violence keep the people obedient. During a rare moment of calm, we see the Roh family blithely singing a North Korean propaganda song. It’s beautiful and chilling at the same time. How do you escape a prison so all-encompassing it’s been drilled into your brain? As Grandma Roh puts it, sorrowfully, ‘We were born in the wrong country.’ MATT GLASBY THE VERDICT An unblinking exploration of human courage – and kindness – in the face of unthinkable tyranny. TIME ADDICTS 18 ★★★★★ OUT NOW ICON FILM CHANNEL 27 OCTOBER CINEMAS Adapting his own short film into a feature-length debut, writer/ director Sam Odlum delivers an unsettling time-travel story filled with grime, mind-warping twists and a wicked sense of humour. When drug-dependent BFFs Denise (Freya Tingley) and Johnny (Charles Grounds) undertake a job to steal some mysterious dope, they discover that dipping into the stash lets them jump backwards and forwards in time, leading to trippy revelations fraught with danger. A genuinely clever plot and terrific performances make for a funny, original sci-fi, bracingly laced with immorality. MATT LOOKER SPOOKY NIGHT: THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN 12 ★★★★★ OUT 13 OCTOBER CINEMAS 16 OCTOBER DVD, DIGITAL Staging a lock-in at real-life US mall institution Spirit Halloween, three bickering tweens find themselves besieged by murderous animatronics, each possessed by the town ghoul (Christopher Lloyd, not quite phoning it in, but not fully present either). From kids on bikes to a cap-gun arsenal, David Poag’s family-friendly horror hits all the beats established by the likes of The Monster Squad and Stranger Things. The action sequences are well staged, but this corporate tie-in lacks the essential wit and bite of those it imitates. JOEL HARLEY SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD 15 ★★★★★ OUT 13 OCTOBER CINEMAS At once intimate and intensely private, Anna Hints’ excellent doc spotlights a group of Estonian women baring body and soul in the wood-fired saunas of Vana-Võromaa. These rituals offer a kind of spiritual deep cleanse: away from societal dictates, the women feel empowered to discuss their innermost thoughts, from motherhood to queer identity. Though laughs are abundant (one woman wonders if ‘dick pic’ is a social-media site) it culminates in a dark personal anecdote that feels like a cathartic, cleansing exorcism, toxins dissipating in the smoke. CHRIS SCHILLING A HAUNTING IN VENICE 12A ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS Nimbly grafting an eerie Halloween spook-fest onto an old-school whodunnit, Kenneth Branagh’s latest Poirot foray delivers both laughs and tingles. The former stem from Tina Fey’s Ariadne Oliver, a writer of mysteries (and walking in-joke). The chills, meanwhile, arrive after she’s coaxed Branagh’s moustachioed detective out of retirement to attend a seance in a palazzo, where the mood soon turns murderous. The eventual solution to the central puzzle is somewhat bemusing, but there’s plenty to savour en route, from the opulent production design to the eclectic cast. NEIL SMITH 88 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

Once a protagonist, always a protagonist ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS THE CREATOR 12A What’s it all about, Alphie? G areth Edwards’ AI sci-fi starts with a bang: in 2055, we learn, a warhead was detonated that engulfed LA and led to a ban on artificial intelligence in the US. Fifteen years on, the military remains on the hunt for Nirmata, the mysterious figure behind a weapon that could turn the tables on America. Enter Sgt Joshua Taylor (John David Washington), dispatched to the Republic of New Asia to look for Nirmata, but more eager to track down lost love Maya (Gemma Chan). Instead, he finds a Simulant - the most advanced AI yet - in the form of a child (soulful newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles). Despite his hatred of AI, Joshua has no choice but to pair up with this young girl (whom he dubs Alphie) in hopes she’ll lead him to Maya. If the bond that evolves between our two heroes isn’t as tear-jerking as the film wants it to be, the world-building certainly hits the mark. Accompanied by Hans Zimmer’s ornate score, the visuals - encompassing Thai locations beautifully lensed by Oren Soffer and garnished with ace FX - offer a stunning snapshot of the future. The pacey action – especially a scene involving monstrous-looking tanks and AI bombs that run like Usain Bolt – is also killer. True, some of the character dynamics needed more fleshing out. But with this blend of spectacle and big themes, Edwards has created something hugely original and imaginative. JAMES MOTTRAM THE VERDICT Even in an overcrowded AI-movie market, Edwards’ stellar sci-fi is a terrific achievement. See it on the largest, loudest screen possible. HOW TO SAVE THE IMMORTAL PG ★★★★★ OUT 27 OCTOBER CINEMAS Dubbed into English following its native Russian release, this animated fantasy tells a familiar tale of distressed damsels and cuddly monsters. Blackmailed into kidnapping heiress Barbara the Brave (Liza Klimova), immortal aristocrat Drybone (Andrey Kurganov) soon begins falling for his plucky captive. Entire chunks of dialogue are fumbled thanks to wooden performances, while the blocky animation fails to bring the characters to life. The madcap action may keep little ones entertained, but much is seemingly lost in translation. JOEL HARLEY HOLLYWOOD DREAMS & NIGHTMARES: THE ROBERT ENGLUND STORY 15 ★★★★★ OUT NOW ICON FILM CHANNEL 6 NOVEMBER BD, DIGITAL Horror icon Englund proves an engaging subject in this documentary exploring not just Elm Street but his entire career. At just over two hours, the film verges on info overload. Still, there are fun anecdotes, insights from colleagues and surprising revelations about his connections to the Star Wars and Halloween franchises. There’s also a rewarding throughline about how Englund’s initial frustration with being typecast as Freddie gave way to new career highs once he fully embraced the character. MATT LOOKER SAVAGE WATERS 12A ★★★★★ OUT 27 OCTOBER CINEMAS A 19th-century treasure hunter’s journal is the spur for a veteran skipper and record-breaking surfer to seek out a legendary wave in treacherous Atlantic waters. Though beautifully shot – the surfing footage in particular – Michael Corker’s documentary is never quite as thrilling as its premise suggests. But even when their seemingly chimeric quest suffers crushing setbacks, the protagonists are amiable company. Meanwhile, as Charles Dance reads from the original tome, Corker smartly plays up the unlikely symmetry between modern and Victorian adventurers. CHRIS SCHILLING ON THE ADAMANT PG ★★★★★ OUT 3 NOVEMBER CINEMAS, CURZON HOME CINEMA The Adamant in question is a floating barge that houses a day-care centre for individuals with psychiatric disorders. Moored in the Seine in central Paris, its therapeutic programme offers workshops in art, dance, poetry and music-making. Winner of the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear, this empathetic documentary from Nicolas Philibert (Être et Avoir) isn’t concerned with clinical diagnoses. Eschewing voiceover commentary, it instead allows its vulnerable subjects to talk candidly about their lives and to display their creativity, thus challenging our preconceptions about mental illness. TOM DAWSON D O G W O O F, I C O N , D A Z Z L E R M E D I A , PA R A M O U N T, C O N I C , K A L E I D O S C O P E , T U L L S T O R I E S , C U R Z O N , 2 0 T H C E N T U R Y S T U D I O S TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 89

★★★★★ OUT 27 OCTOBER CINEMAS ★★★★★ OUT 27 OCTOBER NETFLIX TYPIST ARTIST PIRATE KING 12A PAIN HUSTLERS 15 Two for the road… Lacks substance… I used to be in the kitchen-sink school of realism,’ says the heroine of writer/director Carol Morley’s latest. ‘But now I’m avant-garde and misunderstood!’ Instead of presenting a straight biographical portrait of neglected artist Audrey Amiss (played here by Monica Dolan), however, the Out of Blue director aims at something more kindred with her neglected subject’s oeuvre: an expressionistic, heavily fictionalised road movie that uses an impromptu journey from London to Sunderland to explore Audrey’s troubled personal history. Both behind the wheel and along for the ride is Sandra Panza (Kelly Macdonald), a psychiatric nurse who, as her name suggests, becomes Audrey’s accomplice on her quixotic quest to have her pieces exhibited in her Wearside hometown. The episodic odyssey that follows takes many a detour as strangers take on the form, in Audrey’s mind at least, of figures from her past: one that encompasses years in care, a traumatic childhood and a painful estrangement from sister Dorothy (Gina McKee). As Audrey, Dolan is indefatigably chatty and high-spirited – a performance some may eventually find exasperating. But with humour and compassion, Typist Artist Pirate King (the occupation Audrey gave herself in her passport) makes a plausible case for affording her the respect in death she was denied while living. NEIL SMITH THE VERDICT Dolan’s outsized performance may prove divisive, but this remains a tender-hearted eulogy. H elming his first non-Wizarding World film in seven years, director David Yates has the opioid crisis – which recently was also the subject of Netflix miniseries Painkiller – in his sights with this fictionalised adap of a New York Times Magazine article. It opens in 2011: the dangers of opioids are well known, but unscrupulous pharma types continue to peddle them regardless. Our guide to this world is Emily Blunt’s Liza Drake, a single mum scraping a living at a lap-dancing club, where she gets a job offer from Pete Brenner (Chris Evans, fun if one-note), a sleazy sales rep for a pharma start-up. Liza’s gift of the gab makes her a natural fit for the company, whose stock is soon soaring. So begins a familiar trajectory. But despite a typically strong performance from Blunt, neither the rise nor the inevitable fall ever feels all that compelling. There are no great revelations, and the fictionalised sheen makes it feel a bit toothless. True, Liza’s wrongdoings aren’t entirely glossed over. But Blunt’s sympathetic turn and the presence of a sick daughter who desperately needs expensive medical treatment do go a considerable way to absolving Liza of her involvement in a heinous situation, muting the movie’s overall message. Featuring support from Catherine O’Hara and Andy Garcia, Pain Hustlers is competently put together - but there’s surely a more vital, more electrifying version of this story that could be told. MATT MAYTUM THE VERDICT Blunt is the main selling point in a largely ineffectual satire that does more pharm than good. Take your hands out of your pockets, guys! You’re in Total Film! Monica Dolan and Kelly Macdonald star in this playful and yet poignant drama C E N T R A L C I T Y M E D I A , C U R Z O N , D O G W O O F, I C O N , L I O N S G AT E , M O D E R N F I L M S , N E T F L I X 90 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS EXPEND4BLES 15 Christmas turkey… I t’s good to be back,’ growls Dolph Lundgren’s Gunner. Not on this evidence, it isn’t. Cheap-looking and poorly scripted, this atrocious Sly Stallone-led actioner opens in ‘Gaddafi’s old chemical plant’ in Libya, where a private army steals some nuclear detonators to kickstart what Andy Garcia’s suit later suggests will be ‘a World War Three shitshow’ (and that’s one of the better lines). After Stallone’s Barney Ross and his fellow aging Expendables fail to catch the nuke-snatchers, losing one of their members in the process, the fightback gets personal. The second half is very much the Jason Statham show, following his grouchy Lee Christmas as he sneaks aboard an enemy vessel to rescue his buddies (including newbies Megan Fox and Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson). There’s a moderately exciting bike chase through the ship, but mostly director Scott Waugh (2014 crime flick Need for Speed) brazenly borrows from Under Siege and Die Hard. At least Ong-Bak’s Tony Jaa and The Raid’s Iko Uwais inject charisma, though neither gets much chance to flaunt their martial-arts prowess amid all the sub-par stunts and visual effects. The plot, meanwhile, hinges on a telegraphed ‘twist’ that’ll leave you groaning. Sly and Statham are always watchable, not least when the latter takes a job as security for an odious social-media influencer. But they can’t save this mission from going painfully pear-shaped. JAMES MOTTRAM THE VERDICT A grimly predictable fourth outing for Sly and co. What was once a fun OAP action series is now DOA. Barney Ross is as confused as the rest of us over the spelling of the film’s title 20,000 SPECIES OF BEES 12A ★★★★★ OUT 27 OCTOBER CINEMAS, CURZON HOME CINEMA This gentle identity-crisis drama was recognised at last year’s Berlin Film Festival for its lead performance by Sofía Otero (the youngest-ever Silver Bear winner), who plays an eight-year-old trans girl. Marking a mature feature debut from Spanish writer/director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, it follows Otero’s Aitor – a name she rejects – as she wrestles with the expectations of gender binaries while on holiday with her mum (Patricia López Arnaiz). Offering a thoughtful child’s-eye view of self-discovery, Solaguren’s film is slow-paced but executed with great sensitivity. MATT LOOKER 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL 18 ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS Shot, directed and narrated by Associated Press video journalist Mstyslav Chernov, this is a powerful account of life in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol in the weeks following the 2022 Russian invasion. The filmmaker and two colleagues – the last remaining international journalists – dauntlessly filmed the destruction inflicted on Mariupol’s civilian population. As you might imagine, it’s tough viewing, but also a vital reminder of why war correspondents must bear witness to such atrocities - not least when Russian officials dismiss Chernov’s distressing images as staged ‘information terrorism’. TOM DAWSON DALILAND 15 ★★★★★ OUT 13 OCT CINEMAS 13 NOV DVD, DIGITAL Cult director Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol, American Psycho) paints a portrait of Salvador Dalí’s chaotic old age that’s oddly conventional, for all the wild 70s New York orgies and rampant art fraud. Ben Kingsley and Fassbinder veteran Barbara Sukowa are deliciously spiky as the moustachioed maestro and his bullying wife-muse Gala, aided by Ezra Miller’s brilliantly outsized cameo as the young Dalí. But filtering the story through the (fictional) disillusionment of Christopher Briney’s Dalíworshipping young gallery assistant sucks all the freaky fun out of it. KATE STABLES WHERE THE WIND BLOWS 15 ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS Hong Kong’s 2022 Oscar submission pits two titans of Asian cinema against one another, as Tony Leung and Aaron Kwok lock horns in Philip Yung’s lavish but ill-disciplined crime drama. Cast as two corrupt officers rising through the ranks of Hong Kong’s police force, the charismatic central pair manage to carry the film over its bumps, of which there are plenty. Still, if Yung regularly seems to lose interest in all the bribery and double-dealing – flitting between black-andwhite flashbacks, soft-focus romantic interludes and even tap-dancing sequences – his film rarely bores. CHRIS SCHILLING TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 91

★★★★★ OUT 23 OCTOBER DIGITAL ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED 15 Idol moments… A midwestern hick’ (his words) from Winnetka, Illinois, the matinee idol formerly known as Roy Fitzgerald lit up the screen in Douglas Sirk melodramas (see 1955’s All That Heaven Allows) and Doris Day romcoms (1959’s Pillow Talk). ‘He was a great performer,’ notes one contributor in Stephen Kijak’s breezy documentary. ‘Not just in acting, but in life.’ Hudson (1925-1985), who was gay, arrived in a post-World War Two Hollywood fixated on hyper-masculine heroes. Gradually, he turned himself into one of the biggest but, as noted here, to fully become Rock, he had to erase Roy. Although he was forced to keep his sexuality secret, it was coded into films such as Pillow Talk, which saw him camping it up to get close to Day. It also proved a source of conflict with James Dean on 1956’s Giant, for which Hudson was Oscar-nominated. Mixing archive footage, well-chosen clips and new interviews with Hudson’s ex-partners and pals, the film moves nimbly from celebrating his many achievements to offering details about his love life, albeit in somewhat salacious fashion. In 1985, Hudson would die from AIDS-related complications, but his heroic admission to go public with his diagnosis would help those silenced by the stigma – something he understood all too well. MATT GLASBY THE VERDICT An entertaining and, at times, moving profile of one of Hollywood’s most charming and conflicted stars. ‘A great performer’: screen legend Rock Hudson THE RETIREMENT PLAN 15 ★★★★★ OUT NOW DIGITAL Michael Caine bought his mum a house with his fee for Jaws: The Revenge. Let’s hope Nicolas Cage makes a loved one happy with this comedy thriller, because it surely won’t leave viewers feeling that way. Cage plays an estranged dad whose daughter (Ashley Greene) seeks his help when she gets caught up in a criminal enterprise. It’s lame and cheap-looking, but at least gives us the Cayman Islands to ogle. Shooting there during the early part of the pandemic surely explains a cast that includes Ron Perlman, Jackie Earle Haley (misspelt in the credits) and Ernie Hudson. JAMIE GRAHAM NOBODY HAS TO KNOW 12A ★★★★★ OUT 3 NOVEMBER CINEMAS Bouli Lanners co-directs, co-writes and co-stars in this measured, melancholy drama set in the Scottish Highlands. It offers a unique story of late love, albeit one that unfolds at a glacial pace. Lanners plays Phil, a middle-aged farmhand who suffers a stroke and subsequently loses his memory. Cared for by Millie (Michelle Fairley), he discovers that the two were recently romantically involved. Thoughtprovoking scenes explore ideas about identity and missed chances, but the tone - by turns twee and maudlin - hampers much of the tension and intrigue. MATT LOOKER MIND-SET 18 ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS, DIGITAL Brit-indie realism and cliché combine in this engaging but naggingly over-determined comedy drama from Mikey Murray. Eilis Cahill and Steve Oram play a couple whose love is parched; can she resist the urge to stray? A slumped Oram and a superbly acerbic Cahill provide spiky focus amid Murray’s crisp black-and-white images, but the subtexts (mental-health issues), set pieces (bad parties, really bad sex) and supporting characters run to the contrived. Despite Murray’s persuasive flair for cringey intimacies and masturbation scenes, the sour finale overplays the film’s hand. KEVIN HARLEY GOLDA 12A ★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS Whatever your take on the casting of non-Jewish actress Helen Mirren as former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, it’s hard to deny that this snapshot of the steely politician’s time in office during the 19 days of the 1973 Yom Kippur war never really gets off the ground. Obscured by cigarette smoke, a grey wig, and prosthetic nose and jowls, Mirren never seems fully at ease, bar her enlivening, imploring exchanges with Liev Schreiber’s US secretary of state Henry Kissinger. Recalling Mirren’s earlier war-room drama Eye in the Sky (2015), albeit without the same nervy tension, this is a plodding affair. JAMES MOTTRAM UNIVERSAL, SIGNATURE, PARKLAND, VERTICAL, BULLDOG 92 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

1983 ★★★★★ OUT 20 OCTOBER CINEMAS CHRISTINE 15 Rolling thunder… Q uestion: which 1980s adaptation of a Stephen King novel by a legendary film director made wholesale changes to the book and is reviled by the author? Answer: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, of course… but also John Carpenter’s Christine, which now motors back into cinemas for its 40th anniversary. Set in late-70s LA, this tale of bullied teenager Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) and his unhealthy relationship with his first car – the titular 1958 Plymouth Fury that he restores to gleaming glory – is an unashamed B-movie, blasting 50s rock ’n’ roll as Arnie’s tormentors are reduced to roadkill. Is Arnie behind the wheel? Or is Christine doing it all by herself? While Kubrick, an intellectual filmmaker, brought all of his art and ambition to The Shining, Carpenter, an emotional filmmaker, took a streamlined, no-nonsense, fun-filled approach. Both pictures received poor to middling reviews upon release, and both have since grown in stature, though it took Christine a good deal longer – only in the last 10 years has it been recognised as a top-tier King and/or Carpenter movie, or thereabouts. Impeccably crafted, Christine is packed with quotable dialogue, cinematic kills and oh-so-cool moments (‘Show me...’), and compares to De Palma’s Carrie as a portrait of an alienated teen pushed into a roaring rampage of revenge. JAMIE GRAHAM THE VERDICT Bryan Fuller’s working on a new model of Christine. It’ll have to be truly special to compare. GRAVITY 12A 2013 ★★★★★ OUT 20 OCTOBER CINEMAS Awards success led some to reappraise Alfonso Cuarón’s space thriller, back in cinemas for its 10th anniversary. Overrated? Not at all. From its extended opening shot onwards, this is pure big-screen sensation, a wonderfully taut, spectacle-driven pulse-quickener delivered with bravura technique that fully earned its seven – from 10 nominations – Oscar wins. It arguably deserved an eighth: as harried medical engineer Ryan Stone, Sandra Bullock deftly combines panic and pathos, giving us a relatable hero you can’t help but root for, as implausible as her journey home occasionally seems. CHRIS SCHILLING BLAZING MAGNUM 18 1976 ★★★★★ OUT NOW BD, DVD, DIGITAL EXTRAS ★★★★★ Featurettes, Art cards Italian director Alberto De Martino made his name repurposing successful US movies, often with eyebrow-raising results (see 1974 Exorcist ‘homage’ The Antichrist, also newly available on Blu). Part Dirty Harry, part giallo, this Ottawa-set thriller (aka Strange Shadows in an Empty Room) stars Stuart Whitman as a take-no-prisoners cop on the hunt for his sister’s killer. Though the film’s attitudes – which require a pre-credits disclaimer – are dated, there’s able support from a flock of B-movie favourites (John Saxon, Martin Landau, Tisa Farrow) and the car chases are extraordinary. MATT GLASBY VALLEY GIRL 15 1983 ★★★★★ OUT NOW BD EXTRAS ★★★★★ Commentaries, Featurettes, Music videos, Booklet If not, like, totally bitchin’, director Martha Coolidge’s (Rambling Rose) teen romance holds up a lot better than many of its contemporaries. Stars Deborah Foreman (April Fool’s Day) and Nicolas Cage (in his first lead role) make for convincing star-crossed lovers - she a cool valley girl, he a dorky punk - which helps to offset the story’s familiarity. The affection all involved still have for the film shines through in the hours of interviews included here, which also packs in two commentaries (one by Coolidge) and a handy glossary (‘Pukeoid’, ‘Kiss my tuna’). ANTON VAN BEEK I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING! PG 1945 ★★★★★ OUT 20 OCTOBER CINEMAS A newly restored print of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s romantic drama, released in cinemas as part of a BFI season celebrating the duo’s extraordinary cine-legacy. It centres on Joan (Wendy Hiller), a headstrong young woman travelling from Manchester to a Hebridean island to marry her industrialist boss. En route, she runs into bad weather, but also charming Scottish laird Torquil (Roger Livesey)... Playfully blending ‘reality’ and fantasy, the filmmakers conjure up a magical universe marked by ancient curses, wild storms and sublime natural beauty. TOM DAWSON BFI, COLUMBIA, EUREKA, STUDIOCANAL, PARK CIRCUS, WARNER BROS. Malcolm Danare as Moochie: quite possibly about to be ‘reduced to roadkill’ TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 93

1973 ★★★★★ OUT 13 OCTOBER CINEMAS 1985 ★★★★★ OUT NOW BD, 4K UHD EXTRAS ★★★★★ Commentary, Documentary, Featurettes, Deleted scenes, Essay MEAN STREETS 18 AFTER HOURS 15 New York stories… T here’s a lot to be said for working with what you know. In two films issued 12 years apart, an on-the-ropes Martin Scorsese proved as much, operating on lean, keen instinct to galvanising punk-rock effect. After Scorsese made Boxcar Bertha (1972), indie godhead John Cassavetes told him he’d spent a year on ‘a piece of shit’. Marty’s answer was to make magic from home turf with Mean Streets, dissecting the American Dream via an anthropological study of Little Italy. The result bristles with urgency and hunger. As Harvey Keitel’s crook wrestles with religion, male bonds and loose-cannon Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro, electric), the spectacle of Scorsese’s voice-forming thrills. A decade on, The King of Comedy flopped and The Last Temptation of Christ collapsed (temporarily). Cast adrift, Scorsese turned to a script about a man adrift. After Hours is a black comedy with Griffin Dunne pitch-perfect as a desk jockey navigating NY’s underworld after a meet-cute goes weird. With his Cannes hit, Scorsese rediscovered his low-budget know-how and his career footing. That’s him with the spotlight in the nightclub: lighting his path out of the darkness, the way only he could. KEVIN HARLEY THE VERDICT With style and swagger, Scorsese marks his territory in two brisk, bracing Big Apple bangers. GREGORY’S GIRL 12 1980 ★★★★★ OUT NOW BD, 4K UHD, DIGITAL EXTRAS ★★★★★ Commentaries, Featurettes, Alternate music cues, US soundtrack, Booklet A world away from the highschool comedies that proliferated across the Atlantic during the 80s, Scottish writer/director Bill Forsyth’s charming sophomore feature is a joy to revisit, courtesy of the BFI’s exquisite new 4K restoration. One of the few films to accurately capture the anticipation and awkwardness of adolescent infatuation, Gregory’s Girl eschews familiar genre tropes and stereotypes to craft something that feels altogether sweeter, funnier and emotionally authentic. ANTON VAN BEEK PEEPING TOM 15 1960 ★★★★★ OUT 27 OCTOBER CINEMAS Michael Powell was as feted in his day as a Scorsese or Spielberg – until this seminal chiller shredded his reputation for several years. Centred on a focus-puller (Carl Boehm) who spends his free time making snuff films, it’s relatively tame by modern standards, yet what the viewer is left to imagine is far more troubling: the most frightening thing, its mantra goes, is fear itself. This 4K restoration suits a big-screen rewatch – not least for the unsettling way it conflates cinema’s inherently voyeuristic nature with our appetites as viewers. Little wonder it left critics spluttering in shock. CHRIS SCHILLING PRESSURE 15 1976 ★★★★★ OUT 3 NOVEMBER CINEMAS A digital restoration of this pioneering coming-of-age drama, the first full-length British feature to be directed by a Black filmmaker, the late Sir Horace Ové. The uncompromising nature of his portrait of societal racism led to Pressure’s original release being delayed for a time. Shot in London’s Ladbroke Grove, it tracks teenaged second-generation Caribbean immigrant Tony (Herbert Norville), who’s caught between the conformism of his Christian parents and the Black Power militancy of his older brother (Oscar James). The film’s anger at the injustices experienced by young Black Britons remains undimmed. TOM DAWSON FRIDAY THE 13TH 15 1980 ★★★★★ OUT 13 OCTOBER CINEMAS Back in cinemas for one week only – starting Friday 13 October, natch – this hit slasher remains crudely effective despite nine sequels, one crossover, one remake and the original Scream telling everyone that it’s actually (spoiler alert!) Mrs. Voorhees, not Jason, who’s slaying young Kevin Bacon and pals at summer camp. Sure, it misplaces the wit and sophistication as it rips off Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood and John Carpenter’s Halloween. But whichever way you slice it, Sean S. Cunningham’s film delivers its fair share of fear, including one all-timer of a jump scare. JAMIE GRAHAM ALTITUDE, BFI, ICON, SPIRIT, WARNER BROS. Marty marvels: Mean Streets (top) and After Hours 94 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

SENNHEISER, EPSON, SAMSUNG, LG, SONY SENNHEISER AMBEO SOUNDBAR MINI OUT NOW £699 Looking for a top-notch soundbar to sit under your telly? Audio expert Sennheiser has brought its awesome Ambeo tech to a more compact gadget that also has a more wallet-friendly price tag. Packing a 250w output, the Ambeo Soundbar Mini is less than half the size of its Soundbar Plus sibling. Support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X means you can get 3D spatial sound from just the one speaker, making moviewatching more immersive without having to invest in a whole set of speakers. SAMSUNG THE FRAME: DISNEY 100 EDITION OUT NOW £1,999 As well as showcasing an impossibly large 98in 8K QLED TV, Samsung recently unveiled a limited-edition version of its ‘The Frame’ TV to commemorate Disney’s 100th anniversary. Acting as a piece of art when it’s not being used as a TV, The Frame gives you access to a range of famous artworks from the likes of the Louvre and the Tate to display on your wall. This particular edition offers 100 pieces of Disney artwork, including graphics from Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. Packing a super-slim design and matte display, the TV also sports a premium silver-metal frame. SONY HT-AX7 OUT NOW £499 This nifty little portable sound system is designed for cinematic audio anywhere. It comprises three speakers, two of which pop off from the top, and packs Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology. This clever tech creates virtual speakers at the front, rear and overhead, giving you an immersive, cinema-like sound. Bluetooth connectivity and up to 30 hours of battery life mean you can place it pretty much anywhere in your home. The speaker fabric is made from recycled bottles, so it’s ecofriendly, too. LIBBY PLUMMER EPSON EH-LS650 OUT TBC OCTOBER £2,299.99 Bring the big screen into your living room with this new short-throw laser projector. Designed with smaller spaces in mind, the catchily named LS650 can project a picture up to 120 inches, even when it’s sitting close to the wall. An easy-set-up smartphone app does all the hard work for you, and there’s also built-in Android TV and Chromecast for streaming and casting. What’s more, it has Yamaha speakers on board, so it works as a standalone smart speaker. Choose from black or white to match your decor. LG STANBYME GO OUT TBC £TBC If you’ve ever wanted to cart your TV around in a suitcase, you’re in luck. LG’s rather bizarre StanbyME Go is a 27-inch touch display that comes in a sturdy carrying case, which also houses a 20w four-channel speaker system. Designed to be used outdoors, the TV-in-a-suitcase sports LG’s webOS smart TV platform and connects to your iOS or Android device. A built-in battery gives you up to three hours of watching time (so Oppenheimer is just about possible), but you can also lay the screen flat if you fancy playing a digital board game. TECH PREVIEW Home-cinema kit to suit(case) all tastes… E ven with some of the big home-cinema brands deciding to skip this year’s Berlinbased IFA show, it offered a tantalising sneak peek at what’s coming next. Here are a few highlights for your 2023-24 wish list… a super-slim design and matte display, the TV also sports a premium silver-metal frame. SONY HT-AX7 OUT NOW £499 it’s one so g s er. TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 95

EXTRAS ART & HUE, CHRONICLE, FUNKO, LOUNGEFLY, © 2023 MARVEL COLLECTIBLE X-MEN 100 COLLECTIBLE COMICBOOK COVER POSTCARDS OUT NOW It’s 60 years since Professor X marshalled his mighty mutants; spread the word to 100 of your friends with this box of postcards showcasing comic-book covers with major X appeal. Kicking off with Jack Kirby’s seminal issue-one illo, the collection runs from ’63 to the modern day, taking in myriad line-up/costume/artist changes. It’s all packed in a satin-ribboned box with a 30-page X-plainer booklet. Available from all places of retail X-cellence (OK, we’ll stop now). MATTHEW LEYLAND GAMES POP! PUZZLES OUT NOW Funko has a big-bonced jigsaw for seemingly every fandom, whether you’re a Marvelite (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) or a Loser, so to speak (It: Chapter One). Each puzzle is 18x24in and comprises 500 pieces - i.e. just big enough for a challenge that won’t leave you sobbing into the box. One especially seasonal eye-catcher is The Nightmare Before Christmas, whose colours gain an extra Pop! when viewed under a blacklight. Boys and girls of every age, see something strange at funkoeurope.com. ACCESSORIES HALLOWEEN MINI-BACKPACKS OUT NOW Two Loungefly products from opposite ends of the scare spectrum. At the less-frightening-than-lettuce end we have the Pooh and Piglet Halloween mini-backpack, with its cute ghost costumes and benignly smiling jack-o’-lantern. And then straight out of Satan’s cloakroom there’s the Michael Myers cosplay mini-backpack, featuring not just the face of evil, but evil’s childhood home and evil’s favourite knife (which is now a metal zipper charm - nice/nasty touch). Adorably/alarmingly, both backpacks glow in the dark. Bag ’em at funkoeurope.com. PRINT MOVIE MAP OF AMERICA OUT NOW Talk about a map to the stars… This A2 pop-art print features more than 270 golden-age actors - and not just crammed in any old how, but positioned in the US state of their birth or upbringing, from Marilyn Monroe (California) to Sidney Poitier (Florida). It’s available in 28 hues, from coral to copper to the colours of the American flag. And yes, it comes with a numbered guide so you can put a name to every whatsherface and That Guy. Look up artandhue.com. 96 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

1973-78 AVAILABLE ON DVD, BD, DIGITAL Building a better action series… his bionic enhancements against everything from gangsters and spies to fembots, a seven milliondollar man, aliens and even Bigfoot. In the process, the series cemented the concept of cyborgs in the popular consciousness, paving the way for the likes of The Terminator and RoboCop. A spin-off series, The Bionic Woman, arrived in 1976 and proved just as big a hit, the two productions generating a deluge of toys, lunch boxes and other merchandise. Character and story crossovers became a regular feature of the two shows; a familiar concept today, but largely unheard of at the time. The focus on a female action hero, Lindsay Wagner’s Jaime Sommers, was even more revolutionary - opening the door to other female-oriented action series such as Wonder Woman and Charlie’s Angels. The less said about Max the bionic dog, though, the better… While both shows appeared to have run their course by 1978, Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers’ enduring popularity eventually led to the franchise bowing out in the same manner that it had begun, with a trio of made-for-TV reunion movies (1987- 1994) that finally gave the bionic lovebirds the happy ending they deserved. ANTON VAN BEEK I f you were a child in the mid-1970s there were some things you just knew. French bangers could blow your hands off. A monk-like spectre haunted every pond and stream. And to look like you were running super-fast you actually had to move in slow motion while going, ‘Cht-tuh-tuh-tuh-tuh-tuh-tuh…’ The latter, of course, was all thanks to The Six Million Dollar Man, a small-screen phenomenon whose legacy stretches much further than that iconic bionic sound effect. Based on Martin Caidin’s 1972 novel Cyborg, the show starred Lee Majors as Steve Austin, a former astronaut left close to death after a crash during a test flight. But, as the iconic opening sequence says, ‘We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man…. Better than he was before. Better. Stronger. Faster.’ Beginning life in 1973 as a trio of hit features in the ABC Movie of the Week line-up, The Six Million Dollar Man made the leap to an ongoing series the following January, catapulting its ruggedly laid-back and self-effacing leading man to stardom. Across five seasons, viewers tuned in to watch Austin pit THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN CLASSIC TV FABULOUS FILMS Lee Majors as Steve Austin – the 30 billion dollar-plus man, by today’s prices… THE BIONIC WOMAN PTS 1 & 2, S2, 1975 The Six Million Dollar Man’s very own Love Story, this tragic two-parter thrives on the easygoing chemistry between Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner, before killing off its new bionic heroine as her body rejects the implants. Thankfully, unlike Ali MacGraw, Wagner’s Jaime Sommers was able to return from the dead following complaints from viewers. A V E R Y S P E C I A L EPISODE TOTALFILM.COM NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 97

PAST LIVES ★★★★★ Tender poise and saddened stoicism are the key notes of Grizzly Bear mainstays Christopher Bear/Daniel Rossen’s score. Working with chamberpop ingredients – piano, brushed percussion, guitar, synths, vibraphone – the duo nurture sweet miracles of intangible sorrow from understated soundscapes. Melodies hover just beyond reach, like slippery memories; See You brings the emotions at stake to a soft, spacious crescendo. Sharon van Etten’s controlled slowburner Quiet Eyes adds a pitch-perfect closing note to a score of exquisitely contained feeling. JOHN CARPENTER: ANTHOLOGY II ★★★★★ Must be the season of the witch, as horror’s punksynth pioneer revisits old haunts with a killer set of rerecordings. Another? Yes, but Carpenter’s urgent, bluesy and brooding DIY ingenuity justifies these deep, driving makeovers. Halloween III’s Chariots of Pumpkins sets the pulsing agenda, collaborators Daniel Davies and John’s son, Cody, adding muscular thump to the arrangement. Two tense, throbbing Halloween II cues prove Carpenter Sr. could build on perfection, while haunting closer Laurie’s Theme distils his genius for minimalist menace timelessly. A24 MUSIC, SACRED BONES, WARNER BROS. Memories of love and murder... ‘Look lively, people. Tubular Bells has just piped up. Things are about to get real…’ Penderecki’s Polymorphia accompanies Father Merrin’s prologue stand-off with the Pazuzu statue, seeding a demonic presence in the film. For Regan’s body-language plea (‘Help me’), Crumb’s unnerving Night of the Electric Insects pierces the cold air. When Friedkin used melody, he did so carefully. Looking for an almost childlike refrain reminiscent of Brahms, he found 19-year-old Mike Oldfield’s prog-rock concept album Tubular Bells and became seduced by the elegant opening section on piano/ synths. Friedkin used Bells fleetingly but ingeniously, to hugely resonant effect. As Chris walks home, Friedkin spotlights the anxiety in Oldfield’s music with suggestive sounds: wind blowing nuns’ habits, motorcycles revving angrily. For the film’s climax, a hint of Bells is swiftly sidelined by Henze’s Fantasia for Strings – the closest the soundtrack comes to Herrmann, albeit Herrmann possessed. Otherwise, the soundtrack’s influence outreaches any precedents, touching any horror movie that uses dissonant sound clusters. John Carpenter’s DIY scores for Halloween/The Fog arguably echo Oldfield. Kubrick later followed Friedkin’s example by using Polymorphia in The Shining. Lynch also drew on Penderecki, as did Scorsese’s modern classical Shutter Island music. Whether or not the Devil has the best tunes, he certainly gave horror history some damn good esoteric sound worlds. KEVIN HARLEY T he way the late William Friedkin told it, he had to cast out some difficult contenders as he sought a composer for The Exorcist. Hitchcock vet Bernard Herrmann dubbed the film ‘a piece of shit’ and suggested church organs might help; Friedkin demurred. And when the director requested music resembling ‘a cold hand on the back of your neck’, Lalo Schifrin (Bullitt) responded with bullish, almost Herrmann-esque scare scoring, to Friedkin’s despair. Much too vulgar a display of power? Clearly. With subtlety, Friedkin’s answer was to pare the film’s music of steering melody and strip it back to first principles. While editing, he had used avant-garde modern classical music – Krzysztof Penderecki, George Crumb, Hans Werner Henze and others - as temp tracks. Rerecorded by Leonard Slatkin (with the National Philharmonic Orchestra), integrated with the sound mix and spliced with producer/composer Jack Nitzsche’s abstract noises, this music became Friedkin’s soundtrack. He used the compositions sparingly, almost subliminally, but their atonal registers took possession of his film. Not ‘scored’ in a traditional sense, The Exorcist doesn’t rely on character themes or developed melodies. Sounds buzz like insects and throb with portent, building aural worlds alongside snarling dogs, calls to prayer and chill winds. Some of VARIOUS WARNER RECORDS/RHINO THE EXORCIST CLASSIC SOUNDTRACK 98 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS

Starfield: the Bethesda space epic is the first new universe by the studio in 25 years The game’s retrofuturist aesthetic gives every bustling spaceport and abandoned facility an appealingly lived-in feel – and once you’ve acclimatised to its idiosyncrasies, it’s not nearly as unwieldy as it first seems. A central quest for a series of astral MacGuffins is an effective way to bring you into the orbit of a wide range of characters and factions, leading to a tangle of branching subplots within which you’re free to choose your role: do you infiltrate a gang of space pirates as a mole, or willingly partake in their pillaging? Technological abilities or persuasive techniques come in useful when it’s time for some corporate espionage: develop your social skills sufficiently and, even in combat scenarios, you can intimidate enemies into submission or use diplomacy to get them to lower their guns. Not that you’ll necessarily want to – gunfights, augmented by celestial superpowers, are punchy and exciting. Though anyone who’s seen a superhero film in recent years will see where the story is headed, an ambitious, surprising ending gives you a second chance to rediscover your own place in this universe – whether that’s as a space botanist or a luxury penthouse owner in a gaudy metropolis. As a galactic odyssey, it disappoints; once you’re planetside, however, you’ll find that Starfield makes space for every type of player. CHRIS SCHILLING B ethesda Game Studios has a storied reputation for making vast and deep player-driven role-playing games that are rich in possibility and choice. As such, the prospect of it applying what it’s learned from the post-apocalyptic wastelands of Fallout and the high-fantasy trappings of the Elder Scrolls series to a sprawling, much-hyped space epic – its first new universe in a quarter of a century – is tantalising. Those stratospheric expectations, however, are quickly sent crashing earthward. An inauspicious beginning sees your emergence onto a grey-beige planet (a far cry from the reveals of Oblivion’s Cyrodiil and Fallout’s Capital Wasteland) followed by the discovery of a somewhat sterile opening city. What’s more, your character regularly becomes overencumbered with the abundance of weapons, gear and resources they gather up, and the game feels similarly burdened by its own glut of (often poorly explained) mechanics. The wonder of space exploration, meanwhile, amounts to picking destinations from menus and fast-travelling there: you can manually lift off from a planet but there’s no flying your ship out of its atmosphere, while landing and docking are also automated. It’s like piloting the Millennium Falcon with a busted hyperdrive. Like the Falcon, however, Starfield’s got plenty of character. ★★★★★ OUT NOW PC, XBOX SERIES How high does one of 2023’s biggest launches go? STARFIELD GAMES COCOON ★★★★★ OUT NOW PC, PS4/5, SWITCH, XBOX ONE/ SERIES Jeppe Carlsen, gameplay designer of Playdead’s modern classic Inside, returns with this equally essential puzzle adventure. Marble-like orbs borne by the insectoid protagonist are worlds in themselves: you’ll dive into them to burrow your way deeper inside a biomechanical realm constructed with mesmerising intricacy. FINITY ★★★★★ OUT NOW IOS (VIA APPLE ARCADE) Every move counts in this devious twist on the match-three puzzler. Tiles in the rows or columns you slide get closer to locking with each turn: the trick is to remove them before they stick, limiting your available moves. Finding the going too tough? The musical mode might be more your tempo. Recent thumb-twiddlers... MORE 2 BETHESDA, ANNAPURNA, SEABAA NOVEMBER 2023 | TOTAL FILM | 99 by Wh ove gea fee poo am fas fro its aut wit BETH Sta ESDA, ANNAPURNA, SEABAA

THE WICKER MAN: THE OFFICIAL STORY OF THE FILM ★★★★★ JOHN WALSH TITAN Fresh interviews and archival images flesh out this return to Summerisle. Walsh grills everyone from art director Seamus Flannery to Britt Ekland; producer Peter Snell remains a reasonable voice amid accounts of conflict. Barrels are scraped (an extra’s breakfast reminiscences) but details are plentiful. A tribute to composer Paul Giovanni and some lush pagan artwork help justify reopening the case on the cultist’s cult film. KEVIN HARLEY FRIGHTFEST GUIDE: MAD DOCTOR MOVIES ★★★★★ DR JOHN LLEWELLYN PROBERT FAB PRESS Sporting a foreword from Tom Six (The Human Centipede), this lively compendium runs from 1908’s The Doctor’s Experiment to 2022’s Morbius and features all the usual suspects: Frankenstein, Moreau, Orloff. The USP is that it’s written by an actual clinician, who knows his stuff. A consultant urologist surgeon, Probert seems as happy discussing the unconvincing innards in 2009’s Grotesque as he does taking the, ahem, piss. MATT GLASBY BFI FILM CLASSICS: THE RED SHOES ★★★★★ PAMELA HUTCHINSON BFI/BLOOMSBURY Defining the Archers’ ‘ballet horror’ as a rapturous display of art for art’s sake, film academic Hutchinson explores how Shoes abandons realism for a rarefied reverie on pride and punishment, delirium and dance. She’s en pointe on everything from the ballet’s ecstatic agony and queer readings to the film’s influence, and at her best showing how Shoes frames a key question: ‘How far would you go for art?’ KEVIN HARLEY would root for no matter how heinously they behaved. Netflix and Showtime also explored the flipside (‘females with failings’) in Orange Is the New Black and Homeland. The Netflix formula, Biskind observes, has always been to ‘spend its way to profit’. (Something Apple/Amazon, with their lucrative alternative income streams, don’t require from their original programming.) Biskind has lost none of his gift for pith: take his description of one exec’s tenure as a ‘reign of error’. The closer his tome gets to the present day, though, the grumpier it becomes, making later chapters harder to get through than they should be. NEIL SMITH N eed help navigating the bewildering array of streaming services, cable networks and pay-per-view options? You could do worse than read Biskind’s (Easy Riders, Raging Bulls) latest. While this potted history of ‘peak TV’ may lack the precision of his previous works, it’s still a witty, fast-paced chronicle of how decades of play-it-safe telly got usurped by tech-savvy upstarts who used algorithms, open cheque books and binge-watching to attract both audiences and talent. What HBO, AMC and others stumbled upon was the appeal of the ‘good-bad guy’: anti-heroes like Tony Soprano and Walter White whom viewers HALLOWEEN: THE OFFICIAL MAKING OF HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN KILLS & HALLOWEEN ENDS ★★★★★ Long on (sometimes extraneous) detail but sadly short on penetrating insight, Abbie Bernstein’s thorough but disjointed account of the making of David Gordon Green’s reboot trilogy is one for hardcore Haddonfield fans only. For the most part, it merely recounts plot points in chronological order with quotes from cast and crew, reading like an extended director’s commentary. The highlight is the BTS photography (on-set candids, grisly prosthetics); otherwise, this longs for an editor as brutal as Michael Myers. CHRIS SCHILLING From slaughter to auteur… 2 MORE LIONSGATE, BFI/BLOOMSBURY, PENGUIN, TITAN, FABER & FABER, FAB PRESS ★★★★★ PETER BISKIND PENGUIN PANDORA’S BOX: THE GREED, LUST AND LIES THAT BROKE TELEVISION BOOKS GOD AND THE DEVIL: THE LIFE AND WORK OF INGMAR BERGMAN ★★★★★ Described in the intro as a ‘novel about Bergman’s life’ rather than a standard biography, this is a commanding portrait of the Seventh Seal director, one that consistently ties events in his life to specific scenes, themes and locations in his movies. Having met Bergman in 1969 and corresponded with him until 1995, veteran film author Peter Cowie is able to channel first-hand knowledge of Bergman into a book that’s respectful without being overly reverential. MATT LOOKER The cast of Orange Is the New Black (from left, oh forget it…) 100 | TOTAL FILM | NOVEMBER 2023 SUBSCRIBE AT WWW.TOTALFILM.COM/SUBS