Hallow Road ★★★★☆
Directed by Babak Anvari. Starring Rosamund Pike, Matthew Rhys, Megan McDonnell. 15A cert, gen release, 80 min
A couple (Pike and Rhys) are woken to a phone call from their daughter telling them she has just knocked down a pedestrian in a murky wood. Most of this fine shocker details the parents’ car journey as they speak anxiously to their daughter on the phone. This is the sort of challenge any half-alive actor would savour and the pair here work hard to inject tension and unease into each enclosed crisis. Pike has a firmness that speaks to her character’s everyday resolve. Rhys gives us a man untethered by sudden mortal terror. Prepare for spooky shifts of tone. Full review DC
Final Destination: Bloodlines ★★★☆☆
Directed by Zach Lipovsky, Adam Stein. Starring Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Brec Bassinger, Tony Todd. 16 cert, gen release, 110 min
Sixth episode in the comic horror franchise that sees Death catch up with those who think they have evaded complex calamity. Bloodlines, after a first-class opening section set in the rooftop nightclub of a 1960s sky-tower, isn’t quite so clever as earlier episodes in its constructions. There is more reliance on out-of-nowhere splatter than amusingly inevitable disaster. It is to the filmmakers’ credit that, after all this time, one is still taken aback by just how bloodthirsty they can be in what is essentially a comedy. Oh well. It worked for Tom and Jerry. Full review DC
Good One ★★★★☆
Directed by India Donaldson. Starring Lily Collias, James Le Gros, Danny McCarthy. Light House Cinema, Dublin, 89 min
Here’s a sneaky revelation; a low-key coming-of-age drama that deftly sidesteps familiar tropes in favour of keen cringe comedy and emotional precision. Set against the verdant backdrop of the Catskills, the film follows 17-year-old Sam (the remarkable Lily Collias, in a breakout performance) as she joins her father (Le Gros) and his longtime friend (McCarthy) on what is supposed to be a four-person hiking trip. Channels the bittersweetness of Kelly Reichardt’s snappier moments, but from the youthful perspective of an eye-rolling teenager. Full review TB
Magic Farm ★★★☆☆
Directed by Amalia Ulman. Starring Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff, Guillermo Jacubowicz, Joe Apollonio, Valeria Lois, Camila del Campo, Simon Rex. 15A cert , gen release, 93 min
Edna (Sevigny) is the insecure, acid-tongued girlboss of Creative Lab, a short-form documentary show chronicling bizarre global trends. Magic Farm is a surreal, uneven satire that skewers Americans abroad and alt-media while vaguely evoking such deeper social issues as glyphosate poisoning. Burke Battelle’s whimsical score amplifies the offbeat charm, but the comedic tone is ill-met by tonal inconsistencies, flat punchlines and a wilful lack of momentum. Cross-cultural satire lurks unassertively in the margins. It’s a pleasing enough vibe nonetheless. Del Campo and a wandering horse come close to delivering the magic promised by the title. Full review TB
