Written by: Juno Dawson
Illustrated by: Alex T. Smith
Published in the UK in 2018 by: Barrington Stoke
Pages: 140
REOPENING THE DOOR
“That future wasn’t meant to be and I was an arrogant fool to challenge fate.”
A brief-yet-pointedly macabre horror novella spread over just 140 occasionally-illustrated yellow-hued pages, young adult author Juno Dawson’s twisted tale of first loves lost and best left lost is a quick read perfectly suited to entice reading adverse older teens and dyslexics alike.
ITV2 – Monday 9th April 2018 – 10pm
Currently available to watch NOW on the ITV Hub
Created and written by: Sam Leifer and Tom Basden
Directed by: Sam Leifer
CRUSH JUSTICE
“Plebs die sometimes, boo-bloody-hoo!”
It’s always a pity when a popular show loses one of its leads, and with Joel Fry off chasing ghosts and missing girls in supernatural BBC drama Requiem, I feared a Plebs without cocksure optimist and vital ingredient Stylax Eurisces would be like Red Dwarf without Arnold J. Rimmer – and we all know how successful that wasn’t in series VII!
15 – 86mins – 2013
MULTIPLICITY
Jake Gyllenhaal plays an average Joe college professor who catches a glimpse of a very familiar face in the background of a DVD he has rented, kickstarting an increasingly obsessive quest to track down his fame-seeking doppelganger (also Gyllenhaal). Well, I was sold by the synopsis! I didn’t even have to know that Oscar winner Denis Arrival Villeneuve was behind the lens – I needed to see this film and I was shocked that it had evaded my attention for five years.
15 – 68mins – 2017
REVELATORY REVELLERS
At a dinner party for a few close friends to commemorate Janet’s (Kristin Scott Thomas) political victory and ministerial appointment, her husband Bill (Timothy Finding Your Feet Spall) derails the celebrations with a pair of explosive revelations which have catastrophic ramifications for the majority of those present. Will everyone make it out of The Party alive…?
12A – 111mins – 2018
LEAP OF FAITH
Full disclosure: I did not set out to watch this film. With the best will in the world, I realised from the silvery-haired cast list alone that it clearly was not my kind of film. My parents would love it (in fact, my aunt – who very rarely goes to the cinema – has seen it TWICE), but I am half their age. However, when traffic delayed me and I missed my pre-booked screening of Pacific Rim Uprising, I arrived at the cinema with the option of a second viewing of Unsane (reviewed HERE) in as many days, Finding Your Feet, or a nearly 90 minute wait. So impatient me chose option B.
15 – 98mins – 2018
THE GIFT OF FEAR
Magic Mike maestro Steven Soderbergh bounces back after what was, for me, an unengaging misfire (2017’s heist dramedy Logan Lucky) with a bold and unconventional low-key experiment: psychological thriller Unsane was filmed entirely on iPhones! While the film isn’t shot as though diegetically through a mobile phone (fear not, shaky cam haterz!), Soderbergh ratchets up the paranoia and tension with many tight angles and close ups. Combine this with murky, natural lighting and a lack of cinematic sheen and Unsane certainly succeeds in evoking a dark, unsettling tone.
12A – 140mins – 2018 – 3D
V.R. TROOPERS
Cineworld were in full alert last night with bouncers at the doors of their latest Unlimited Preview Screening to physically watch you switch off your mobile phones before you entered for an exclusive viewing of young adult sci-fi action adventure adaptation Ready Player One. This didn’t, however, stop the projectionists from messing up and starting the film too early, so we got to watch the opening five minutes twice in the space of a quarter of an hour.
Wednesday 14th March 2018 – Ipswich Regent – £28.50
TRANSATLANTIC TRIBUTE
Founded in 2003 and touring since the following year, hard-working American Michael Jackson tribute troupe Who’s Bad rocked the Ipswich Regent theatre in Suffolk last night as part of their ongoing UK tour. It’s a shame that the very same venue only hosted another tribute to the King of Pop in the form of Navi (commonly acclaimed the world’s number one tribute owing to his working relationship with MJ) a few short months ago, as otherwise the take up for this gig would no doubt have been far nearer to being sold-out. That said, the audience was healthy and up for a good time – and Who’s Bad more than delivered.
18 – 105mins – 2018
COMING TO A HEAD
Now married to the love of his luxurious-if-troubled life, can billionaire spank-lover Christian Grey (Jamie Shadows in the Sun Dornan) and his innocent and grounded new wife, Anastacia (Dakota How to be SingleJohnson), live happily ever after, or will shady figures from Christian’s murky upbringing come back to haunt Mr and Mrs Grey’s honeymoon period?
15 – 85mins – 2008
DOLL-FACED KILLERS
With the belated and long-teased sequel Prey At Night just opening Stateside (it was originally announced for a 2009 release date before entering development hell for the best part of a decade), I thought it was high-time I got my act together and finally watched the first Strangers film. Now TEN years old, the DVD has been lingering on my to-watch pile for far too long.
The CR@Bpendium 