The TV was away last week so watched a bunch of stuff…
I Am Mother - landing somewhere between horror and sci-fi (could be watched as a double bill with Moon or Ex Machina for example) this is very pleasantly filmed and makes decent use of its (initially) confined setting and minimal cast. The post apocalyptic event stuff feels a bit like it might have been done before however. The whole thing feels very…Netflixy I guess. It’s also way too long at almost two hours. Always feel like two time Oscar winner Hilary Swank should probably be getting better gigs than this. 5/10
Tigers Are Not Afraid - been wanting to watch this for awhile and it didn’t disappoint. Part ghost story, part child friendship study, set against the gang violence of Mexico. The largely child cast are all great, and the visual style of the film is fantastic. It doesn’t quite manage to complete its own lofty ambitions as it’s only 80 minutes long, but on the flip side it is engrossing throughout. Also, has a much better title in English than in Spanish 
8/10
Stagrassle Paranormal - two part mini series in the style of a spoof paranormal investigation. This has a real low budget charm and some nicely played jokes and characters. Each part is only 20 minutes long or so, so is worth checking out on Amazon Prime for anyone that has that. 7/10
Freehold - single location British psychological thriller. Reveals itself slowly after a fairly confusing cold open. This is excellently shot, really maxing out its super claustrophobic setting. Sort of overplays its idea however - might have worked slightly better as a short film. That said, the physicality of one of the leads is worth watching for alone. Zero gore, yet has some genuinely wince-inducing moments. 6/10
Oh look, another poster for a character heavy thriller that makes it look like a hokey as fuck creature feature…
Fractured - very interesting Brit thriller featuring a familiar cast (one from Skins, one from Eastenders, one from Game Of Thrones). This is a clever two parter that builds the suspense in the first half before pulling the rug from under the viewer and building it all over again. Definitely worth going into without knowing any of the story. 7/10
The Dead Don’t Die - the trailer for this made it look very entertaining, but then the buzz on release was fairly muted. Can see why tbh - it has a great cast of Jim Jarmusch staples, but there are so many of them that most of them don’t really get to do anything. Bill Murray and Adam Driver are pleasingly deadpan throughout, backed up nicely by Chole Sevigny. Tilda Swinton puts in a characteristically entertaining performance. There is a fairly unusual meta ending which is…fine I guess. Jarmusch is too good a director to make a bad film, but this is nowhere near as funny as it thinks it is - it’s miles away from having the charm of Shaun Of The Dead for example. 5/10
