The Housemaid: A Thriller That Wants to Go Viral More Than It Wants to Breathe
There are two different movies inside The Housemaid. One stars Amanda Seyfried, who turns in a performance so surprisingly controlled, so layered, and so quietly unnerving that every time she appears the film sharpens. The other stars Sydney Sweeney, who is asked to anchor the entire story but never finds a pulse for the role. The gap between them becomes the film’s defining tension—and not the kind it intended.
Eat or Be Eaten: Fresh Takes on the Horrors of Dating
Fresh has all the ingredients to be the perfect modern thriller. It’s a black comedy about the horrors of modern dating starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan. There are plenty of mundane horrors to be had in the dating world, but Fresh ups the stakes and throws a cannibal into the dating pool.
Scream 2022: What’s a “Re-quel”?
Only the Scream franchise would introduce the word “re-quel” – a term so cinematically dense – into its already meta screenplay and premise. I expect nothing less from a series that has psycho-analyzed the totality of the horror genre while simultaneously creating its own expansive, trope-filled storyline. And in an age of tired reboots and sequels of once original and groundbreaking cinema, you would think that the new Scream would be equally as tired, especially with the franchise being in the state it was in prior to this installment. But 2022’s Scream proudly proclaims that this reboot is exactly what the franchise needed.
Last Night in Soho: A Film That Lives in the Grey Area
Last Night in Soho, a film directed by British filmmaker Edgar Wright, lives in between the 1960s and modern times in London, England. Starring staples of British stardom Anya-Taylor Joy (Sandie), Matt Smith (Jack), briefly Sam Claflin (Lindsey), and Thomasin McKenzie (Eloise/Ellie), this film follows the life of Eloise Turner, a young aspiring fashion designer with an infatuation with the swinging sixties of London as she navigates her extraordinary ability to body-jump into another young woman in her dreams.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game: Netflix’s breakout hit Squid Game
Squid Game has taken the recipe for a bingeable Netflix show and seasoned it to perfection. The Korean drama follows Seong Gi-hun, a father who has gambled with both his life and his relationship with his young daughter. With little left to lose and everything to gain, he enters to compete in a series of children’s games, along with 455 other debt-ridden and desperate contestants, enticed by a handsome cash prize. The twist? Losing gets you killed.