WHEN Majestic Cinemas shuttered their business in February, company director Kieren Dell cited the “perfect storm” of factors that were rendering traditional cinemas increasingly unfeasible businesses.

The effect of three years of social distancing wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic combined with an exponential increase in streaming services for home entertainment and a 2023 strike by the Writers Guild of America that left cinemas “without any movies to show”, has seen many people questioning whether we are looking at the collapse of an industry.

The response of filmmakers around the world?

That suggests a lack of imagination.

While it may be true that the industry needs to think ‘outside the box’ to draw people back into theatres, the film slate for 2024 demonstrates that filmmakers and studios are eager to take more chances on new ideas – or at least dress up some very old ones – to ensure that when people do make a trip to the movies they’ll be spoiled for choice.

This week’s releases are heavy on the horror, along with a throwback to the ‘Space Race’ film dressed in 1960s swagger.

Fly Me To The Moon

TV Producer/Mogul Greg Berlanti takes directing duties for stars Scarlett Johannson and Channing Tatum in a story that attempts to cast a humorous light on the very real desperation felt by the U.S. as they fought to beat the U.S.S.R. to the moon in 1969.

NASA’s Flight Director Cole Davis (Tatum) is forced to collaborate with marketing specialist Kelly Jones (Johannson) to “sell the moon” to the American public and ensure support for the Apollo 11 mission.

The straight-laced space-men becoming increasingly befuddled by Jones’ insistence on ‘dressing up’ the very dull-seeming mission with manufactured drama, casting TV-friendly actors to portray the NASA team in interviews and going so far as to commission a studio to film a ‘back-up moon landing’ just in case the real one can’t make it all the way (cue the somewhat predictable Stanley Kubrick joke).

Berlanti has always been focused on the romance at the centre of his stories, if potentially at the expense of exploring the real depths of his characters.

However if the appeal of Hollywood is truly watching pretty people be funny and charming, it’s hard to go past Johannson and Tatum, who bring all of their considerable charisma to the roles.

As a ‘Two Worlds Collide’ romantic-comedy, the film isn’t really breaking any new ground, but the script is inoffensive and gets its share of chuckles throughout.

Kinds of Kindness

Those looking for something really different might consider the latest offering from director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, Poor Things).

This is the kind of film that can cause someone an embolism in the attempt to explain ‘what it’s about’, and the effort would likely only be received as incoherent ramblings.

That is not a reflection on this witty, macabre satire in which most cast members are pulling triple duty – playing multiple roles across three loosely-connected tales.

The central relationships in each anthology segment are played by Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons who are mesmerising as couples enduring obsession, paranoia, anxiety and desperation, while inflicting varying degrees of mutilation to themselves and others.

Lending some real gravity to the performances is Willem Dafoe, who is revelling in his film element – arthouse, experimental storytelling full of unnerving intensity and bombastic emotion.

Look, this is the kind of film Aussie Mum’s might charitably describe as “weird”, but is one of that rare form – a modern film for grown-ups.

If you are as much engaged by the emotional and visceral experience of film as by the story, this could be worth making some time for.

You’ll certainly have a lot to talk about afterwards with your date.

Sting

In the 1970s the Australian government introduced a number of financial benefits and incentives to inject life into our budding film industry.

The result was the ‘Australian New-Wave’ of mid-to-low budget genre films, many of them offering a wild take on horror tropes, that became known as ‘Oz-ploitation’.

Happily that tradition is alive and well in the hands of filmmaker Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, Nekrotronic), who brings an Aussie sensibility in a throwback to one of the staples of horror cinema – the Creature Feature.

Starring Alyla Browne (Furiosa), Penelope Mitchell and Ryan Corr, with appearances by Australian acting legends Robyn Nevi and Noni Hazelhurst, Sting focuses on young Charlotte (Browne), a latchkey kid coping with a recently acquired step-dad (Corr), a semi-neglectful mum (Mitchell) with a newborn brother, who discovers a remarkably intelligent and talented spider which she decides to keep as a pet.

As is the case in all such genre-fare, this is clearly not an ordinary Redback, and as the critter begins to grow in size, its appetite threatens the apartment building where Charlotte lives.

Spiders are hands down the best source material for this kind of horror that either calls for a swarm (Arachnaphobia) or a giant (Earth Vs. The Spider) or a swarm of giants (Eight Legged Freaks).

Roache-Turner may not be a name well known by the average film-goer, but his consistent efforts have brought entertaining results with an economical budget, and the same is true here.

The cast find the right balance of character work and pathos (particularly from young Ayla Browne, who is having a good year as an actor) while leaving room for the real star – the titular Sting – and its antics/attacks as the main attraction.

If you can get past the decision for the cast to adopt American accents (no doubt for a better international reception), this is a well-paced thrill that lasts 90 minutes – and in an age where three-hour runtimes are increasingly common, that is refreshing in itself.

MaXXXine

The third in a trilogy of films from writer/director Ti West and star Mia Goth, MaXXXine is a stylish, sexually-charged horror-thriller which is related to a slasher film, but feels simultaneously more elevated and more disturbing.

Maxine Minx (Goth, reprising her role from 2022’s X) is on the verge of transition from her career in adult entertainment to more mainstream film under the shadow of the infamous Night Stalker of 1985.

Faced with the murder of her colleagues, Maxine begins to suspect that the real killer may have some connection to her, and the events of her past.

If you’ve seen the previous instalments in this series (X, Pearl – both currently streaming on Netflix) and vibed with what West and Goth were doing, then you won’t need convincing to check this out.

The same sense of hip energy, beautiful and stylistic cinematography and an all-out powerhouse performance from Goth make these movies something memorable.

If slashers are not your style, there’s nothing here that would likely persuade you to give it a shot – the violence is graphic, the behaviour of characters is disturbing and the imagery lingers in a creepy way.

Therein lies one of the great mysteries of the horror genre – that one description will be read as a reason to avoid by some, while sounding like a ringing endorsement to others.

Whatever your tastes and wherever you land, happy viewing!

By Lindsay HALL