Thriller

Revenge is rarely a tidy business. But Femme, a savagely sexy queer erotic thriller, explores just how messily complex retribution can be. Set against a fretful, pulsing electronic score and unfolding in a world of sordid neons, it follows an east London drag artist who enters into a highly charged sexual relationship with his unwitting gay basher.Written and directed by first-time feature film-making duo Sam H Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, this is a teasing, slippery picture – a power-shifting tussle between out gay man…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeWilliam Oldroyd’s debut, 2016’s Lady Macbeth, cannon-shot Florence Pugh towards stardom. A taut, economical period drama, it practically curled itself up at the actor’s feet, happy to warm itself by the fire that burnt in her eyes. Oldroyd’s follow-up, the Sixties-set thriller Eileen, could, at a glance, offer the same to its lead Thomasin McKenzie. But she’s already shown us her knack…

If what you’re looking for this holiday season is a sweet romance full of magic and cheer, there are plenty of upcoming Christmas movies to choose from. However, if you need something a little stronger in your eggnog to get you through December, John Woo’s Christmas action thriller Silent Night might be more your style. Critics were able to screen the film ahead of its December 1 theatrical release, and their opinions range from artful and fun to boring and basic.Given what we know about Silent Night, this looks suited…

It’s a telling little detail. Advertising executive Amanda (Julia Roberts) is rather more disconcerted by the fact that a Black father and daughter, GH (Mahershala Ali) and Ruth (Myha’la Herrold), knock at the door of her luxurious Long Island holiday rental at midnight than she is by the fact that a cargo ship crashed into the local beach, narrowly missing her family, earlier that day.Adapted by writer-director Sam Esmail (Mr Robot) from the acclaimed novel by Rumaan Alam, this apocalyptic psychological thriller is…

Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke star in this glossy, Shyamalan-level-10 apocalypto-paranoid conspiracy thriller, adapted from the 2020 bestseller by Rumaan Alam. It’s an example of a growing tendency in the movies: baggy, lengthy, episodic pictures which are starting to split the difference between feature film items and streaming TV. Amat Escalante’s Mexican thriller Lost in the Night is, I think, another example of this tendency: films that go on for a while and, like a shaggy-dog story, leave things open…

Emerald Fennell’s follow-up to her Oscar-winning debut Promising Young Woman stars a miscast Barry Keoghan (he’s way too old for the role) as Oliver, a first-year student at Oxford who finds himself drawn into the rarefied inner circle of beautiful, privileged Felix (Jacob Elordi). Felix is the heir to Saltburn, a huge country pile that comes complete with its own maze and a collection of elegantly louche relatives and damaged hangers-on. Oliver, whose background is rather more modest, is unhealthily fascinated by Felix…

A football playoff game for the ages Friday night between two of Southern California’s titan programs, St. John Bosco and Corona Centennial, came down to one final play with eight seconds left.The Huskies trailed 43-42 after a one-yard touchdown run by Cornell Hatcher Jr. and went for the win by trying a two-point conversion. St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro called a timeout and sent a clear message to his players.“We brought the kitchen sink,” he said.Quarterback Husan Longstreet faked a handoff to Hatcher, briefly…

Crime writer Ian Rankin’s novella opens with a body in the foyer of a gleaming new residential high rise. Overlooking London’s Hyde Park, the building’s flats are affordable only to the super-rich. The residents – who are now murder suspects – include an art dealer specialising in modern sculpture; the wife of a gangster who is wanted by police; a princess from an unnamed Gulf state, plus her phalanx of bodyguards; a Russian multimillionaire; and, in the penthouse, a property mogul who may or may not be up to his neck in…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeWhen Emerald Fennell let loose on the world her directorial debut, 2020’s Promising Young Woman, the reaction to it quickly turned into an all-out brawl. A woman fakes intoxication in order to trap and confront predatory men, and is drawn into a dead-end act of revenge against the man who sexually assaulted her best friend. Was this a feminist triumph? Or a betrayal of those same…

“American Arcadia turns The Truman Show into an interactive indie thriller you don't want to miss.” Pros Great retro future art style Gripping story Strong lead performance Clever puzzle platforming Cons Satire loses its focus at times Chase scenes get repetitive Trevor…