Hereditary (2018)

Obviously influenced by last year's mother!, this horror misfire establishes from its very first frame that nothing that happens - not a Donnie Darko high school fantasy nor an Evil Dead gorefest nor a United States of Tara family drama - is going to mean anything more than, say, a Madame Tussaud's display of French Revolution grotesquery or a Wes Andersen theatre model box, and indeed what plays out - a personality-free, uneven, charmless series of make-it-up-as-we-go decapitations, seances, Amityville Horror bug infestations, etc.. - is equal parts gruelling, boring, and laughable.

★☆☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Compliance (2012)

Before you remark how unlikely the events of this suspense thriller are (a prank caller convinces a fast food manager to strip search an employee) know that it is based on a true series of prank calls that led to an arrest in 2004, and that fact alone makes this interesting viewing as you ponder the tendency of people to blindly accept authority.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEW