Old (2021)

No, director M. Night Shyamalan doesn't have an excuse for yet another lame ending because although this time his movie, a beach-based Picnic At Hanging Rock (a group of people lug picnic baskets to a beach only to discover they are trapped and inexplicably ageing there) is based on Sandcastle, a graphic novel by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, Shyamalan actually changes the ending of the kooky Lost-like events, so the lame ending is his again, but up to that late point when the story turns rusty, he delivers a captivating fantasy horror thriller full of great acting, weird and wonderful ideas, a beautiful confined location like the stage of a theatre production, and of course his trademark cameo and camerawork, sweeping and overhead and long-take.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Triangle (2009)

Six pretty young things aboard a capsized yacht believe themselves rescued when a cruise ship passes by, but on board the ship, in the faded opulence of echoey, abandoned hotel-like interiors, the group discovers creepy things like, impossibly, signs they've been on the ship before and, creepily, messages scrawled in blood, and, optimistically (for the writers), some allusions to another more memorable horror movie - things that don't really make sense, but to the movie's credit, it powers unashamedly on and on no matter how ridiculous things become, and you will keep watching if only to see how far it is willing to go with its Lost island premise.

★★☆☆☆

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Afraid of the Dark (1991)

This always intriguing London-based psychological drama, which starts off being a mystery thriller about a series of escalating attacks committed against the members of a community of blind women, turns up not to be about what you think it is - which is a shame because when the movie inverts suddenly halfway through, making you feel like you've finally had the bandages removed after an eye operation, part of you wishes the first half of the story continued --- although the second half, centred on Lucas, a young boy with a worrying imagination, is equally creepy and compelling.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS