Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)

Given the empty hero-versus-villain plots and interchangeable cgi-action sequences of all these movies, Marvel seems to believe simply striking upon different skins and tones, for example giving Thor IV an 80s-rock theme or setting Venom in a noirish San Francisco or making it horror-lite or nanosized or snart-arsed is the best way to perpetuate its exponentially-growing raft of superhero movies and in the hands of director Sam Raimi, this sequel to Doctor Strange is certainly a unique look horror-lite Marvel entry with a very Carrie-like witch, oodles of risen-dead bad guys and evil souls reincarnate and so is perhaps for a slightly older than usual Marvel viewer....say ten.

★★★☆☆

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Fractured (2019)

Delivered in a muted, stilted 'Resident Evil cut-scene' monotone replete with ominous crows cawing from powerlines stretching across a desolate landscape, this "no-one believes her" thriller after Ethel Lina White's "The Wheel Spins" actually stars a man, for an interesting change, Sam Worthington, who loses his wife and daughter in a hospital but no-one there - not even the staff the man knows he and his family interacted with - says they were ever there, and it is perfectly gripping if somewhat monotone in its delivery of this well-trod So Long At The Fair fare, with an end that is genuinely a surprise, surprisingly - but an unwelcome one.

★★★☆☆

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The Elephant Man (1980)

David Lynch's second film is about Joseph 'The Elephant Man' Merrick and although the 1980 movie has a black-and-white schlock horror look, Merrick, not a ghoul, really did exist, really did suffer a congenital disorder that left him deformed from an early age, and really was exploited and abused by a freakshow exhibitor before a kind doctor introduced him to (Victorian-era) London high society.

★★★★☆

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