Imagine what the last 50 years of cinema would look like without Stephen King.
No Redrum, no “Heeere’s Johnny”, no blood-soaked Sissy Spacek laying waste to the prom, no cockadoodie Kathy Bates laying waste to James Caan’s ankles, no clowns lurking in storm drains, and no Red and Andy…our nerves might be less jangled, our eyes less moist, but all those iconic moments are surely worth a sleepless night or two.
Whether new release Salem’s Lot will be taking its place alongside those illustrious forbears remains to be seen, but it ought to appeal to those in the market for a few pre-Halloween spooks and scares this week.
Plus, Alice Lowe chases the man of her dreams through the centuries in Timestalker, and Transformers One takes us back to a time when Optimus Prime and Megatron spent long, hazy summers sharing a can of diesel oil and plaiting each other’s ignition leads. Where did it all go wrong, eh?
New releases
Salem’s Lot
‘Tis the season for Stephen King adaptations, and this latest one is, perhaps surprisingly, the first big screen version of the author’s vampiric tale (though there have been a couple of miniseries along the way, with Hutch himself, David Soul, starring in the first one).
The plot pretty much reads like a winning line in Stephen King Bingo (Kingo! Patent pending): a writer (tick!) returns to his small town childhood home (tick!) for inspiration, only to find it plagued by a sinister supernatural force (tick!), so he teams up with a ragtag band of locals to fight it (house!).
Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick) stars as the heroic scribe, while director Gary Dauberman has form in this area as the screenwriter of smash hit King adaptation It Chapter Two.
| Cert 15, 113 mins | |
| Cineworld, Everyman, Vue | |
| From Fri Oct 11 | |
| More details |
Timestalker
Ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn’t’ve? And then pursued them relentlessly through the centuries in an endless cycle of death and rebirth?
That’s the set-up for this fun-looking comedy from writer-director Alice Lowe, who also stars as hapless heroine Agnes, who finds herself falling for the wrong man, dying a grim death, then being reborn in a new era only for the same cycle to play out again.
Spanning 17th century Scotland through to an apocalyptic future, expect Agnes’ misadventures to be peppered with plenty of the black humour Lowe brought to her brilliant 2016 debut feature Prevenge.
| Cert 15, 90 mins | |
| City Screen | |
| From Fri Oct 11 | |
| More details |
Transformers One
After years of live-action ‘Bayhem’, this latest cinematic outing for the long-running franchise returns the saga to its animated roots, detailing the origins of the epic battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons.
Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry voice Orion Pax and D-16, lowly mining robots on the planet Cybertron who uncover a conspiracy that will set the two friends on very different paths.
Positive reviews suggest this is the series’ most enjoyable instalment since 2018’s Bumblebee, with Radio Times declaring that ‘it’s a pleasant surprise to see a Transformers film where you can tell which hunk of metal is lamping which’.
| Cert PG, 104 mins | |
| Cineworld, Vue | |
| From Fri Oct 11 | |
| More details |
Other screenings
Family-friendly films
New out this week, animated adventure Buffalo Kids is the story of two Irish orphans who set out on an adventure across 19th century America, and the extraordinary new friend they make on the way – hop on board at Cineworld, Everyman and Vue.
The seven-year wait is nearly over – Paddington in Peru will finally be with us next month, so it’s no surprise to see our marmalade-munching hero’s first two cinematic outings back on the big screen this week: Paddington is showing at City Screen, Everyman and Vue on Sat 12th, with Paddington 2 following on Sun 13th; Cineworld are showing the pair of them on both Sat 12th and Sun 13th, and Everyman also have a Baby Club screening of Paddington on Tues 15th and a general admission screening of the sequel on Weds 16th.
Paddington is also City Screen’s Kids’ Club selection on Sat 12th (tickets £3.30), while Cineworld hope to draw an audience for Harold and the Purple Crayon (Sat 12th, Sun 13th, £2.50), and Vue are having all the feels with Inside Out 2 (Sat 12th, Sun 13th, £2.49).
Everyman’s Toddler Club has a Julia Donaldson double bill of The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom on Fri 11th and Sat 12th (£6.25 child/£9.80 adult plus toddler), while younger viewers can also enjoy songs, games and stories at Disney Junior Cinema Club at Cineworld on Sat 12th and Sun 13th (£5.00).
And if that’s not enough, the ever-popular Bluey at the Cinema continues daily at Vue, where you can also party with Bing & Friends: Birthday Celebration from Sat 12th to Mon 14th (both £3.99) – I’ve barely recovered from my night at Vodka Revs with them last week, so count me out. Christ, Flop can put them away…
Gladiators ready and Deadites, er, dead-y: old favourites back on the big screen
As Paul Mescal practises his rhino-wrestling skills ahead of the long-awaited sequel next month, Russell Crowe reminds everyone who’s the daddy with a re-release of Gladiator this week: be entertained once more by Ridley Scott’s all-conquering epic at Cineworld (Fri 11th to Mon 14th), Everyman (Sun 13th, Tues 15th) and Vue (Sat 12th).
Swapping swords and sandals for droids and lightsabers, Star Wars: The Force Awakens continues Cineworld’s journey through the sci-fi saga from Sun 13th to Weds 16th.
Over at City Screen, their Six Degrees of Shakespeare season concludes with 1966’s Chimes at Midnight, a kind of mash-up of several of the Bard’s history plays written and directed by Orson Welles, who also stars as Sir John Falstaff – once more unto the breach on Sat 12th.
City Screen’s celebration of 30 years of Searchlight Pictures showcases one of the studio’s more recent Oscar winners on Sun 13th with a welcome screening of Nomadland, director Chloé Zhao’s beautifully shot, empathetic portrait of life on the margins which bagged gongs for both Zhao and lead actor Frances McDormand.
Cineworld’s season in honour of Black History Month continues on Tues 15th with Rye Lane – taking place in the titular South London locale, this charming, fresh and funny romcom was for my money one of the very best films released last year, and definitely worth venturing out on a blustery autumn evening for.
Of course, you’ll have to keep an eye out for ghosts and ghouls too, with Halloween continuing to scare up re-releases for plenty of old favourites, not least Aussie chiller The Babadook, incredibly marking its 10th anniversary this year – catch it at Cineworld on Sat 12th.
George Clooney has a hell of a night in From Dusk till Dawn, showing in Everyman’s Late Nights slot on Fri 11th, while more family-friendly horrors are promised courtesy of Bette Midler and friends in Hocus Pocus, continuing daily at Vue.
And finally, we lumber to the finish line with two zombie zingers – first up, Vue are revving up the chainsaw for Evil Dead II, the film that cemented the franchise’s reputation for eliciting shrieks of laughter and terror alike, and star Bruce Campbell’s status as a cult icon for the ages: watch Ash do battle with the Deadites on Fri 11th, Sat 12th and Tues 15th.
Also blending gore with guffaws is Edgar Wright’s masterly debut feature Shaun of the Dead, continuing its 20th anniversary celebrations at Vue on Fri 11th, Sat 12th and Tues 15th – so let’s wrap things up with this little beauty I managed to salvage from the Winchester jukebox.