We’ve got quite a mix of films in this month’s TTRs. From horror to romance and drama to psychological thrillers, you’re likely to find something to suit your taste, though I cannot guarantee you will be entertained. As spooky season is upon us, I would suggest taking advantage of some of the horror suggestions to whet your appetite before October sets in! You can also look forward to some more spooky content coming in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

This month’s TTRs consists of: Best Wishes to All; Dangerous Animals; Dead Mail; The Dead Thing; Hot Milk; House on Eden; The Luckiest Man in America; The Surrender; Tornado; Weapons; The Wrong Paris.

Director: Yûta Shimotsu
Writers: Rumi Kakuta, Yûta Shimotsu
Cast: Masashi Arifuku, Kotone Furukawa, Aine Hara, Yoshiko Inuyama, Kôya Matsudai

If you’ve ever wondered why people like to retire to the countryside, perhaps this film will offer you an explanation. A young woman visits her grandparents in a rural town, but she discovers a secret that they harbour within the house, a secret that is apparently well-known throughout the town. Without spoilers, this film provides interesting commentary on the idea that the happiness of many is often dependent on the suffering of others, a perfect premise for a horror movie. It boldly utilises body horror to further its commentary, and the shock of having to wake up to the real world and its very real horrors.

Directors: Sean Byrne
Writers: Nick Lepard
Cast: Jai Courtney, Hassie Harrison, Josh Heuston, Rob Carlton, Ella Newton, Liam Greinke

A trip to Australia isn’t on the cards for everyone, mainly because of fears of the wildlife and insects, and now possibly because of the sharks and psychopaths. Zeph (Harrison), an American drifting and surfing around Aus, is kidnapped by boat captain/shark enthusiast Tucker (Courtney), and she has to find a way to escape before she becomes shark food. The sharks themselves are far from the scariest thing about this movie. Courtney puts in a decent performance (dare I say that something about it is reminiscent of Jack Nicholson in The Shining), and the main duo are a solid (if a little cliche) pairing. It’s the performances that make this film somewhat good, as the story itself is lacking; the ocean setting could have easily been transplanted to the middle of a city or a rural countryside and done away with an animal threat, particularly when the human threat is strong enough to carry the film.

Directors: Joe DeBoer, Kyle McConaghy
Writers: Joe DeBoer, Kyle McConaghy
Cast: Sterling Macer Jr., John Fleck, Micki Jackson, Susan Priver, Sean Heyman, Tomas Boykin

When a mail office worker takes home an apparent kidnapping note, he unknowingly rouses the suspicions of the kidnapper. The 80s setting is well designed and it presents like the thrillers of the decade, with some 80s-inspired cinematography that, if you didn’t know it was made in the 2020s, could easily allow you to mistake this for a 40-something-years-old film. It spends a about ten to fifteen minutes building suspense at a good pace that captures the interest, but as it delves into the events of the kidnapping, it slows right down and goes in an unexpected and, personally speaking, disappointing direction. Depending on if you have a propensity for slow-burning psychological thrillers, you may be drawn in by the characters, but if heavy dialogue isn’t really your thing, you might want to give it a miss.

Director: Elric Kane
Writers: Elric Kane, Webb Wilcoxen
Cast: Blu Hunt, Ben Smith-Petersen, Katherine Hughes

Remember that scene in Scary Movie 2 when a ghost has some… intimate… time with a human woman? If you took that and made it somewhat *serious*, you probably get The Dead Thing (the title kind of explains it all, don’t you think?). Alex (Hunt) is a commitment-phobe and thus indulges in many meaningless one-night-stands. That is until she meets Kyle (Smith-Petersen). But when she tries to hunt him down after their night together, it turns out he may not even exist. This film certainly falls on the more erotic side of horror, with plenty of sexual overtones, however it often takes away from the psychological side, particularly where Alex’s mental health is concerned. It seems to me this film had a huge chance thematically to explore loneliness and what it does to the psyche, but decided to go a more exploitative route.

Director: Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Writer: Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Cast: Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw, Vicky Krieps, Vincent Perez, Patsy Ferran, Vangelis Mourikis, Korina Gougouli

In this mother-daughter drama, Sofia (Mackey) and her mother Rose (Shaw) head to Spain to find treatment for Rose, who is wheelchair-bound. Whilst there, Sofia meets the enigmatic Ingrid (Krieps) and opens up to all the emotions that have been building up within her after years of taking care of her mother. It’s heavy in its themes, but keeps up the pace without being bogged down by symbolism. It features an excellent performance from Mackey that shines a light on young carers, as well as the deteriorating world around all of us on a larger scale. Shaw also puts in a great performance, portraying Rose as a pitiful, stubborn and narrowminded woman who is the antithesis to her daughter. The film overall could perhaps have delved deeper into the wider reprecussions of Sofia’s situation, making it feel less like a prelude to a more interesting story.

Director: Kris Collins
Writer: Kris Collins
Cast: Kris Collins, Celina Myers, Jason-Christopher Mayer

I have been following Kris Collins (KallMeKris) and Celina Myers (CelinaSpookyBoo) on TikTok for a few years, enjoying their content and skits and their growing friendship, and so it kind of made sense that they collaborated on a project. But this is no thirty-second TikTok video. Kris, Celina and Jay (all playing versions of themselves) head to a house named House on Eden that is supposedly haunted in order to film some creepy stuff for their online audience. However, as you can probably guess, the spirit(s) of the house don’t take too kindly to their presence. In truth, it’s not a bad film, it’s just decidedly unoriginal. Kris does have a flare for writing and directing (and all have good talent for acting), however it’s clear where her influences have come from; she doesn’t have her own distinctive filmmaking voice or mark quite yet. I mean, this is her first feature film, and for a debut it’s pretty solid. There are some truly creepy moments, subtle and not over the top, that give it some legitimacy as a horror film. I for one would be keen to see Kris write and direct more films and see her grow as a filmmaker (preferably in the horror genre).

Director: Samir Oliveros
Writers: Samir Oliveros, Maggie Briggs
Cast: Paul Walter Hauser, Walton Goggins, Shamier Anderson, Brian Geraghty, Patti Harrison, Haley Bennett, Damian Young, Lilli Kay, James Wolk, Shaunette Renée Wilson, David Rysdahl, Ricky Russert, David Strathairn, Johnny Knoxville, Maisie Williams

In 1984, Michael Larson (Hauser), a man often down-on-his-luck and looking for get-rich-quick schemes, decides to try his hand on the game show Press Your Luck. But what may appear as incredible luck turns out to be well-studied predictions. It’s always entertaining to watch people attempt to win money on game shows. If we take a shine to that person, we root for them to win as much as they can, but any time someone hits the jackpot, we often become suspicious. In this case, the suspicions were bang on the money (pun not intended..!). Hauser is a good likeness of the real Larson, and although his performance might be akin to Larson’s IRL personality, he’s really rather a bland character. The film tries to bolster his depth by utlising his personal life, but it doesn’t really do much for the overall story. However, the backstage commotion is where the real action is at, and that’s where the film places its greatest strengths in storytelling and drama.

Director: Julia Max
Writer: Julia Max
Cast: Colby Minifie, Kate Burton, Vaughn Armstrong, Neil Sandilands, Alaina Pollack, Pete Ploszek, Chelsea Alden

In this second mother-daughter-fraught-relationship film of this month’s TTR, Megan (Minifie) assists her mother Barbara (Burton) as Megan’s father succumbs to his illness. However, Barbara is not quite ready to let her husband go, and she pulls Megan into an occult ritual to try to bring him back. The theme of grief is a strong one in this film, specifically the denial aspect that Barbara exudes, and it becomes a significant part of the strenuous relationship between her and Megan. Both Burton and Minifie work very well together onscreen to show how that strain is still not enough to break their deep bond, and although it’s got a good creepy aspect to it, its the overarching story between the mother and daughter that give the film its plausibility.

Director: John Maclean
Writer: John Maclean
Cast: Tim Roth, Jack Lowden, Takehiro Hira, Joanne Whalley, Kōki

In this genre/time-bending 1790s Scottish-set western, young Japanese woman Tornado (Kōki) travels with her ex-swordsman father as puppeteers, with her father also teaching her samurai skills on the side. One day, they get caught up with a notorious gang, and Tornado has to step up and protect herself and her father. Maclean’s mix of genres and tones can be appreciated if not really understood, as audiences are always begging for more originality in films and this one has it by the bucketloads, though it’s a lot to take in much of the time. The performance from Kōki and Hira are solid, and Lowden is empathetic as a character trying to escape the wrath of his father, and Roth as said father is sinister and ruthless. If you’re after something a bit different (Japanese samurai sword-wielders in Scotland in the 1790s, for instance) then you might get something out of this.

Director: Zach Cregger
Writer: Zach Cregger
Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Toby Huss, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan, Whitmer Thomas, Callie Schuttera

If you saw the trailer for Weapons, you may have been expecting something a little like Children of the Corn or something more sci-fi much like I did, but, again much like me, you would be very wrong. When all the children from the same class go missing one night, the parents become fraught and demand answers from the local law enforcement and the class’s teacher, Justine Gandy (Garner). Justine too wants answers, and she starts to suspect that Alex (Christopher), the only child in the class that did not go missing, has something to do with it. The film was not what I expected it to be in any way, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it went a way that I wasn’t on board with. Instead of something based around the children perhaps planning something or being a part of something they are aware of, it goes the occult route and doesn’t take full advantage of its incredibly interesting premise. The first and second acts keep you guessing, but then the third act is a bit of a let down. On the whole, Cregger’s debut film Barbarian was better.

Director: Janeen Damian
Writer: Nicole Henrich
Cast: Miranda Cosgrove, Pierson Fodé, Madison Pettis, Torrance Coombs, Madeleine Arthur, Frances Fisher, Yvonne Orji

It’s autumn, it’s cosy season, we need at least one cheesy romance movie. The Wrong Paris sees Dawn (Cosgrove) dream of art school in Paris (trying to write that without laughing my head off, iykyk), but she lacks the funds to go. When she hears of a reality dating show that’s to be filmed in Paris, she decides to partake, not to find love, but to take the appearance fee and enter art school. But of course, things start to get complicated when she meets the show’s bachelor Trey (Fodé) and she realises they’re not in Paris, France, but Paris, Texas. It’s a silly premise in all honesty, and it doesn’t present anything out of the ordinary for a rom-com, but it’s sweet, easy to watch, and Cosgrove is a fun protagonist, with Fodé being pretty easy on the eyes, too.