SOME KIND OF HATE

A sensitive issue, this. Or a ‘problematic’ one, if you want to go in for all that modern lingo we use when talking about movies like Some Kind of Hate. A movie in which the most talked about scene depicts two young women (one supernaturally undead, the other just the regular sort of not dead) making out via the medium of self-harm.

Perpetually furious and repeatedly abused by both his peers and the adults in his life, volatile metalhead Lincoln is pushed too far one day at school and violently assaults a bully. Sent to a wilderness camp for reprobates, Lincoln doesn’t do a much better job of fitting in there, and soon finds himself picked on by a different set of bullies while a different set of adults shrug their indifference. At least here he has a bad girl cheerleader to keep his spirits up. Oh, and the vengeful ghost Moira, all too willing to dispose of his enemies for him.

Any violence Moira inflicts upon herself is subsequently visited unto those she pursues – so whatever damage she does to herself manifests itself on Lincoln’s enemies’ bodies. This doesn’t stop them from trying to shoot, stab or otherwise fight her off though, resulting in some sort of bizarre self-harm-ception (to borrow a bit more terrible modern speak). It effectively turns self-harm into a superpower, taking all that pain and rage and turning it upon those responsible.

Sensitive issues indeed. Adam Egypt Mortimer trusts his audience to make up their own minds, depicting the topic in a sympathetic light without directly condemning or approving of it. The story resembles an angry, raw A Nightmare on Elm Street or It Follows, its slasher villain immediately effective and memorable, wearing a necklace made of razor blades and constantly crying, like Moaning Myrtle gone bad. Unfortunately, she falls to pieces whenever Sierra McCormick is asked to do any of the heavy lifting. The finale is derailed by flat acting and a script which has her monologuing for lengthy periods of time. Mortimer’s attempts to set her up as the next Freddy Krueger (including post-credits sting) irritate, lingering when we should be concentrating on this film and its story.

A powerful film with resounding themes and a remarkable sense of energy and emotion, Some Kind of Hate will stir up a lot of emotions, positive and negative. Whatever the case, it deserves seeing so one can make up their mind about it first-hand. Trigger warning, by the way.

SOME KIND OF HATE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: ADAM EGYPT MORTIMER / SCREENPLAY: BRIAN DELEEUW, ADAM EGYPT MORTIMER / STARRING: MAESTRO HARRELL, GRACE PHIPPS, SPENCER BRESLIN, SIERRA MCCORMICK / RELEASE DATE: TBC
 

WE ARE STILL HERE

Grieving the death of their son, a couple relocate to snowed-in New England, trying to rest, recover and start anew. The last thing poor Paul and Anne need, then, is the emergence of the evil spirits residing within their home, threatening not only their lives but that of the eternal soul of their deceased son too.

Genre legend Barbara Crampton continues her career resurgence (four movies this FrightFest alone!) with We Are Still Here – possibly her best role to date, post-You’re Next (it’s better than that one too). In a starring role, she gets plenty to wrap her teeth around, imbuing Anne with a quiet strength in spite of everything she’s been through. Andrew Sensenig is good too, employing a series of excellent rollneck jumpers in his fight against evil. Then there’s Larry Fessenden, stealing the show as the pair’s hippy friend.

A love letter to Fulci and the Italian masters, this retro horror tale recalls his House by the Cemetery (as you might have guessed from the nudges and winks in the script and character names) by way of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead. And yet in spite of the gore and shocks, We Are Still Here is surprisingly gentle – a sweet and tender portrayal of grief and acceptance in the face of losing a loved one. It’s like a less raw version of The Babadook – there’s a deep sadness and tiredness behind it, as opposed to screaming anger – a sense of emotion that grounds the horror during its most shocking moments.

Like last year’s Housebound, there’s a chance that We Are Still Here will be overlooked in favour of its louder, more brash peers, but its story is well worth hearing out.

WE ARE STILL HERE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: TED GEOGHEGAN / STARRING: BARBARA CRAMPTON, ANDREW SENSENIG, LUCY FESSENDEN, LISA MARIE / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 19TH


 

ROAD GAMES

The Hitcher without quite so much hitching. Thumbing a ride around rural France, young Jack meets fellow ‘hiker Veronique, similarly lost without a clue. Met cute, the pair manage to get a ride from a lonely local, who invites them back to his country house for dinner with his wife. But with a vicious murderer on the loose and said wife being played by genre legend Barbara Crampton, there’s more at play here than meets the eye.

No, really, there is. Its twists and turns should be Road Games‘ bread and butter, and yet it remains surprisingly dull most of the time. The first half (and then some) is all build-up for a story we’ve all seen many times before – the second a reasonably entertaining game of cat and mouse between the young lovers and their pursuers. It looks beautiful and is technically very well done (that most of the action happens during the daytime is appreciated) but simply isn’t as clever as it thinks it is.

It’s great to see Crampton continue her career resurgence, but there’s no hiding the fact that Road Game wastes her talents. Clearly uncomfortable acting in French and barely given more to do than she was in You’re Next (albeit spread across more screentime), she’s surrounded by idiots and rarely given the chance to stretch herself. Thank heaven for Frederic Pierrot as the creepy yet likeable Grizard, being the film’s most charismatic star.

Interesting yet over-long, melodramatic and fatally predictable, Road Games is a backwoods horror film with a sheen of class, respectability and Barbara Crampton. These things go some way to save the day, but there are times when these road games feel like a dreadful trudge.

ROAD GAMES / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: ABNER PASTOLL / STARRING: ANDREW SIMPSON, JOSEPHINE DE LA BAUME, FREDERIC PIERROT, BARBARA CRAMPTON, FEODOR ATKINE / RELEASE DATE: TBC

 

TURBO KID

The post-apocalyptic future wasteland of 1997. In a world without water, a young survivor known only as ‘the kid’ survives in his underground bunker, obsessively collecting the comic book adventures of a superhero known as Turbo Rider. Happening across the mysterious Apple (Laurence Lebeouf) while on a scavenging trip, the kid is slowly brought out of his shell. Genre-typically, it’s not long before Apple is kidnapped and the kid must channel his own inner superhero to rescue his new best friend. The ridiculously overpowered laser blaster he finds out in the desert will come in handy there, then.

What we have here is a retro pastiche ‘80s sci-fi action film, pitched somewhere between Mad Max, Hobo With a Shotgun and Guardians of the Galaxy. It started life as an idea for an ABCs of Death segment, before its potential was realised and the story developed into a feature film. And that’s for the best; while Turbo Kid has all of the anthology series’ trademark gore and violence, it lacks its cynicism, possessing a wonderful heart even as the blood sprays and the innocent are violently murdered.

Lebeouf steals the show as Apple, but there’s strong competition all around. Francois Simard is a likeable hero as the kid, and Michael Ironside does a tremendous job as the villainous Zeus. It’s a meatier role than we’ve seen him tackle in a while, and he takes it with aplomb, maliciously snarling his way to the villain hall of fame (it’d be great to see how he gets on with Hobo With a Shotgun‘s Drake), buzz-saw wielding Jason Voorhees-esque sidekick firmly in tow. It’s a rich world, like a Fallout videogame crossed with a (knowingly) tongue-in-cheek version of Waterworld.

In spite of the near incessant blood spray and Ironside’s all-consuming malevolence, Turbo Kid is a triumph of sweetness; a cheery BMX toting Mad Max with real emotion and heart.

TURBO KID / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: FRANCOIS SIMARD, ANOUK WHISSELL, YOANN-KARL WHISSELL / STARRING: MUNRO CHAMBERS, LAURENCE LEBOUEF, MICHAEL IRONSIDE, EDWIN WRIGHT / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 5TH

 

TURBO KID

The post-apocalyptic future wasteland of 1997. In a world without water, a young survivor known only as ‘the kid’ survives in his underground bunker, obsessively collecting the comic book adventures of a superhero known as Turbo Rider. Happening across the mysterious Apple (Laurence Lebeouf) while on a scavenging trip, the kid is slowly brought out of his shell. Genre-typically, it’s not long before Apple is kidnapped and the kid must channel his own inner superhero to rescue his new best friend. The ridiculously overpowered laser blaster he finds out in the desert will come in handy there, then.

What we have here is a retro pastiche ‘80s sci-fi action film, pitched somewhere between Mad Max, Hobo With a Shotgun and Guardians of the Galaxy. It started life as an idea for an ABCs of Death segment, before its potential was realised and the story developed into a feature film. And that’s for the best; while Turbo Kid has all of the anthology series’ trademark gore and violence, it lacks its cynicism, possessing a wonderful heart even as the blood sprays and the innocent are violently murdered.

Lebeouf steals the show as Apple, but there’s strong competition all around. Francois Simard is a likeable hero as the kid, and Michael Ironside does a tremendous job as the villainous Zeus. It’s a meatier role than we’ve seen him tackle in a while, and he takes it with aplomb, maliciously snarling his way to the villain hall of fame (it’d be great to see how he gets on with Hobo With a Shotgun‘s Drake), buzz-saw wielding Jason Voorhees-esque sidekick firmly in tow. It’s a rich world, like a Fallout videogame crossed with a (knowingly) tongue-in-cheek version of Waterworld.

In spite of the near incessant blood spray and Ironside’s all-consuming malevolence, Turbo Kid is a triumph of sweetness; a cheery BMX toting Mad Max with real emotion and heart.

TURBO KID / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: FRANCOIS SIMARD, ANOUK WHISSELL, YOANN-KARL WHISSELL / STARRING: MUNRO CHAMBERS, LAURENCE LEBOUEF, MICHAEL IRONSIDE, EDWIN WRIGHT / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 5TH

 

TALES OF HALLOWEEN

Ten Halloween-set stories, and not a Michael
Myers in sight. As the anthology movie continues its resurgence, so filmmaker
and actress Axelle Carolyn brings us Tales
of Halloween. She’s not alone either, having brought some friends along for
the ride. Oh, and husband Neil Marshall, who you might remember from a little
thing called The Descent.

Carolyn and
Marshall are cogs in a machine which brings together such popular genre names
as Lucky McKee, Darren Lynn Bousman, Mike Mendez and Adam Gierasch. And that’s
just the directors (eleven in total) – with a cast which includes Polyanna
McIntosh, Lin Shaye, Adam Green, Barbara Crampton and John Landis, it’s a love
letter to all things horror and Halloween. Don’t like what one particular story
is doing? Worry not – something that might be more to your tastes is never more
than ten minutes away.

Highlights
include Neil Marshall’s killer pumpkin tale (think Gremlins by way of Treehouse
of Horror), Carolyn’s chilling Grimm
Grinning Ghost, Darren Lynn Bousman’s cheeky The Night Billy Raised Hell and the gory Friday the 31st. As with
all anthology movie, it has its weaker links (with apologies to Dave Parker, Sweet Tooth did nothing for this reviewer),
but they’re far less offensive and egregious than those of its peers (looking
at you, ABCs of Death and V/H/S: Viral). Tied together by its interlinking elements rather than a bookend
story, it’s a fun series of romps taking in as much Halloween imagery and ideas
as the assembled talent can possibly muster. And there’s a lot – so much, in
fact, that it can feel a little overstuffed at times, like the tummy of a
greedy trick or treater on Halloween.

 That’s all
part of the fun though. Tales of Halloween
looks gorgeous and is evidently having a blast with everything it does. A
project borne of friendship, its enthusiasm is infectious, even during the less
successful elements. A Halloween classic for years to come, this one brings
both the tricks and the treats.

TALES OF HALLOWEEN / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR:
VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: POLYANNA MCINTOSH, LINE SHAYE, ADAM
GREEN, BARBARA CRAMPTON, BOOBOO STEWART / RELEASE DATE: TBC

 


T

en Halloween-set stories, and not a Michael
Myers in sight. As the anthology movie continues its resurgence, so filmmaker
and actress Axelle Carolyn brings us Tales
of Halloween. She’s not alone either, having brought some friends along for
the ride. Oh, and husband Neil Marshall, who you might remember from a little
thing called The Descent.

 

Carolyn and
Marshall are cogs in a machine which brings together such popular genre names
as Lucky McKee, Darren Lynn Bousman, Mike Mendez and Adam Gierasch. And that’s
just the directors (eleven in total) – with a cast which includes Polyanna
McIntosh, Lin Shaye, Adam Green, Barbara Crampton and John Landis, it’s a love
letter to all things horror and Halloween. Don’t like what one particular story
is doing? Worry not – something that might be more to your tastes is never more
than ten minutes away.

 

Highlights
include Neil Marshall’s killer pumpkin tale (think Gremlins by way of Treehouse
of Horror), Carolyn’s chilling Grimm
Grinning Ghost, Darren Lynn Bousman’s cheeky The Night Billy Raised Hell and the gory Friday the 31st. As with
all anthology movie, it has its weaker links (with apologies to Dave Parker, Sweet Tooth did nothing for this reviewer),
but they’re far less offensive and egregious than those of its peers (looking
at you, ABCs of Death and V/H/S: Viral). Tied together by its interlinking elements rather than a bookend
story, it’s a fun series of romps taking in as much Halloween imagery and ideas
as the assembled talent can possibly muster. And there’s a lot – so much, in
fact, that it can feel a little overstuffed at times, like the tummy of a
greedy trick or treater on Halloween.

 

That’s all
part of the fun though. Tales of Halloween
looks gorgeous and is evidently having a blast with everything it does. A
project borne of friendship, its enthusiasm is infectious, even during the less
successful elements. A Halloween classic for years to come, this one brings
both the tricks and the treats.

TALES OF HALLOWEEN / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR:
VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: POLYANNA MCINTOSH, LINE SHAYE, ADAM
GREEN, BARBARA CRAMPTON, BOOBOO STEWART / RELEASE DATE: TBCTen Halloween-set stories, and not a Michael
Myers in sight. As the anthology movie continues its resurgence, so filmmaker
and actress Axelle Carolyn brings us Tales
of Halloween. She’s not alone either, having brought some friends along for
the ride. Oh, and husband Neil Marshall, who you might remember from a little
thing called The Descent.

 

Carolyn and
Marshall are cogs in a machine which brings together such popular genre names
as Lucky McKee, Darren Lynn Bousman, Mike Mendez and Adam Gierasch. And that’s
just the directors (eleven in total) – with a cast which includes Polyanna
McIntosh, Lin Shaye, Adam Green, Barbara Crampton and John Landis, it’s a love
letter to all things horror and Halloween. Don’t like what one particular story
is doing? Worry not – something that might be more to your tastes is never more
than ten minutes away.

 

Highlights
include Neil Marshall’s killer pumpkin tale (think Gremlins by way of Treehouse
of Horror), Carolyn’s chilling Grimm
Grinning Ghost, Darren Lynn Bousman’s cheeky The Night Billy Raised Hell and the gory Friday the 31st. As with
all anthology movie, it has its weaker links (with apologies to Dave Parker, Sweet Tooth did nothing for this reviewer),
but they’re far less offensive and egregious than those of its peers (looking
at you, ABCs of Death and V/H/S: Viral). Tied together by its interlinking elements rather than a bookend
story, it’s a fun series of romps taking in as much Halloween imagery and ideas
as the assembled talent can possibly muster. And there’s a lot – so much, in
fact, that it can feel a little overstuffed at times, like the tummy of a
greedy trick or treater on Halloween.

 

That’s all
part of the fun though. Tales of Halloween
looks gorgeous and is evidently having a blast with everything it does. A
project borne of friendship, its enthusiasm is infectious, even during the less
successful elements. A Halloween classic for years to come, this one brings
both the tricks and the treats.

TALES OF HALLOWEEN / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR:
VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: POLYANNA MCINTOSH, LINE SHAYE, ADAM
GREEN, BARBARA CRAMPTON, BOOBOO STEWART / RELEASE DATE: TBC

NIGHT FARE

As criminals go, few are as petty or annoying as those bastards who think the height of rebellion is running away from a taxi without paying the fare. Chris and Luc are two such dicks (one much more so than the other), hitting the street hard and fast rather than pay their driver what he’s owed. Boy, did they choose the wrong driver. Payment is due, and not just for a trip across town.

The pair are pursued relentlessly by a taxi-driving cross between Jason Voorhees, Maniac Cop and The Punisher. It’s like Collateral if Tom Cruise’s character had been played by a hulking great slasher villain and Jamie Foxx’s character was two people and really deserved getting his head kicked in (again, one more so than the other). Set in late night Paris on a series of empty streets, Night Fare employs a chilling game of cat-and-mouse that resembles the likes of Duel and The Hitcher, backing up its ratcheting tension with a series of brutal action sequences. Jess Liaudin is excellently cast as The Driver, like Kane Hodder in his Voorhees prime.

It’s not just about the action though: there’s more to Night Fare than meets the eye, leading to a denouement that few will have seen coming. It’s a Martyrs-style left-field twist that will surely be a point of contention with most audiences, falling apart the more one thinks about it. Should it have been left in there? Probably not, but you do get a cute little Kill Bill-style anime sequence out of it, so it’s worth it for that alone.

Night Fare is impressive work, created and shot in a matter of months by a team in-between projects. The action is well-coordinated and nasty, the performances real and sympathetic. Divisive ideas and ending or not, the journey getting there is well worth every penny.

NIGHT FARE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: JULIEN SERI / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: JONATHAN HOWARD, FANNY VALETTE, JESS LIAUDIN, JONATHAN DEMURGER / RELEASE DATE: TBC

 

A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY

The most surprisingly scary movie of the year? It might just be. Few will expect a Christmas anthology movie starring William Shatner alongside Santa battling zombie Elves in the North Pole to bring the jump scares, and yet here we are.

Like Axelle Carolyn’s Tales of Halloween, this selection box of interwoven Christmas horror stories (plural, no matter what the title might say) assembles a handful of directors and sets them loose on The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Ho ho ho. Like Tales of Halloween, there’s not really a wraparound story, although Bill Shatner does pop up frequently as a late night DJ to fill in some of the gaps.

Brett Sullivan, Grant Harvey and Steven Hoban handle directorial duties, splitting the four stories among themselves. In one, a group of would-be documentary makers find themselves trapped in their haunted school basement, terrorised by the spirits they unearth there. Next up, a family go cut down a Christmas tree in the woods and come back with more than they had bargained for. Another family, meanwhile, battle the festive spirit Krampus while bickering on an emotionally fraught road trip. And then there’s the little matter of Santa Claus battling off his own Elves, turned into zombies so potty-mouthed they’d make Bad Santa blush. All the time, DJ William Shatner is sat in his booth, getting progressively more and more shitfaced.

A little festive spirit will certainly help one get the most out of A Christmas Horror Story, but it’s by no means necessary. In spite of most of the stories running at a comedic bent, it’s surprisingly effective in its shocks and scares. Its basement-set ghost story is by far the dullest, but it packs in so many jump scares that even Insidious might be jealous. The rest do well on that front too, although Santa is played more for its laughs and big action beats than the others. If there’s a winner, it’s the unexpectedly shocking Christmas tree/changeling tale, although the zombie Elves run a close second.

That all of these stories run at the same time (so we get three beginnings, three middles and three endings in very short order) gives the film a few pacing issues, but it’s just too damn enjoyable for that to matter in the long term. It’s worth the price of admission for William Shatner alone, who is doing some of the best work we’ve seen from him in years. Not even a mouse? There’ll be plenty stirring from their seats this Christmas Eve, whether it be in shock or peals of Shatner-driven laughter. Ho ho ho indeed.

A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: GRANT HARVEY, STEVEN HOBAN, BRETT SULLIVAN / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: WILLIAM SHATNER, GEORGE BUZA, PERCY HYNES WHITE, ROB ARCHER / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 9TH (DVD)


 

HITMAN: AGENT 47

“This is never going to end, is it?” gasps the battle-weary Katia (Ware) after one of Hitman: Agent 47’s endlessly frenetic fight scenes/car chases. Despite a lean running time of not much more than ninety minutes, chances are you’ll be thinking something very similar at right about this point in the movie.

This reviewer is happy to admit he’s not much of a gamer – a recent potential Angry Birds addiction was nipped in the bud sharpish – and thus absolutely unqualified to comment on whether this latest Hitman movie (a reboot of a franchise kicked off in 2007) pays due reverence to the enduring stealth video game series. The film does, apparently, pay homage to the games here and there but, out of necessity, it has to do something rather different for a cinema-going audience. Unfortunately, all it’s really able to do is take bits of The Terminator (remorseless killing machine), The Matrix (stylish fight sequences) and James Bond (nice clothes and exotic locations) and hope they’ll be enough to paper over the cracks in a story which fatally fails to engage the audience’s interest and has to resort to extreme uber-violence and style-over-substance visuals.

Never trust a movie which info-dumps all over the opening credits; it’s a sure sign of a clumsy script content to take lazy short cuts. A bored voice-over tells of Dr Litvenko (Hinds) and his plans to create a breed of super-powered, super-intelligent assassins known as ‘Agents’ and the crisis of conscience which saw him abandon the project and run away, leaving behind his young daughter Katia. Years later ruthless rivals determined to replicate the technology are about to locate Litvenko but are intercepted by the implacable Agent 47 (Friend), who slaughters them all. Katia is befriended by the mysterious John Smith (Quinto) but it seems that his philanthropic nature isn’t quite what it seems and soon Katia finds herself on the run with Agent 47 and ending up in Singapore, chased by agents and soldiers of the Syndicate who will stop at nothing to get their hands on Litvenko and the secrets of the ‘Agent’ initiative.

As generic action movies go, Hitman isn’t bad but it’s utterly uninvolving and our interest is really only maintained by its tireless (and occasionally tiresome) action sequences. Gun battle follows fist fight follows car chase; the violence is graphic and bloody and so relentless it eventually becomes wearing. Friend (who replaced the late Paul Walker in the lead role) is tolerably bland as Agent 47 and Ware throws herself into the murky narrative with gusto. It looks brilliant, the action is beautifully-filmed (it really shows off its stunning locations) but by the end – despite a mid-credits sting which suggests/threatens a sequel – you’ll have had quite enough of the whole thing. It’s really more of a miss than a hit, man.

HITMAN: AGENT 47 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ALEKSANDER BACH / SCREENPLAY: SKIP WOODS, MICHAEL FINCH / STARRING: RUPERT FRIEND, HANNAH WARE, ZACHARY QUINTO, CIARÁN HINDS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Expected Rating:  5 out of 10
Actual Rating:
 

AMERICAN ULTRA

If you’ve seen the trailer for Nima Nourizadeh’s American Ultra at a recent trip to your local fleapit/multiplex then you’ve actually already seen the best of it. This grungy, sweaty, messy, bloody subversive action movie – a Kingsman for stoners – has one clever concept embedded deep within its zoned-out heart but once it’s shot that particular bolt it runs itself into the ground and really hasn’t got anywhere to go other than where it’s already been.

Pothead Mike (Eisenberg) lives a rather mundane and potentially-idyllic life in Nowheresville, USA with his sweet squeeze Pheobe (Stewart), but he has dark secrets in his past that even he’s utterly unaware of. When he finds a couple of strangers tampering with his car in the parking lot of the downmarket grocery store where he ekes out a living, he suddenly explodes into action as a ruthless, agile killing machine and within seconds two men lay dead. Not unnaturally, Mike freaks out and calls on Phoebe for help and moral support. Mike, as it turns out, is a brainwashed CIA ‘sleeper’ agent, a super-soldier adept at extreme death-dealing and now the subject of a CIA termination order. His world is quickly turned upside down and inside out when an army of CIA agents, including the psychopathic Laughter (Goggins), turn up en masse with orders to wipe Mike out with extreme force. To compound Mike’s very bad day, it also seems that his beloved Phoebe isn’t quite who he thought she was either…

One of the main problems with American Ultra is that it really has just one ace up its sleeve and when it’s out in the open there’s not much left it can do to surprise its audience. We know that Mike is capable of extraordinary violence – and how – and it’s just a matter of seeing him come to terms with it and using his skills to outwit the CIA, led by the inept and over-ambitious Adrian Yates (Grace). The film’s uneven tone doesn’t really help either. It’s at its best before the madness kicks off and Eisenberg seems more at home as Mike the eager-to-please stoner than as Mike the kick-ass killer. The film’s humour is shunted aside in favour of bone-crunching violence and when these are run side-by-side both are compromised as they’re uneasy bedfellows which don’t sit well together. But lovers of buckets of blood and people getting shot in the head will find much to enjoy, Eisenberg is typically good value and Kristen Stewart, distanced now from the loathsome Twilight franchise, is really shaping up into a formidable screen talent.

American Ultra isn’t really able to live up to the potential of its principal conceit and whilst it hasn’t found much favour at the Box Office we suspect it’ll develop into a bit of a cult favourite (stick around for the inspired animated end credits sequence, by the way) and find its true audience with the beer’n’-pizza stay-at-home crowd.

AMERICAN ULTRA / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: NIMA NOURIZADEH / SCREENPLAY: MAX LANDIS / STARRING: JESSE EISENBERG, KRISTEN STEWART, TOPHER GRACE, CONNIE BRITTON, WALTER GOGGINS, BILL PULLMAN, TONY HALE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Expected Rating:  7 out of 10
Actual Rating: