Craig

David Lowery’s A Ghost Story is unlike a great deal of films you’ve seen. It’s also hauntingly familiar, something that plays greatly into either your connection or distain for the material. Coincidentally, it’s one of the finest examples of pure cinema, and this decade’s first great entry into the pantheon of almost silent films; yet, one of the most convoluted and indulgent endeavors in film history for its deliberate stylizations.

There’s something to be said for The Axe Murders of Villisca, a spook show that blends the camp of Ghost Hunters with the groans of every Amityville sequel, prequel, and remake into a feel good empowerment story about conquering your deepest, darkest fears and finding friends for life in the process. It has the humor of Daddy Day Care, but frequently scrambles to achieve scares with its half-baked premise too temperamental and afraid of its own shadow to pack a punch. But it…tried?

As we wait in the wings to hear more widespread responses to Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, groans bemoaning the film’s lack of a “twist” or Southern belle butchery are sure to arise from those dismayed by an otherwise taught, often funny, and searing chamber piece that is far more terrifying for its omissions of violence and focus on unspoken lechery.

There’s a moment during the 2017 reboot of The Mummy where Russell Crowe - transforming from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde - turns gray. Not misshapen, or any larger than his human self, just gray. One could say he even looks a bit moldy, kind of like Sofia Boutella’s 900-year old mummified Princess Ahmanet. If anything, Hyde’s complexion is a good indication of the film’s overall stale riffs on the Boris Karloff classic, and the dim-witted yet enthralling Brendan Fraser spin-off of the 90s. It’s old and not getting fresh anytime soon.