Club Imagine’s June edition is over, let’s celebrate summer! Time for sunny days (finally?!), lazy evenings and cooling of in the cinema. Genre fans don’t have to wait until Imagine Fantastic Film Festival in October to get their fix: luckily, the summer months have plenty of horror, sci-fi and fantasy titels to scratch that urge. On the big screen in July and August: Club Imagine-hit Kill, re-releases of Blood Simple and Coraline, remakes of The Killer and The Crow, long overdue Dutch podcast horror Jimmy and MaXXXine, part three of Ti Wests X-trilogy. These are the films we’re most excited about.
Kinds of Kindness
From 4 July
Thought Poor Things would leave the rest of 2024 devoid of Yorgos Lanthimos? Think again. Hot on the heels of that monster hit, the Greek maestro of weird is dropping Kinds of Kindeness, a labyrinth of strange stories about power and social constructs, and a return to his earlier, truly weird work. Poor Things-actors Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe en Margaret Qualley are back, as are Jesse Plemons, Hong Chau en Mamadou Athie. Lanthimos wrote the script with his old pal Efthimis Fillipou, who also co-wrote The Lobster (2015) and Dogtooth (2009), the film that gave Lanthimos his big break 25 years ago. To celebrate that anniversary, Dogtooth is also getting a re-release on 11 July. Consider this Lanthimos-feast an introduction to his unique take on the world, for the people who’d like to know where The Favourite (2018) and Poor Things got it from.
Kill
From 4 July
Brutal commandos vs amoral bandits, on a train. Tulika follows his lover Amrit onto a New Delhi-bound train accompanied by his commando buddy Viresh. He wants to make sure she doesn’t get married off by her family. But when a group of bandits pick this very train to rob, he’s forced to shift gears. This bold, brutal Indian film seems to have graduated from the The Raid school of filmmaking, and it’s all the better for it – Kill is a close-quarter fight bonanza that’s epic in all the right ways. The train’s tight spaces are used to maximum effect and director Nikhil Nagesh Blatt has a great eye for action, humour and style. No wonder an English remake is already on the way.
Longlegs
From 11 July
Director Oz Perkins made it to Imagine in 2016 with unsettling horror film February (later released as The Blackcoat’s Daughter). After a few mediocre follow-ups and a stint at The Twilight Zone, Perkins is back with this new, dark serial killer story. In Longlegs, starring Nic Cage and Maika Monroe, a rookie FBI agent hunts a sadistic killer who she may have more in common with than she’d like. Insiders are already calling it the year’s best scary movie.
Blood Simple (re-release)
From 18 July
Neo noir classic Blood Simple played at the very first Weekend of Terror in 1984. In celebration of its 40th birthday, the Coen Brothers Texan-set debut, starring a young Frances McDormand (‘I haven’t done anything funny’), will be hitting the big screen once again. Go see it for the first, second or fifteenth time!
MaXXXine
From 25 July
‘I’m a star!’ Ohhh, how she wanted to go to Hollywood, our sweet, scary Pearl. In X (2022), part one of his stardom-themed horror trilogy, Ti West introduced us to the dissappointed-starlet-cum-teen-killer (Mia Goth) as an old lady, and to Maxine (also Mia Goth), the beautiful young actress Pearl loved to hate. Part two gave us Pearls dark past and even darker psyche. In finale piece MaXXXine, the spotlight is once again turned to X‘s final girl. Having survived the traumatic events in the countryside, Maxine is now ready to take over Hollywood. But how far is she willing to go to get there? Our expectations are almost as big as Goth’s 80s perm.
Trap
From 1 August
M. Night is back! And so is Josh Hartnett. Trap, M. Night Shyamalan’s latest mindfuck, sees Hartnett’s dad taking his teen daughter to a huge pop concert. Soon, the doors to the venue close in order to trap a serial killer, kickstarting a dangerous game of cat and mouse. We already like the fact that the film is told from the POV of a killer (or is it?), but knowing Shyamalan, there’s bound to more to the story than that.
Coraline (15th Anniversary)
From 15 August
Coraline is turning 15! Definitely a movie meant for the big screen, this stop motion spectacle for everyone who’s ever been an angry-sad teenager (and for every parent whose ever had one). Director Henry Selick also created A Nightmare Before Christmas, so you know it’s gonna look good, and Coraline perfectly threads that fine line between beautiful fantasy and horror (aaaaa! those button eyes!).
The Crow
From 21 August
Bill Skarsgard (IT) trying to fill Brandon Lee’s black shoes in a remake of goth classic The Crow from 1994? With FKA Twigs playing his doomed lover? Yes! Skarsgard is Eric, heartbroken and undead avenger ready to kill the baddies who broke his heart. Lots of opinions on this one already, but at least his eyeliner’s on point.
The Killer
From 22 August
John Woo got back in the director’s chair to helm this long-overdue English remake of his own action classic The Killer (Dip huet seung hung) from 1989. Things may look and feel a tad different, but the central plot – remorseful hit man will do anything to restore the eyesight of the singer he blinded during one of his shootouts – is the same, and let’s hope the awesome set pieces are too.
Jimmy
From 22 August
This Dutch horror story is a prime example of good things coming to those who wait. Director David-Jan Bronsgeest and writer Tim Koomen pitched their project back at Imagine 2018 when it was still called Meet Jimmy. Enter Paramount who bought the rights and flew the team to America, only for them to come back empty-handed. We’re happy the film, which focuses on a murderous podcast killer, is finally here!
These were our main summer recommendations. But there’s more! On top of the list above, the slate for July and August also includes hurricane sequel Twisters, Eli Roth’s game adaptation Borderlands with Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis, Alien: Romulus, Deadpool & Wolverine (a first under the Marvel/Disney-banner) and Daaaaalí! by our favourite absurdist Quentin Dupieux.
Have fun in the dark this summer! We’ll get to work on Imagine festival 2024.
Header: MaXXXine (Ti West, 2024)
