Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019)

Well, the classics of horror are there to be mined for remakes, aren't they, so we should be thankful after 2006's Nicolas Cage atrocity (which must surely be a tautology of the highest order by now) that this settles for keeping the commune of pagan nutcases but changing enough to stand in its own two feet. Yes, it's still The Wicker Man, and transposing it to Northern Sweden (played by Hungary) is a cosmetic alteration, but making the lead's personal problem the fact that she's emotionally trampled over by her blank boyfriend, rather than Edward Woodward's own self-crippling religion in the corresponding character, is quite effective too in providing some depth.

Of course having young Americans hopelessly out of their depth in Old Yurp in the context of a horror film lowers expectations from the outset, but this has no aspirations to compete Hostel in the insane mutilations stakes. Rather, there's a slow rise in tension and when the brutality does come, it's in short, operatic shocks, and followed immediately by a return to sunshone and downplaying which creates the impression in our minds almost as much as the characters' that maybe what we just saw was just a bad dream. Add to that cinematography which is quite astonishingly beautiful at times, constantly drawing you in beguilingly, and the result is something of a curate's egg.

7/10

Papadopoulos & Sons (Marcus Markou, 2012)

The overreaching ambition of food industry magnate Harry Papadopoulos leads him to take out a massive loan on a property development just before the bank granting it collapses and the end result is that when his estranged livewire brother turns up to propose reopening the chippy that they ran together decades back, he's forced to accede to the idea. The shock adjustment to slumming it proves easier for his kids, as he resists what he sees as abject failure in returning to where he started from. But then this is a feelgood comedy, where we know that any seed of residual kindness in the protagonist is destined to grow eventually. And so it proves.

Made in Morden on a micro-budget, Papadopoulos & Sons is hardly cinema breaking out into fresh pastures, with its basic East is East set-up, but fares well on a combination of good performances, particularly Stephen Dillane as the beleaguered, resigned and finally reborn Harry, crisp dialogue and an obvious love for its characters.

6/10