Horrors real and imagined
Fairfax’s picks out the best on the box for the week ahead.
James Croot Another house of cards
Despite covering similar ground to The Company Men, George Clooney’s Up in the Air and cult 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross, writer-director J C Chandor’s 2012 deadline-driven global financial crisis thriller (the action takes place over 36 hours) Margin Call feels fresh and compelling. The cast includes Paul Bettany, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons, the latter sublime as a slippery chief executive. Both a chilling financial horror story (which suggests the current global financial crisis is part of a repeating circle of life) and a solid investment of your time and money.
Sunday, 8.30pm, Choice Louis goes to church
Something of a cult figure himself, British documentarian Louis Theroux seemed like the perfect person to investigate the group described by some as ‘‘the most pernicious, dangerous cult of the last 50 years’’. Less of a carbon copy, more of a counterpoint to Alex Gibney’s similarly focused Going Clear, Theroux’s 2016 My Scientology Documentary is less interested in the sci-fi background and tax evasion schemes of Scientology and more about its recent culture of fear and bullying. His relaxed, informal interviewing style invites intimacy in both his subjects and for the audience. His decision to film everything – and his unflappable nature – provides both hilarious and frightening moments.
Tuesday, 7.30pm, UKTV The people’s project
Inside Out: The People’s Art Project is a 2013 documentary that tracks the evolution of the biggest participatory art project in the world, the wildly popular INSIDE OUT. French artist JR travels the globe, motivating entire communities to define their most important causes with incredibly passionate displays of giant blackand-white portraits pasted in the street. From Tunisia to Haiti, North Dakota to Pakistan, the film follows individuals and communities pasting their portraits in the streets.
Wednesday, 8.30pm, Rialto The Irish rover
Set in and around Galway on Ireland’s rugged western coast, Ken Bruen’s bestselling novels leap to life in a series of TV movies featuring Iain Glen as the straightshooting, big-hearted Jack Taylor. An ex-cop on the wrong side of 40 with a minor drinking habit, private investigator Jack Taylor takes on cases even the Garda (Irish Police Force) won’t touch.
Tuesday, 8.30pm, Vibe Dark, stormy nights ahead
Beyond the Walls is a three-part, 2016 French horror about a woman who inherits an abandoned house from an unknown benefactor. On her first night living there, after hearing noises, she knocks a hole in the wall and crawls through to discover an inescapable, infinite, labyrinthine ‘‘house’’. ‘‘A rare example of full-fledged television fantasy that wows its audience purely on the merits of smart, sophisticated storytelling,’’ wrote The AV Club’s Alex Mclevy.
Tuesday, 8.30pm, Rialto