ALSO SHOWING

★★★★★

IT CHAPTER TWO (15)

IT HAS been 27 years since the summer of 1989 when teenage members of the Losers Club banded together to defeat Pennywise the clown (Bill Skarsgard, above).

Hellish history repeats in 2016 and Mike (now played by Isaiah Mustafa), who has remained in the fictional town of Derry as a librarian, summons his old pals to revisit their darkest nightmare.

Ben (Jay Ryan), Beverly (Jessica Chastain), Bill (James McAvoy), Eddie (James Ransone), Richie (Bill Hader) and Stanley (Andy Bean) take his call.

Punctuated by myriad flashbacks, It Chapter Two could comfortably excise 30 minutes of dramatic fat to quicken the pace of a sluggish second act.

Skarsgard’s rictus grin still unsettles, however, any residual coulrophobia – fear of clowns – is comfortably cured, in between nervous glances at watches and perhaps a stifled yawn.

MRS LOWRY & SON (PG)

DOUR study of Stretford-born painter

LS Lowry and the toxic relationship with his ageing, malcontent mother, which almost stifled his artistic ambitions.

Every evening, Laurence Lowry (Timothy Spall, pictured) returns home to a terraced house in Pendlebury, Lancashire and his domineering mother Elizabeth (Vanessa Redgrave).

Throughout the day, while her son toils as a rent collector, Elizabeth marinates in bitterness and resentment, horrified that the debts of her late husband (Michael Keogh) have condemned her to a two-up two-down.

Time and again, Elizabeth attempts to dissuade her son from picking up a paintbrush to focus on more important matters. Like her.

CRAWL (15)

A FATHER and daughter (Kaya Scodelario, pictured) discover they are far from the top of the evolutionary food chain in Alexandre

Aja’s diabolical masterclass in sustained tension and jump-out-of-your-seat scares.

Set in Florida during a category five hurricane, Crawl is essentially Jaws with alligators, albeit with considerably more on-screen gore courtesy of the French director of the 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes.

There are plenty of hide-your-eyes moments as the apex predators eviscerate or death-roll almost every character who dares to dip a toe into rising flood waters unleashed by Mother Nature’s fury.