Penny Dredful BODY DOUBLE
This issue: a body-swap double-bill, a haunted house and some very, very wrong trousers indeed
Two movies due to land in cinemas in November have ended up with a different fate thanks to Lockdown II. Brandon Cronenberg’s weird and wonderful Possessor has gone straight to VOD, while Freaky, a Blumhouse take on the body-swap genre, has been bumped back to Christmas. Featuring a serial killer (Vince Vaughn) who does the old switcheroo with a teenage girl (Kathryn
Newton) to gory, guffaw-y effect, Freaky is massive fun, but begs to be seen in a group.
Strange coincidence that
Possessor is also a body-swap horror, albeit of a different flavour. In this Andrea Riseborough’s covert agent infiltrates the bodies of her marks and controls them to carry out assassinations. It’s sophisticated sci-fi with a lot to say about gender, selfidentity and responsibility.
KILLER THREADS
Two of my favourite recent films appear to exist at opposite ends of the highbrow/lowbrow spectrum – but look again.
Netflix’s His House is a political horror about two Sudanese refugees placed in a home in the UK, only to find they’re trapped with a spirit they’ve brought with them. Then there’s Slaxx (heading to Shudder in 2021), a Canadian movie about killer trousers. His House is the directorial debut of Remi Weekes, a horror fan with a passion for A Nightmare On Elm Street, Scream and the Final Destination movies. So while His House deals with weighty issues it’s also really scary, has an actual witch, and there are jokes. Meanwhile, the trousers movie is smarter than you might think… A satire about consumerism and pseudo-eco-friendly brands exploiting foreign workers and trading on their wokeness, it may be about a sentient pair of jeans on a bloody rampage, but it’s also well made and has a point.
DIAMOND GIZA
Netflix’s first Egyptian horror series brings an interesting new offering to the menu. Set in the ’60s, Paranormal follows haematologist Dr Refaat Ismail (Ahmed Amin), who as a child had a ghostly experience with a gap-toothed little girl. Now a man of science, he eschews talk of the supernatural, but as each of the six episodes ramps up finds it harder to ignore what’s under his nose. Akin to The X-files – Refaat’s joined by his more credulous former love, the clearly not Scottish Maggie Mckillop (Razane Jammal) – it sees the two encountering an ancient mummy, an incubus and a water nymph on their quest to break a curse. It has an unusual protagonist in Refaat (a middle-aged sad-sack who smokes a load of fags and is engaged to his cousin), and Amin’s performance is excellent. Worth a look.
SWEET TALK
Two new horror podcasts for you. Comedian Robin Ince has launched The Uncanny Hour, a six-part series available to Patreons of his Cosmic Shambles Network. Each episode delves into elements of counterculture, boasting guests such as Andy Nyman, Alan Moore and Mark Gatiss. Head here for more: bit.ly/uncannyhour. Meanwhile, free on BBC Sounds is Sink: A Sleep Aid, written by SFX alumni Natasha Hodgson and starring Alice Lowe. Structured as a series of dream therapy sessions, it’s a mix of creepy stories woven together in a way that’s more likely to give you nightmares than aid your rest.