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Peter and Bobby Farrelly's 2005 romantic comedy "Fever Pitch," based on the Nick Hornby novel, was about the relationship travails of a level-headed businesswoman named Lindsey (Drew Barrymore) as she attempted to date a funny and charming schoolteacher named Ben (Jimmy Fallon). Ben admits early in their courtship that he is a fan of the Boston Red Sox. Nay, not just a fan, but an embarrassingly devoted superfan who attends all their games. Lindsey doesn't know much about baseball, and she has to accept that, if she wants to keep seeing Ben, she'll have to attend many, many baseball games with him. She'll also have to follow his emotional ups and downs as his favorite team wins or loses.

Curiously, Hornby's original book wasn't about a baseball team, but Arsenal, an English football club. The title "Fever Pitch" makes more sense with baseball.

"Fever Pitch" was fine, and nothing more.

Bridget Fonda is the daughter of Peter Fonda, the granddaughter of Henry Fonda, and the niece of Jane Fonda, so it only seemed natural that she would become an actor. She started appearing on stage as a girl and appeared in "Easy Rider" with her father when she was only five years old.

Fonda would go on to study method acting at the famed Lee Strassberg Theater. She started appearing in films only two years after graduating at NYU. Acting was in her blood and it seemed like she never considered doing anything else. From 1988 to 2002, Fonda appeared in dozens of high-profile Hollywood films, and was nominated for two Golden Globes and an Emmy. She retired unexpectedly in 2002 and hasn't been seen on screen since. Throughout the 1990s, however, Fonda was something of a cinematic "It" girl, appearing in raucous comedies, dramatic indies, intense crime films, and a few of Sam Raimi's productions.

The A24 horror film Heretic, from the writing and directing duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, received a wide theatrical release last week, and so far has made about $16 million at the global box office. The budget came in under $10 million, so it’s doing okay – and Beck and Woods have ideas for follow-up films that wouldn’t be direct sequels, but “spiritual sequels.”

Hugh Grant – whose credits include Notting Hill, Love Actually, Wonka, and Unfrosted – stars in Heretic, which has the following synopsis: Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. Grant is joined in the cast of Heretic by Chloe East (The Fabelmans) and Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets) as the missionaries. (You can watch our interviews with them Here.) Grant hasn’t done much horror in his career,...

Related Images invites readers behind the scenes and into the sketchbooks of working filmmakers to learn more about their creative processes.Elizabeth Sankey’s Witches is now showing exclusively on Mubi.Witches.Title cards are an underappreciated art and a powerful tool for every director. They can punctuate a moment, make it more comic, shocking, or beautiful. They can hold your hand and lead you sweetly down the garden path of the story you’re about to experience, or they can undermine your expectations and throw you for a loop. Even their placement in the runtime can have a huge impact. In the black-metal revenge thriller Mandy (2018) Panos Cosmatos waits 75 minutes before abruptly kicking his title card onto the screen. Conversely Luca Guadagnino places the card for Call Me by Your Name (2017) at the end of the film to enhance Elio’s heartbreaking stare into the fire, intensifying his crushing...

The A24 horror film Heretic, which is coming our way from the writing and directing duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, has received a wide theatrical release as of today. JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray enjoyed the film, giving it a 7/10 review you can read at This Link (or you can watch the video version embedded above), and now we want to know: what do you think about Heretic?

Hugh Grant – whose credits include Notting Hill, Love Actually, Wonka, and Unfrosted – stars in Heretic, which has the following synopsis: Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

Grant has previously said that he finds villain roles to be “more fun” to play, so it should be very interesting to watch him take on a...

Over the last few months, there’s been a lot of buzz about A24’s Heretic, a horror movie that earned rave reviews following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. In it, rising scream queen Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets) and The Fabelmans star Chloe East star as two Mormon missionaries who knock on the wrong door one rainy night and wind up in a game of psychological cat and mouse with Hugh Grant’s Mr. Reed. A diabolical intellectual, he not only wants to do away with our heroines but also shake the foundations of their faith.

While at TIFF, I spoke with the entire cast, including Grant, who explained what attracted him to his first horror role in many years. I also spoke to East and Thatcher, who grew up in the Mormon faith, about how the film subverts audience expectations of the character’s naiveté, while...

Two young missionaries visit a man at his cavernous house to discuss Mormon doctrines but get drawn into a psychological game of terror and manipulation

The remarkable second act of Hugh Grant’s career continues … or maybe third act, if we include the earlier period in which he appeared to withdraw from the movie romcom-lead frontline to concentrate on making brilliant investments in property and contemporary art, before returning as a lethally outrageous character actor and scene-stealer. Now Grant is making his horror debut (if we don’t include his appearance in Ken Russell’s The Lair of the White Worm from 1988) and does it with typical insouciance and cheek, starring in a verbose and disturbing chamber piece about religion from writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods; it feels as if George Bernard Shaw wanted to make a scary movie without songs inspired by The Book of Mormon.

Maturity and...

The A24 horror film Heretic, which is coming our way from the writing and directing duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, is set to receive a wide theatrical release on November 8th, with multi-sensory advance screenings set to be held at Alamo Drafthouse theatres on October 30th. Hugh Grant – whose credits include Notting Hill, Love Actually, Wonka, and Unfrosted – stars in Heretic, which has the following synopsis: Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. During an interview with GamesRadar+, Grant revealed that he has written a full biography for his villainous character, as that’s part of his acting process now.

Grant said, “This is what I do now, I go through the script with an extraordinary tooth comb, over and over again.

The A24 horror film Heretic, which is coming our way from the writing and directing duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, is set to receive a wide theatrical release on November 8th – but advance screenings are set to take place on October 30th, and Variety reports that A24 is teaming up with Joya Studio and Alamo Drafthouse to turn some of those screenings into multi-sensory experiences! The multi-sensory screenings will be exclusive to Alamo Drafthouse theatres and will only take place on October 30th. Variety notes, “Tickets to the multi-sensory screenings at Alamo Drafthouse are available for purchase here. All other advanced screenings will have exclusive treats and scratch-and-sniff cards that will immerse viewers in the film.”

Hugh Grant – whose credits include Notting Hill, Love Actually, Wonka, and Unfrosted – stars in Heretic, which has the following synopsis: Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock...

While there aren’t any movies quite like Coralie Fergeat’s “The Substance,” there are plenty of over-the-top horror films about transformation, incredibly weird science, shared identities and losing your damn mind, like the 1981 cult movie “Possession,” pretty much every David Cronenberg movie, as well as offerings from Ken Russell, Peter Strickland, Julia Ducournau and Ari Aster.

Expect screaming, exploding heads, lots of blood and some of the most insane endings ever.

Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill in “Possession” (Credit: Gaumont) Possession (1981)

Isabelle Adjani has the mother of all freakouts in a subway in this role that earned her a César for Best Actress (the French equivalent of the Oscars) and Best Actress at the Cannes Film Fest that year, but that’s not even the most mind-blowing part of the movie form Polish director Andrzej Żuławski. She’s also cheating on her husband (Sam Neill) with something that isn’t really human.

The A24 horror film Heretic, which is coming our way from the writing and directing duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, is set to receive a wide theatrical release on November 15th. The first trailer for the film made its way online a few months ago, the second dropped last month, and now, with the release date just one month away, a third trailer for the film has arrived. You can check it out in the embed above.

Hugh Grant – whose credits include Notting Hill, Love Actually, Wonka, and Unfrosted – stars in Heretic, which has the following synopsis: Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

Grant has previously said that he finds villain roles to be “more fun” to play, explaining why...

It's an understatement to say that Ken Russell made distinctly twisted, controversial films, infusing new meaning into the term "unpredictable." Sure, this brand of filmmaking is a bit of an acquired taste, but it has merit no less, as his experimental, no-holds-barred approach led to some truly unique cinematic experiences. Apart from his rather mainstream (and brilliant) "Women in Love," Russell made fictionalized retellings of real events, such as his "Gothic," which expands upon the Shelleys visiting Lord Byron in Villa Diodati within a jarring horror framework. More controversial works include "The Devils," and Russell's 1980 sci-fi horror feature "Altered States," itself a psychedelic-adjacent trip into a bizarre, delirious labyrinth about identity and altered states of consciousness.

Two mega-popular actors made their acting debut in "Altered States:" William Hurt, who plays leading man Eddie Jessup, and Drew Barrymore, who plays Eddie's younger daughter, Margaret Jessup. Barrymore was only five when she starred in Russell's film,...

The storied director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now swings for the fences with a lavish-looking but muddled and empty tale of thwarted ambition

You’d think that a film that has been this long in gestation – Francis Ford Coppola reportedly first had the idea for Megalopolis in 1977 and started writing it in 1983 – and which has been achieved at such considerable personal cost – Coppola sold a vineyard to partially self-finance it – would have something significant to say. But for all its big-hitting visual ambition, philosophical window dressing and pick-and-mix literary references, this is a work of screaming emptiness.

A strident retro-futurist folly that blends Ken Russell-esque kitsch with swaggering self-importance, the film lays out its central conceit – that modern America follows the template of Old Rome – with a reverence that this idea doesn’t really warrant. Coppola carves his opening statement on a stone plaque in a classical font,...

The A24 horror film Heretic, which is coming our way from the writing and directing duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, is set to receive a wide theatrical release on November 15th. The first trailer for the film made its way online a few months ago, and now that we’re just two months away from the release date, a second trailer has now been unveiled. You can check it out in the embed above.

Hugh Grant – whose credits include Notting Hill, Love Actually, Wonka, and Unfrosted – stars in Heretic, which has the following synopsis: Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

Grant has previously said that he finds villain roles to be “more fun” to play, explaining why he has chosen...

In the wake of Demi Lovato’s highly anticipated documentary Child Star, which is set to unravel the harsh realities of young fame, Drew Barrymore’s story remains one of extraordinary transformation. Dubbed as one of the world’s most well-known former child stars, Barrymore remains a vivid reminder of how even the most turbulent beginnings can lead to a powerful, redemptive journey.

Drew Barrymore in Everyone Says I Love You | image: Miramax

From her early exposure to a world of excess and addiction to her profound struggle with mental health and her attempted suicide, Drew Barrymore’s childhood happened to have been a whirlwind of challenges. Yet, the actress’ resilience and unwavering hope propelled her from the brink of despair to a celebrated career as an actress, producer, and entrepreneur.

Drew Barrymore’s Troubled Youth and a Whirlwind of Addictions

As Demi Lovato’s directorial debut with the upcoming...

Classic rock star Rob Zombie is known for his grungy horror movies, one of the best of which is The Lords of Salem. In terms of its plot, The Lords of Salem is a bold rip-off of Rosemary’s Baby. However, the devil is in the details, and The Lords of Salem has a feel all its own.

Rob Zombie’s ‘The Lords of Salem’ is a ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ rip-off set in Salem

Rosemary’s Baby popularized the trope of the devil impregnating a human woman to create an Antichrist. This trope is an obvious inversion of Christian beliefs about Jesus Christ. But the devil doesn’t do it all on his own. In Rosemary’s Baby, a cult of elderly Satanists summons the devil in order to impregnate Rosemary.

The Lords of Salem, meanwhile, is about Heidi Hawthorne, a radio host in modern-day Salem, Massachusetts. A Satanic cult summons...

A few months ago, I wrote an article listing ten movies that – despite being well known – were difficult to find (legally) on any streaming service or even on disc. Those titles ranged from Ron Howard’s Cocoon to movies like Dawn of the Dead (the original). In the comments, many of our readers chimed in with their two cents on films they’ve found difficult to find over the years, so here are a few more challenging-to-find flicks, some of which may surprise you.

Panic Room:

The fact that David Fincher’s Panic Room has never been issued on Blu-ray blows me away. It’s been announced a few times, but a physical release never seems to happen (although you can stream it in HD pretty easily). What gives? You’d think the fact that it has Fincher’s name on it, and stars Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker,...

A24 has unveiled the gripping trailer for its upcoming psychological horror film, Heretic, directed and written by the talented duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, and Chloe East, the film promises a chilling exploration of faith and fear, set against the backdrop of a sinister game orchestrated by Grant’s character, Mr. Reed.

In Heretic, two young Mormon missionaries, portrayed by Thatcher and East, encounter a nightmare when they knock on the wrong door during their mission. They are greeted by Mr. Reed, played by Hugh Grant, who lures them into a terrifying game of psychological torment. The trailer showcases Reed’s menacing challenge: “I won’t keep you if you wish to leave, but I want you to choose which door to go through based on your faith,” he declares, pointing to two doorways labelled “Belief” and “Disbelief.” The scene escalates into a life-sized labyrinth,...

US filmmaker Mike Flanagan, behind Netflix series The Haunting Of Hill House, will receive a career award at Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival (July 18-August 4) as the final wave of titles are unveiled.

Flanagan is best known for his collaborations with Netflix which also include Midnight Mass, The Haunting Of Bly Manor, The Midnight Club and most recently The Fall Of The House Of Usher. Among his film credits are Oculus, Hush, Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game and upcoming title The Life Of Chuck starring Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Previous recipients of the Cheval Noir award include John Carpenter,...

What to expect from a genre festival honoring the un-expected? The Fantasia International Film Festival returns to Montréal for its 28th edition from July 18 to August 4 and it promises a killer lineup — with over 125 features and more than 200 shorts in total. The festival’s third and final programming announcement, made exclusive to IndieWire first, includes features from Steven Kostanski, Eugene Kotlyarenko, Scooter McCrae, and more.

André Forcier will show on closing night for the festival with the world premiere of “Ababouiné.” The filmmaker’s latest is a distinctly regional period piece and buzzy potential masterpiece about a group of kids growing up in 1950s Quebec under the harsh eye of the Catholic Church. Fantasia has awarded the film’s director the Prix Denis-Héroux, an accolade “bestowed for exceptional contribution to the development of Quebec genre cinema.”

Oscar-nominated documentarian Pedro Kos makes his narrative feature debut with “In Our Blood,” starring...

Last June, we learned that Hugh Grant – whose credits include Notting Hill, Love Actually, Wonka, and Unfrosted – had signed on to star in the A24 horror film Heretic, which is coming our way from the writing and directing duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Last month, A24 revealed their plan to give Heretic a wide theatrical release on November 15th. Just yesterday, they unveiled a poster for the film, and with that came the promise that a trailer for Heretic would be arriving online today. True to their word, A24 has just released that trailer, and you can check it out in the embed above.

Details have been scarce up to this point, but with the trailer we have also received an official plot synopsis: Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed...

Last June, we learned that Hugh Grant – whose credits include Notting Hill, Love Actually, Wonka, and Unfrosted – had signed on to star in the A24 horror film Heretic, which is coming our way from the writing and directing duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Last month, A24 revealed their plan to give Heretic a wide theatrical release on November 15th. Now they have unveiled a poster for the film, while also promising that a trailer will be making its way online tomorrow. The poster can be seen at the bottom of this article.

Details are scarce, but the story has something to do with two missionaries that attempt to convert a dangerous man. Here’s how Deadline has describes it: Two young missionaries become ensnared in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse after they knock on the wrong front door.

There’s no word on who Grant plays in this scenario,...

How now, what news: the Criterion Channel’s July lineup is here. Eight pop renditions of Shakespeare are on the docket: from movies you forgot were inspired by the Bard (Abel Ferrara’s China Girl) to ones you’d wish to forget altogether (Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing), with maybe my single favorite interpretation (Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet) alongside Paul Mazursky, Gus Van Sant, Baz Luhrmann, Derek Jarman, and (of course) Kenneth Branagh. A neonoir collection arrives four months ahead of Noirvember: two Ellroy adaptations, two from De Palma that are not his neonoir Ellroy adaptation, two from the Coen brothers (i.e. the chance to see a DVD-stranded The Man Who Wasn’t There in HD), and––finally––a Michael Winner picture given Criterion’s seal of approval.

Columbia screwballs run between classics to lesser-seens while Nicolas Roeg and Heisei-era Godzilla face off. A Times Square collection brings The Gods of Times Square,...

It was almost exactly one year ago when we learned that Hugh Grant – whose credits include Notting Hill, Love Actually, Wonka, and Unfrosted – had signed on to star in the A24 horror film Heretic, which is coming our way from the writing and directing duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Now Deadline reports that A24 is planning to give Heretic a wide theatrical release on November 15th.

Details are scarce, but the story has something to do with two missionaries that attempt to convert a dangerous man. Here’s how Deadline describes it: Two young missionaries become ensnared in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse after they knock on the wrong front door.

There’s no word on who Grant plays in this scenario, but it would be very cool to see him take on the role of the dangerous man, and it seems likely that we’re going to.

Here we are with another case of “Wait, that was a book first?” Although, having watched the movie for the first time and seeing its reputation online, this is also a case of “Wait, that was a movie?” William Friedkin was a master filmmaker and although most of his stone-cold classics happened before 1990, he proved he still had plenty in the tank with things like The Hunted and Bug to name a couple. He was a replacement director which seems surreal considering his talents and he was one of 3 credited writers on a little remembered horror movie adaptation from 1990. The Guardian (watch it Here) is based on The Nanny from 1987 and it’s a strange pairing of source material and finished product. Both pieces of media are mostly slept on in their respective fields but how close did Friedkin and the other writers come to matching the book? Always do...

Looking back at the legendary Queen of Rock and Roll, and Grammy winner Tina Turner’s career, we can certainly agree that the late icon not only dominated the music industry but also portrayed her versatility in a few critically acclaimed projects. However, despite her serious acting aspirations, Turner felt limited by opportunities for Black women as well as the type of roles she was being offered.

The legendary Queen of Rock and Roll, Tina Turner | image: Philip Spittle/ Wikimedia Commons

Addressing how she was offered a leading role in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple, featuring Whoopi Goldberg, who later scored an Academy Award nomination for her role, Tina Turner mentioned rejecting the part. However, in a surprising turn of events, the late legend noted accepting George Miller’s Mad Max sequel, Beyond Thunderdome.

Tina Turner Turned Down Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple

Debuting with Ken Russell’s 1975 film Tommy,...

Prolific actor James Laurenson, who played Doctor Weir in the royal period drama The Crown, has died. He was 84. His passing was reported by multiple U.K. news outlets on Friday, May 10. A cause of death has not yet been provided. Born on February 17, 1940, in Marton, North Island, New Zealand, Laurenson made his acting career in the United Kingdom after moving there in the mid-1960s. He made his on-screen film debut in 1969 in Ken Russell’s romantic drama Women in Love. Throughout his career, Laurenson has had guest roles in numerous classic TV series such as Coronation Street, Z-Cars, The Professionals, Hammer House of Horror, Cagney and Lacey, Remington Steele, Bergerac, Midsomer Murders, Prime Suspect, Silent Witness, Hustle, Endeavour, Spooks, and many more. In more recent years, he played Earl of Westmoreland in the BBC adaptations of William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts I and II and starred in...

The red carpet will soon roll out for the 77th Festival de Cannes. The international film festival, playing out May 14-25, has a distinct American voice this year. “Barbie” filmmaker Greta Gerwig is the first U.S. female director name jury president. Many veteran American helmers are heading to the French Rivera resort town. George Lucas, who turns 80 on May 14, will receive an honorary Palme d’Or. Francis Ford Coppola’s much-anticipated “Megalopolis” is screening in competition, as is Paul Schrader’s “Oh Canada.” Kevin Costner’s new Western “Horizon, An American Saga” will premiere out of competition and Oliver Stone’s “Lula” is part of the special screening showcase.

Fifty years ago, Coppola was the toast of the 27th Cannes Film Festival. His brilliant psychological thriller “The Conversation” starring Gene Hackman won the Palme D’Or and well as a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury. The film would earn three Oscar nominations: picture,...

Certainly one definition of great music might include an ability to meet the present – and the future – head-on and come out unbruised, even triumphant. By that standard and many more, The Who’s Tommy, opening tonight on Broadway, is thrilling proof that the premiere concept album of 1969 is great music indeed.

Gloriously directed by Des McAnuff and updated by him and composer-lyricist Pete Townshend from their own 1993 original Broadway staging, The Who’s Tommy is a non-stop surge of electrified energy, a darting pinball of a production that syncs visual panache with 55-year-old songs that sound as vital today as they must have at Woodstock. Themes of enlightenment and connection, trauma and recovery, truth and lies and blinkered hero worship feel more relevant in the 21st Century than Townshend could possibly have imagined way back in the waning days of the ’60s.

With a...

This article contains spoilers for "Immaculate."

The Sydney Sweeney nunsploitation flick "Immaculate" is having one hell of an opening weekend. Not only does the film now hold the distinction of earning Neon's biggest opening weekend ever domestically, but the borderline Satanic panic coming from evangelical conservatives losing their minds over the film has been the type of grassroots marketing campaign a PR can only dream of. After the now-deleted account @AuroraFaced posted the best possible pull quote for the film by writing on X (formerly Twitter), "Libs saw how the anti-woke crowd embraced Sydney Sweeney as their new darling and right away had to shove her in this blasphemous, Satanic, feminist, pro-abortion, anti-life movie degrading Christians! This movie also debases Mary, Mother of the Christ!", Neon, who distributed the film, quickly turned the post into a viral poster, and most certainly inspired some ticket purchases in the process.

"Immaculate...

“Immaculate” marks the latest project to star Sydney Sweeney, who is known for television shows like “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” and Sony’s latest superhero endeavor “Madame Web.” Sweeney also made up half of the dynamic duo — alongside Glen Powell — that brought “Anyone but You” to box office success, and just as she produced that rom-com, she’s a producer on the horror film “Immaculate.”

Director Michael Mohan had high praises for Sweeney, whom he has worked with before. The director was inspired by “The Devils” (1971) directed by Ken Russell as well as other Italian horror films to shape the story of Sweeney’s Cecelia.

For those in the Sydney Sweeney fandom or avid horror fans, we’ve rounded up the details of how to watch “Immaculate” below:

When does “Immaculate” come out?

After world premiering at the SXSW Film Festival in March, the Neon movie arrives in theaters on Friday,...

Between The Nun II, Sister Death, Consecration, the upcoming The First Omen, and the newly released Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney, it’s safe to say that nuns are having a moment in horror. So often, fear thrives in the unlit nooks of the unknown, and for many of us, that includes those who dedicate themselves to religious orders. Shrouded in intrigue and literal fabric, the combo of unwavering religious devotion and rejection of various worldly pleasures makes nuns ripe for genre exploration. While nuns are certainly trending, this is by no means the first time horror has blessed us with terrifying tales featuring such religious women.

In Häxan (1922), possessed nuns mingle with witches as director Benjamin Christensen explores the connection between mental health and mass hysteria. With movies like Alucarda (1975), Ms. 45 (1981), and St. Agatha (2018), the subgenre of nunsploitation comes into play to further explore themes of religious and sexual oppression.

It doesn’t take a theologist to see that “Immaculate” director Michael Mohan probably grew up a devout Catholic.

His new horror movie stars Sydney Sweeney as a flung-from-innocence novice nun who arrives at a Roman convent bubbling with religious fealty — only to become the vessel for an immaculate conception gone horrifically wrong. Taking advantage of the film’s on-location shoot, Mohan, who previously directed the “Euphoria” and “Anyone but You” breakout in his erotic thriller “The Voyeurs,” steeps the shocker in religious iconography that veers from the saintly to the satanic.

“I grew up super devout Catholic,” Mohan told IndieWire. And “every Catholic person has guilt and trauma.” That’s for sure, as the Neon release mashes references to Ken Russell’s “The Devils,” Roman Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby,” and even Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” in charting Sister Cecilia’s (Sweeney) psychological undoing in the process of being emblemized...

Nunsploitation appears to be alive and well in 2024 with this week’s arrival of Immaculate, a convent-set horror movie that borrows heavily from ’70s Italian horror, the peak era of the exploitation film. Nunsploitation, a subgenre of exploitation films that hit its prime in the late ’70s and early ’80s, often features nuns behaving badly. More importantly, nunsploitation films explore themes of sexual or religious repression, frequently unleashing scathing critiques of the Church through blasphemous imagery and nuns behaving badly.

This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to nunsploitation horror. These taboo-shattering horror movies have more on their mind than their low-budget exploitation origins suggest.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

Alucarda – Cultpix

Directed and co-written by Juan López Moctezuma, this English-language Mexican horror film stars Tina Romero as Alucarda, who was raised by nuns at a repressive Catholic convent.

William Hurt died on March 13, 2022, at age 71, just a week short of his 72nd birthday. The Oscar-winning actor starred in a variety of movies over the last four decades, but how many of those titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1950, Hurt made his movie debut with a starring role in Ken Russell‘s psychedelic thriller “Altered States” (1980), quickly followed by Lawrence Kasdan‘s classic neo-noir “Body Heat” (1981). He won the Oscar as Best Actor just four years later for Hector Babenco‘s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1985), playing a transgender inmate at a South American prison who forms a bond with his cellmate (Raul Julia), a political prisoner. The role brought him additional prizes at BAFTA and the Cannes Film Festival.

Hurt followed up his Oscar victory with two more consecutive Best Actor bids: first for...

There’s nothing quite like a nun horror movie to remind us that the line between the sacred and the terrifying is thinner than a communion wafer. In this unholy listicle, we’re diving deep into the cloistered corners of horror cinema to bring you the ultimate guide to nunsploitation. So, whether you’ve taken your holy orders or you’re just a horror enthusiast looking for your next sacrilegious scare, join us on this divine journey through some of the most unholy tales ever told on screen.

From demonic possessions to gothic tales of madness and despair unfolding on hallowed ground, nun horror movies have a unique way of getting under our skin. Maybe it’s the way they juxtapose the purity of the habit with the darkness of the supernatural, or perhaps it’s just that nuns have always had a knack for knowing what’s lurking in the shadows.

Helen Mirren ripped AI to shreds while being honored Thursday night at the American Cinematheque Awards.

After being presented with the lifetime achievement award by her “Mosquito Coast” and “1923” co-star Harrison Ford at the Beverly Hilton gala, Mirren began to read her acceptance speech from a piece of a paper.

“Ladies and gentlemen and esteemed guests and dear friends, I am deeply humbled, profoundly honored to stand before you today accepting this extraordinary award. To be recognized for a lifetime devoted to the craft of acting is a privilege beyond words,” she said dramatically. “First and foremost, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the industry and the individuals who have supported me throughout this incredible journey. It is has been a life filled with passion, challenges and above all, an unyielding love for the art of storytelling.”

Then she added, “And that was written by AI,” before...

2021’s Dune may have missed out on the Oscar for Best Costume Design, but if there was an honor given out for red carpet wardrobe, the cast of Dune: Part Two might have it in the bag – but they couldn’t have done it without Zendaya.

We here at JoBlo.com don’t normally hit on fashion (you should see our closets!), but Zendaya’s get-up is just too incredible not to highlight. Appearing in an outfit that was part Metropolis, part Barbarella and part space cowboy in assless chaps, Zendaya’s digs felt like something that might have caused C-3Po to pose for this card…It has been identified as a piece from Mugler’s 1995 collection, but no doubt remains a futuristic look that stole pretty much all of the attention. Zendaya would make a wardrobe change that found her in a sleek black dress, but the statement...

The BBC is celebrating the art of the literary adaptation by screening a variety of classics on BBC Four. More details here.

The BBC is quite rightly celebrated for its rich history of book to screen adaptations, such as the iconic 1995 version of Jane Austen’a Pride And Prejudice to Cbbc’s hugely successful adaptation of Dame Jacqueline Wilson’s Tracy Beaker series.

It has now put together a season of 14 adaptations from the BBC archive, some of which have rarely been seen since their original broadcast.

The dramas are:

The Great Gatsby

Toby Stephens, Mira Sorvino and Paul Rudd lead the cast in this 2000 BBC adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel on the American dream in the jazz age.

Small Island

Naomie Harris, Ruth Wilson, David Oyelowo, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ashley Walters star in this 2009 TV version of Andrea Levy’s novel focusing on the lives and...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film at Lincoln Center

“Never Look Away: Serge Daney’s Radical 1970s” brings films by Kurosawa, Bresson, Tati, Godard and more.

IFC Center

As Francis Ford Coppola’s latest recut, One from the Heart: Reprise, continues, Bertrand Bonello’s masterpiece Coma gets a New York premiere; Ken Russell’s Whore, Saw III, and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome also have late showings.

Roxy Cinema

A Ryan O’Neal retrospective brings The Driver on 35mm and Partners, while Cronenberg’s Crash shows on a print; City Dudes returns on Saturday and Sunday brings a puppet program and the Iranian feature Downpour plays on Sunday.

Film Forum

A 4K restoration of The Pianist begins a run while I Heard It Through the Grapevine and The Third Man continue; The Sunshine Boys plays on Sunday.

Museum of the Moving Image

A retrospective of snubbed performances brings films by Howard Hawks,...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

IFC Center

Francis Ford Coppola’s latest recut, One from the Heart: Reprise, begins a run; Ken Russell’s Whore, Saw III, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Donnie Darko, and Spongebob Squarepants have late showings.

Roxy Cinema

A Ryan O’Neal retrospective brings Barry Lyndon and Tough Guys Don’t Dance on 35mm, while Peter Bogdanovich’s cut of Nickelodeon also screens.

Museum of Modern Art

One of the year’s great series, “To Save and Project,” continues.

Film Forum

I Heard It Through the Grapevine and Artie Shaw: Time Is All You Got begin runs, the former bringing with it a three-film program and I Am Not Your Negro; The Third Man continues a 75th-anniversary 35mm engagement; Sounder plays on Sunday.

Anthology Film Archives

Films by Skip Norman play through the weekend; Eisenstein’s Old and New plays on Saturday.

Character actor known for a host of TV roles and for her award-winning work in the films of Ken Russell

In 2010, Kevin Younger began an article in the Guardian with the words: “Recognise the faces but can’t place the names?” Among the list of Britain’s top 10 great unsung television character actors that followed was Georgina Hale. “This slinky, adenoidal, estuarine glamour-puss oozed naughtiness in some interesting films and some classic television in the 70s,” he wrote. “She has latterly cornered the market in nouveau riche languor and middle-aged decadence.”

Although most of her screen roles were on television, Hale, who has died aged 80, was a favourite of the flamboyant film director Ken Russell, who once said she was “an actress of such sensitivity that she can make the hair rise on your arms”.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson)

A film that feels uprooted from deep beneath the earth, Raven Jackson’s poetic, patient debut is a distillation of cinema to its purest form, a stunning patchwork of experience and memory. Tethered around the life of Mack, a Black woman from Mississippi, as we witness glimpses of her childhood, teenage years, and beyond, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt becomes a sensory experience unlike anything else this year. Shot in beautiful 35mm by Jomo Fray and edited by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s collaborator Lee Chatametikool, there’s a reverence for nature and joy for human connection that seems all too rarified in today’s landscape of American filmmaking. – Jordan R.

Where to Stream: VOD...

Experimental French filmmaker Bertrand Mandico isn’t for everyone — i.e. an acquired taste whose visions push boundaries of cinematic expression — but he’s achieved something of a cult fandom over the last three decades. After last pairing with the director on 2022’s “After Blue” and 2017’s uninhibited Venice winner “The Wild Boys” — Cahiers du Cinéma’s top film of 2018 — the distributor Altered Innocence again teams with Mandico on another provocation. His 2023 Cannes premiere “She Is Conann,” nominated for the Queer Palm before going on to play at other festivals including Locarno, is an acid-trip transgressive riff on the Conan the Barbarian myth. IndieWire shares the trailer here.

Influences on the film include Tony Scott’s “The Hunger,” the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Liliana Cavani’s “The Night Porter,” and Fellini’s “Satyricon.” Throw Ken Russell in there for good measure, with profane images in “She Is Conann” reminiscent of “The Devils.

If it’s been a patchy few years for Errol Morris––one solid doc in-between a bad Steve Bannon portrait and iffy look at John le Carré––our interest in his thorough, startling oeuvre remains strong, and it’s naturally a thrill to hear word of two new features. On the documentary front he’s been adapting, for Netflix, Tom O’Neill’s Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, which quickly engendered great attention for challenging standard Manson Family narratives; and there’s a feature screenplay about Ed Gein, who Morris interviewed in 1975 for a never-completed documentary. If it doesn’t feature that footage and opts for a biopic / procedural path, it would make Morris’ first narrative since 1991’s The Dark Wind. [Screen Daily]

Meanwhile, Michael Almereyda has found his first feature since Tesla. Per Deadline, he and Courtney Stephens are developing an untitled documentary about John C. Lilly,...

Exclusive: Indie filmmakers Courtney Stephens and Michael Almereyda are teaming to direct a new documentary about controversial scientist John C. Lilly, Deadline has learned.

Funded by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the project will look at the countercultural figure’s work as the inventor of the isolation tank, as well as his pioneering studies of dolphin intelligence and support of psychedelics as a positive means for expanding consciousness. The storytelling will be supported by interviews with Lilly’s contemporaries and colleagues, as well as extensive archival records.

Stephens was drawn to Lilly, having grown up near Marine World in the Bay Area, where the scientist worked with trained dolphins and computers in the early 1980s, hoping to teach the animals an Esperanto-like language that would allow for interspecies communication. Apple donated equipment to the lab, which was visited by figures ranging from Ram Dass to Olivia Newton John.

Catering directly to my interests, the Criterion Channel’s January lineup boasts two of my favorite things: James Gray and cats. In the former case it’s his first five features (itself a terrible reminder he only released five movies in 20 years); the latter shows felines the respect they deserve, from Kuroneko to The Long Goodbye, Tourneur’s Cat People and Mick Garris’ Sleepwalkers. Meanwhile, Ava Gardner, Bertrand Tavernier, Isabel Sandoval, Ken Russell, Juleen Compton, George Harrison’s HandMade Films, and the Sundance Film Festival get retrospectives.

Restorations of Soviet sci-fi trip Ikarie Xb 1, The Unknown, and The Music of Regret stream, as does the recent Plan 75. January’s Criterion Editions are Inside Llewyn Davis, Farewell Amor, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and (most intriguingly) the long-out-of-print The Man Who Fell to Earth, Blu-rays of which go for hundreds of dollars.

See the lineup below and learn more here.

Back By Popular Demand

The Graduate,...

Plot: A woman (Emma Stone) is revived and given a new brain by a mad doctor (Willem Dafoe). Initially childlike and naive, she’s seduced into a sexual journey of discovery by a lothario (Mark Ruffalo), only to eventually come into her own as a woman.

Review: Poor Things is similar – in many ways – to Barbie. Well, ok, Barbie didn’t flirt with the boundaries of an R-rating or feature a deformed Willem Dafoe, but it was about a woman who was ostensibly a naive creation coming into her own as a person. Like that movie, Poor Things, which is based on the book by Alasdair Gray, feels like a film very much of its time without making the message at its heart overly didactic. More than anything, Poor Things is delirious, provocative entertainment.

It’s the kind of movie only someone like Yorgos Lanthimos could have ever gotten made,...

While there’s plenty to be said and appreciated about cozy, comforting horror that offers catharsis, the genre’s ultimate aim is to terrify, shock, and even repulse. Of course, there is no shortage of ways that filmmakers accomplish this, frequently through gore, violence, and potent scare tactics, but transgressive horror is in a league of its own.

More than just gore, transgressive horror films revel in the taboo. Transgressive horror shatters cultural norms and seeks to explore beyond the boundaries of taste and social sensibilities, challenging viewers with shocking and sacrilegious imagery and themes. And yet, it’s not solely for shock value; transgressive horror has more on its mind than simply gore and depictions of depravity. There’s a purpose behind the pain. This week’s streaming picks are for the seekers of extreme cinema, unafraid to test their limits.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

Gotta feeling ’24 is gonna be a good year, at least for fans of The Who’s Tommy: The acclaimed Chicago stage production directed by Des McAnuff is heading to Broadway.

The newly reimagined production, produced by Stephen Gabriel and Ira Pittelman, will begin previews March 8, 2024, at the Nederlander Theatre, with an opening night set for March 28.

In a statement, Pete Townshend, who wrote the music, lyrics and co-wrote the book with McAnuff, said, “In 1969, when I originally wrote Tommy with The Who, nobody had ever written popular music songs about trauma, nobody talked about bullying, domestic sexual abuse was a subject that was virtually censored.

“Then, in 1993,” he continued, “working with Des on the staged theatre piece, we broke the established rules for a musical show. Now, the current generation is breaking all of those rules again – and what Des has achieved with this incredible new production honors them and their courage and audacity.