High-level horror: Corin Hardy/Felipe Marino's scare-your-pants-off thriller, THE HALLOW

On one level, THE HALLOW, a new horror film from co-writer Felipe Marino and writer/director Corin Hardy, is nothing new, dealing as it does with a family -- mom, dad and infant son -- who moves into a new home and is menaced by supernatural powers. Ah, but what the moviemakers and their excellent cast do with this much-told tale is something else. It's all in the specifics and the straight-ahead style that brings those specifics to dread life. It has been awhile since TrustMovies found himself glued to the screen while watching such an old, old story.

Marino (above, left) and Hardy (above, right) get right down to things, as our couple and baby son (along with the family's dog, of course) travel to their new home while listening to the radio and hearing something about a not-so-popular sale of a local forest for clear-cutting. Our hero, Adam (played by Joseph Mawle below) has been hired to do some sort of scientific study regarding that forest, and, as he quickly learns, he is none too popular with the locals, who believe the place to be haunted by evil spirits that delight in stealing children. Oh-oh.

Perhaps the most annoying choice of moviemakers who come to these family-gets-haunted movies is to slowly build up a head of steam by having family members menaced in various ways by one thing after another until the audience is ready to scream, "Just get the fuck out of that place, you idiots!" Hardy and Marino easily and very cleverly side-step this completely by having bad things happen immediately and then escalate enormously before escape is even possible.

Some of the more interesting specifics on view includes a rather special kind of fungus (shades of the recent Creeping Garden!) with spores that do very naughty things to people and their animals (above), and one of the filmmakers' most effective moments comes as the fungus grows in and on an automobile, so that our hero must extricate himself from the trunk of his car in what becomes an odd and new sort of "birth" scene -- and a damned good one, at that.

Mr. Mawle over the years has become one of my favorite supporting actors -- versatile, riveting and sexy as hell. Check out his work in performances and movies as disparate as The Awakening, Heartless (which I think the still, above, is from, unless it's from the Netflix series Sense8) and especially Clapham Junction, and you'll discover an actor with a very special charisma. Up to now he has appeared mostly in supporting roles, so it's good to see him take on a lead and do it more than justice.

Performance-wise, the movie mostly belong to Mr. Mawle, although his wife, played by the beautiful Bojana Novakovic (above, left, and at bottom, doing a top-notch scream-queen job of it), provides terrific back-up in every way. The couple, the kid and their dog are pretty much the entire cast (except a few townspeople and those evil spirits).

The filmmakers make the mistake of showing their demons too soon and then too often. (The critters are much scarier when we can just barely perceive them.) But thanks to Mawle and Novokovic, we're on tenterhooks till the finale -- which proves just about everything you'd want in this kind of scary movie.

From IFC Midnight and running just a tad too long at 97 minutes, The Hallow, a hit at a number of film festivals, opens tomorrow, Friday, November 6, at IFC Center in New York City, and next Friday, November 13, in Los Angeles at Hollywood's Arena Cinema. Simultaneously, it is also available digitally via the usual platforms. Click here and then click on WATCH NOW to see the various digital venues.

Sacrifice & caring: Sarah Gavron/Abi Morgan's bone-deep feminist history, SUFFRAGETTE

Maud Watts, one of the drab but determined protagonists of the new film, SUFFRAGETTE, doesn't have much to show for her life: a poorly-paid job in a laundry, a semi-caring husband, and a child she adores. That she will lose all of this, and that the loss will be of her own doing because she is attempting to bring fairness and justice to herself and to the women of her day (the film is set in the early 1900s) brings to mind a word we've seldom heard of late and seen put into action even less. That word is sacrifice, and although the film, as best I can recall, never uses this term, the act itself is everywhere to be seen.

As written by Abi Morgan (The Invisible Woman), shown at right, and directed by Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane), shown below, this is bone-deep and not-at-all-pretty feminist history. For starters, the two filmmakers do not use their "suffragettes" -- the British women who worked tirelessly to help gain women the right to vote --as we usually see them: figures meant for mostly comic (Hysteria) or romantic (Parade's End) purposes. Gavron and Morgan treat their suffragettes seriously; consequently, so do we.

Everything about this film --except the great energy

and specificity of its performances -- is somber and subdued. With only a couple of exceptions, the filmmakers avoid outright melodrama in favor of low-key but often devastating incident. One of these, perhaps the most devastating, comes as protesting women are beaten -- and badly -- by the police. As a director, Ms Gavron manages to let us feel the full force of this beating without in any way overdoing things or reveling in the violence. It's a remark-able scene. But then, so are so many others.

The filmmakers and their casting director, Fiona Weir, have done a superlative job of finding the right actors and then letting them do their stuff. The result is one of the finest films of the year, and one that, though it makes few concessions to the current need for feel-good-above-all, I suspect will be remembered come awards time.

In the leading role, that pert-but-deep actress Carey Mulligan (above with Ben Whishaw, who plays her husband), again does a bang-up job of drawing us in and making us understand her character's sometimes awful choices. As her friend and the woman who brings her into the movement, Anne-Marie Duff (below, left), as she often does, all but steals the movie with her wide-open, compelling eyes and great spirit.

Also major in the cast are Helena Bonham Carter (below, right) as one of the longtime suffragettes who helps train and strengthen the newcomers, and Natalie Press (My Summer of Love), below, left, as the girl who gives it her all.

Ah, yes: What about Meryl Streep? She's here, all right, below, in a very small role as the leader of the movement, Emmeline Pankhurst. Yet via her one short scene it becomes easy to understand both how Pankhurst was able to inspire her followers, and how Ms Streep is so adept at bringing whatever character she attempts to full-blown life.

In the opposition (and, yes, that would be us men), Brendan Gleeson, below, scores as the undercover policeman who arrests and otherwise natters the ladies without much success. Yet, so truthful to its time and to the situation at hand is the film, that I doubt many men who are still able to think and feel will come away from the film unmoved.

The gains made by women over the past century and a half seem to have caused a backlash, particularly among fundamentalist men. The title crawl that ends the film, just before the final credits roll, is eye-opening indeed. It lists the year in which various countries at last allowed their women the vote. It will have you muttering, "What? No!" time and again. Suffragette, as you might have already gathered, is a must-see movie.

From Focus Features and running 106 minutes, while continuing its run in New York and elsewhere, opens all over South Florida this Friday, November 6.

Mathieu Amalric retrospective! This fine and surprisingly versatile French actor gets his day in the New York sun -- at FIAF and AFA

It's no secret that the silver screen can make ordinary men look ten feet tall. This seems particularly true in the case of petit Frenchman Mathieu Amalric, whose work TrustMovies has been following for nearly 25 years now and which is currently receiving a well-earned retrospective at both the French Institute/ Alliance Française (FIAF) and Anthology Film Archives (AFA). This actor, who, over the years, has expanded into the roles of writer, director, producer (and even once as cinematographer), takes versatility to new levels. Possessed of a face and body that can appear rather elfin and often quite cute, the actor has managed to essay roles as diverse as killers, lovers, comics, crazies, the works. He's even played, in Quantum of Solace, a memorable James Bond villain.

While the current retrospectives don't come near accounting for his (according to the IMDB) 106 credits, they do give us quite a varied taste of his work as actor, writer and director. Amalric, who turned 50 years old just last month, has amassed quite a resume over the decades, and it should prove a pleasure for New Yorkers to partake of his multi-faceted work over the coming month (or, in the case of FIAF, two).

You can find the FIAF schedule here, which includes a theatrical project Amalric is performing in New York, as well as a number of his films which will be on view during FIAF's popilar CinéSalon showings during November and December.

The AFA schedule, which began last week (apologies for a tardy posting!) can be found here. So head out to either or both of these venues to revel in the work of this unique and consistently surprising Renaissance Man.

Being "bi" in a culture that's either straight or gay: Marcone & Norero's IN THE GRAYSCALE

A welcome exploration of what it means to be a bisexual living, as most of us do via western culture these days, in a world divided into either straight or gay, IN THE GRAYSCALE (En la gama de los grisas) features, as one of its two leading characters, a gay man who insists that his new lover must choose. It's either/or, kiddo. But, no. Despite what our culture insists, including everyone from many shrinks and medical pros to multitudinous gay rights advocates, maybe it's not. As a bi-sexual man who more often identifies as gay because, yes, it's just easier that way, TrustMovies can understand one of the two protagonists on view in this new film -- and at least appreciate to some extent the attitude of the other.

Bruno (played by Francisco Celhay, above, left, and below, right) is a successful architect who has been given a plum assignment of creating a lasting monument for his Chilean city. To that end, his boss has arranged for him to meet and use a local tour guide, Fer (Emilio Edwards, above, right, and below, left). Bruno uses Fer, all right (and vice versa); soon the two are deep into sex and exploration.

The film's writer (Rodrigo Norero) and director (first-timer Claudio Marcone, shown at right) allow the initial five or so minutes to pass without dialog. This is chancy but also enticing, particularly as we see Bruno disrobe completely and retire to bed. When dialog does begin, we learn that our guy is married with a young son, and has suddenly left his family in order to be... alone. For awhile, anyway.

Once we begin to learn the backgrounds of Bruno and Fer -- via a screenplay that allows for some mostly excellent interplay between the two: smart dialog, good moment-to-moment acting, one hot sex scene and plenty of full frontal (on Señor Celhay's part, at least) -- events take place naturally and feel unrushed. It also helps that both men, while attractive, are not drop-dead gorgeous so that we seem to be living in some gay fantasy land.

It also helps that Bruno's wife, Sole (a nice job by Daniela Ramirez, above, left) has her own agenda and reasons for better understanding the situation in which her husband has suddenly placed his family. Fortunately, the moviemakers appear to want to lay out the problem more than try to solve it -- which would take at least another full-length movie to manage. So don't expect a lot of closure here.

Just lean back, enjoy, and consider the pleasures and possibilities of a culture in which the scale of sexuality and its practices has many more gradations than currently are "allowed."

In the Grayscale -- from Wolfe Video, in Spanish with English subtitles and running 101 minutes -- arrives on DVD and digital platforms today, Tuesday, November 3, for purchase or rental.

Chris Evans' charming directorial debut, BEFORE WE GO, hits Blu-ray, DVD & Digital

You may find yourself, as did TrustMovies, muttering now and again, "I don't buy that" as BEFORE WE GO, the directorial debut of Chris Evans and starring Mr. Evans and Alice Eve, takes off. Some of the set-up does seem a bit iffy, but hang on even a little while, and the characterizations (provided by screen-writers Ron Bass, Jen Smolka, Chris Shafer and Paul Viknair, from a story by Bass and Smolka) and the sterling performances given by Evans and Ms Eve will insure that you stick with this charming, funny and moving tale of love.

What proves most interesting about Before We Go is that the love here in mostly not between the characters played by Evans (at left) and Eve (below, right). Instead it's about the love each of them has for someone else. That this movie will prove such an "odd" love story should not surprise if you consider that screenwriter Bass also gave us My Best Friend's Wedding -- one of the all-time best (and surprisingly, most popular, too) off-kilter love stories Hollywood has yet produced.

Again, Bass and his crew are creating a tale of love in which that love includes everything from friendship, help and lust to heartache, hope and growth. The movie is mostly just these two people, whom we learn more and more about as the story progresses.

Along the way we're offered a not-bad rendition of My Funny Valentine for trumpet and voice, a walk through New York City's quiet middle-of-the-night streets, coffee in a tiny diner, a wedding party that includes the Evans' character's lost love (the gorgeous and charismatic Emma Fitzpatrick), and a odd and very lovely meeting with a smart psychic (played with great charm and believability by John Cullum).

That's mostly it. But as the relationship grows and changes, I think you'll find yourself hooked. This proves an auspicious directing debut for Evans (who performs with his usual low-key charm), while adding to Eve's gallery of bright, funny, moving and very appealing heroines.

Before We Go -- from Radius/TWC and Anchor Bay Entertainment and running just 95 minutes -- hits DVD, Blu-ray and digital formats today, Tuesday, November 3, for purchase or rental, 

How to learn to love your own voice -- David Thorpe's doc, DO I SOUND GAY?, hits DVD

Trust me: It's not just us gays who don't like the sound of our own voice. Ask anyone what they thought when they first heard the sound of theirs on a recording: They hated it. So right there, that fact should make this new documentary, just out now on DVD, more appealing to mainstream audiences. Everyone can identify with it on one level or another, and in fact, even some straight men may worry that they themselves might (often do) sound gay.

So what does "sounding gay" actually sound like? David Thorpe (shown above, doing vocal exercises), the creator and main subject of the new doc, DO I SOUND GAY?, had recently broken up with his partner and was going through the usual depressed, post-parting period when he began to wonder, rather heavily, if he sounded too gay. So he determined to learn if this was true, and if true, how to sound, well... different. Now, this is tricky territory, for it brings up the very idea of there being something "wrong" with sounding and, by extension, being gay -- not a politically correct attitude for our modern times. Yet, come on: Any gay man who has lived long in our society understands the meaning and use of the "closet," as well as the not exactly uncommon idea that, if you're a guy, you ought to sound, uh... masculine, right?

All this complicates the movie in interesting ways, cutting back and forth between attitudes of gay pride and gay, well, something else. The movie will bring many of us up short about things like self-image and, in fact, the idea of exactly how important "image" is at all. (Just as beauty is so often in the eye of the beholder, how much is image, in this case, in the ear of the listener?) Yes, this doc treads very tricky territory -- so tricky, in fact, that I suspect it could not reach even the large gay audience it hoped to. Too bad, for it has a lot to say that's worth hearing and ruminating over.

To learn about the human voice and the sounds it makes, Thorpe visits everyone from speech pathologists/consultants and acting coaches (esteemed for tutoring actors how not to sound gay) to friends, family and various celebrities the likes of George Takei (two photos above), Margaret Cho, David Sedaris (above) and Dan Savage (below) -- all of whom contribute an interesting "take" on the matter at hand.

If the movie, even at only 77 minutes, at times seems diffuse and a bit repetitive, its subject and the very "unsettlingness" of it should keep you glued and thoughtful. From IFC Films, the documentary hits DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3, for sale and rental.

Blu-ray/Digital/DVDebut: Joel Edgerton's classy-but-overplotted thriller, THE GIFT

There's hardly a classier or more versatile actress around these days than Rebecca Hall, who, in the just-out-on-home-video thriller THE GIFT, plays a young wife recuperating from a failed pregnancy and movng into a new home in a new town near which her husband went to high school back in the day. When, in the film's second scene, a high-school classmate of her husband makes a surprise appearance as the couple are shopping, the plot of this better-than-average, slow-burning mystery takes off.

As written and directed by Australian triple-threat Joel Edgerton (shown at left), who essays the role of the high school "friend" and also starring the ever-reliable Jason Bateman, The Gift proves highly watchable and full of low-key tension that builds nicely. The questions Who is this guy and what does he really want? crop up immediately and are handled with some finesse, as the more kindly wife (Hall, below) pleads for a little understanding of the poor guy, while her gruffer hubby wants nothing to do with this interloper who keeps bringing the couple unwanted housewarming gifts.

Early on the Edgerton character notes that even a bad gift can have rewarding consequences, and so we wait, expectantly, for those shoes to atart dropping. They do, and in ways somewhat different from most of the movies on view these days. The secrets here rest more on "character" than on actual event, and while we may expect the usual woman-in-distress business, what we get is "sort of" that -- but a lot more. And the final "gift," by the way, is an absolute lulu.

Which brings us to the movie's major problem. It's over-plotted to the point at which it begins to lose some credibility This means that the film's big, final surprise makes it appear that the story was constructed backward, beginning with that surprise, and then having its author try to figure out how to get his characters to that fateful point in time and event. It works on one level, while leaving us less than impressed on another.

Convenience and coincidence abound, never more so than at a late-in-the-film dinner party in which an ill-used person suddenly appears and via a little exposition turns everything topsy-turvy. This is handy, all right, but it is also too much, too easily. Ditto a parking lot beat-down in which there is, as usual, conveniently no one around to notice or stop it.

These are relatively minor offenses (as most mainstream thrillers go), but they add up and deflate to some extent the good chill and good will that the movie has been building. Still, for those viewers looking for more cerebral thrills and less car chases and explosions, The Gift should serve nicely.  

The movie, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and running 109 minutes, hits the street on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital formats tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3, for purchase or rental.

Brant Pinvidic's WHY I'M NOT ON FACEBOOK is a smart -- and very necessary -- documentary

Confession: TrustMovies is not on Facebook, either. He was, for a short while some years back -- until he realized that he was wasting incredible amounts of time being in touch with people he didn't care that much about and for whom he did not have the time or energy. So he severed all Facebook connection (he was never impressed with the site's so-called security measures, anyway) and will never return there. He does have a Twitter account and is easily reached by email or phone. (He also admits that the image he has retained of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg from that fine film, The Social Network, had a certain influence here, too.) Which is all by way of saying that when he saw the title of the new documentary WHY I'M NOT ON FACEBOOK, he knew he had to view it.

You should, too. This is one of the best documentaries I've seen this year, and it is certainly one of the most necessary, as it holds up a mirror to both Facebook itself and to the American (and probably international) public and its current and ever-more life-deadening "quirks." The film's creator and director, Brant Pinvidic, shown at left, seems like a cute, smart, energetic family man whose suspicions about Facebook are more than justified by the evidence he has amassed and then, along with his excellent lead editor and producer, Dean Shull, put together in such an intelligent, entertaining manner. The result is a film that will surprise you, even as it pulls you up short and makes you think, then think again.

Along the way we meet the real Winklevoss twins, along with some of the folk Facebook has helped make "famous" (like the Pink Lady, below). We also learn how Facebook has become the leading Job-Finder of modern times (as well as one of the main job losers, too: a product of how stupidly its users use it). Mr. Pinvidic is careful not to demonize Facebook -- as his evidence piles up, at times his movie threatens to become instead a commercial for the site -- and he even creates his own Facebook identity (who is Steve Steel?!).

The movie shows us how Facebook has helped catch criminals (often because they actually post on the site about their crimes: Ah, that ever-growing need for fame!).  We meet one young high school girl who appears to be addicted to the site; her behavior here is so sad and awful that it practically demands an "intervention." And that matter of privacy? Well, as Pinvidic points out, even without Facebook, privacy these days is just about over.

The film is full of humor and fun, too. At one point, our narrator wonders, Would Jesus have been on Facebook? Oh, wait: He already is. As the director reaches the home stretch, his movie really takes off. He addresses the psychology of Facebook lovers, and by extension, the rest of us, too. His conclusion as to why Facebook has become so important so fast is extraordinarily on the mark, I think. I'll let you discover the explanation for yourself. (Hint: its simultaneous appeal to two of our most powerful emotions/needs.) That way you'll have to see the movie -- which is worth your time in every respect.

Pinvidic's real reason for making Why I'm Not on Facebook, it turns out, is less about himself than about his family's desire to join the site, particularly that of his son, who is about to enter the teenage years. How the filmmaker resolves these issues turns his movie into something smart, suspenseful, ironic and, hell -- even feel-good, as he captures humanity and Facebook in a multitude of differing faces. It also explains why, as climate change engulfs us, the general populace will continue to follow their leaders' complete inaction and will instead post Facebook 'selfies' as the end approaches. "Shirley, look -- the water's up to my waist!"  "You think that's something, Fred? The water's already around my neck!" "Well, I've got you both beat, 'cause it's just now touching my blub blub blub..." (I do hope Apple is adding that underwater option to its iPhones.)

The documentary, just 77 minutes long and worth every one of them, will open via VOD this Tuesday, November 3. And maybe in select theaters, too? (That's what it says on the poster, top.). Any way you can see it, this one's a don't-miss experience.