THEY WILL KILL YOU : Tuesday 7th April 2026

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'THEY WILL KILL YOU' earlier this week at my local multiplex, and this American horror action comedy film is Co-Written and Directed by Kirill Sokolov who made his feature film Directorial debut with 'Why Don't You Just Die!' in 2018 and which he would follow up with 'No Looking Back' in 2021. The film Premiered at SXSW in mid-March, was released Stateside and here in Australia towards the end of last month, has so far grossed US$16M from a US$20M production budget and has garnered mixed or average critical reviews.

They film opens with two sisters - the older Asia Reaves (Zazie Beetz) and her much younger sibling Maria running into a 24/7 convenience store in the pouring rain, looking to evade their abusive father. However, he tracks them down as the pair run into the night and back out into the rain. The father gives chase, aided and abetted by a friend of his in a car which pulls up directly in front of the fleeing sisters, causing them to stop dead in their tracks. Asia pulls a gun at her advancing father, and shoots him. He slumps to the ground and she flees the scene as Police cars converge sirens and lights blaring, leaving her father grabbing at the ankle of young Maria hampering any chance she had of escape. Asia is arrested, and Maria returns to the abusive custody of her father. 

Fast forward ten years and Asia arrives at the front door of The Virgil, again in the pouring rain late one evening. The Virgil is an exclusive high rise apartment block in New York City, that is long past its hey day, but is nonetheless seen as exclusive and very private by its residents. She is welcomed by Irish building manager, Lilith Woodhouse (Patricia Arquette), who explains that the Virgil is over one hundred years old and is occupied by the wealthy and elite. She is shown to her living quarters and told to make herself at home. 

While sleeping, several masked intruders, including residents Kevin Sullivan (Tom Felton) and Sharon Vanderbilt (Heather Graham), break in and attack Asia. They are shocked to discover Asia is armed and highly skilled at defending herself (a skill that we later learn she picked up in prison) managing to kill all of the assailants. Asia confronts Lilith and demands the location of Maria, who works as a maid at the Virgil. Asia's attackers resurrect, forcing her to seek refuge in the building's myriad old wooden ventilation ducting system. 

Kevin and Sharon chase down Asia through the ducting system, all of them scrambling along on all fours, but Asia manages to dispatch Sharon with a shotgun blast to the head. Asia is saved by Lilith's husband, Ray (Paterson Joseph), who explains that The Virgil was built as a temple to Satan, and the residents have been made immortal by performing human sacrifices. The two travel up a floor, unaware they are being followed by Sharon's responsive eyeball. 

The two meet with a now adult Maria (Myha'la), who reveals she is aware of what is happening at The Virgil and has no desire to leave. Maria further berates Asia for abandoning her ten years ago, at a time when she needed her most. Asia knocks her unconscious, but she and Ray are attacked by the cultists. Asia and Maria escape up a floor via a dumbwaiter, while Ray is captured and tied up by Lilith and Sharon, whose head has started to grow back.

Exiting the dumbwaiter in the kitchen, Asia and Maria confront each another. Maria explains she fled their father shortly before he died from cancer two years ago now, working at downbeat motels until she was hired at The Virgil. Although she was initially due to be a sacrifice, she was spared and now enjoys the relative comfort of the building. Lilith demands that all residents and staff track down the sisters. Maria saves Asia from a cultist before being captured. 

Asia pursues the cultists into a grand dining room and slaughters most of them with a burning axe. The two try to climb up a fire escape via the elevator shaft, but are ambushed by Lilith and the cultists. Lilith reveals that, to gain immortality, Maria must make a sacrifice, that of the maid Asia was posing as.

The sisters and Ray are taken to the top floor, where the cultists summon Satan, who possesses the severed head of a pig to communicate, with the names of the immortal cultists written on its skin. The pig removes Ray's name from its skin and forces Lilith to murder him, permanently killing Ray. It then instructs Maria to write her name and kill Asia. Instead, Maria writes Asia's name and kills herself by slitting her own throat. Now immortal, Asia repeatedly kills Kevin, Sharon, and the cultists. Lilith allows the severed pig head to take over her body and fights with Asia, who overpowers her, removes the head and kicks her headlong landing on the spike upon which the pigs head was mounted. She douses the pig's head and sets it on fire, so burning off the names, and then promptly kicks the burning head mounted on a trolley down the hallway past all the cultists and down the elevator shaft where it erupts into a ball of flame, which results in the cultists all dying from their injuries. She then flees with Maria's body.

Reuniting with her private investigator cum lawyer (Angus Sampson), Asia places Maria's body in the backseat of his car, where she resurrects within a few minutes. Asia shows her that she has cut off her name from the pig's head and changed the letters from Asia to Maria. Now reunited, the sisters drive off as the top floor of the Virgil explodes.

In only his third feature film outing, here Director Kiril Sokolov has delivered us a gore fest that draws nods from other genre bending films, most recently 'Ready or Not 2 : Here I Come', reviewed here at Odeon Online only last week. Here the similarities are palpable - two estranged sisters reuniting after a prolonged period of absence from each others lives, the secret cabal of devil worshippers, and the elitist wealthy upper class knobs Hell bent on the sisters demise by whatever means possible. Even the closing lines of each film are near identical! Zazie Beetz plays her role for all its worth, as do Tom Felton, Heather Graham and Patricia Arquette. The kills are inventively staged, the fight sequences are well choreographed, the blood and gore are ramped up to eleven, and for a relatively brisk 94 minute runtime, the film doesn't outstay its welcome. But all of that said, I came out of the movie theatre thinking that this is just the same old same old that we have seen many times before, but for lovers of the genre it is sure to please.

'They Will Kill You' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 9th April 2026

The 45th Istanbul Film Festival takes place this year from Thursday 9th through until Sunday 19th April, in the Turkish capital city of Istanbul. The Festival was first presented as a film week in the summer of 1982, within the framework of the International Istanbul Festival. In 1983, under the title 'International Istanbul Film Days', thirty-six films were shown in one month. Beginning in 1984, the event became a separate activity and was shifted to April. Accredited by FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) in 1989 as a 'specialised competitive festival', the 'film week' thus was renamed the Istanbul Film Festival. In 2025, starting with its 44th edition, Istanbul Film Festival restructured its programme to emphasise its international character. The festival's official selection was reorganised to comprise three competitive sections - the international Golden Tulip Competition, New Perspectives to include only debut or second feature-length titles from Turkiye, and the Short Film Competition. The Festival provides a broad showcase for recent Turkish film productions, and thus represents a rewarding medium where filmmakers from Turkiye and abroad get together. The Festival draws a special interest to world classics, presenting retrospectives, and curated sections included in its official selection which comprises around 130 titles each year, making it the most comprehensive film festival in Turkiye. The Istanbul Film Festival has, over the past 44 years, presented Istanbul audiences with a total of some 6,600 films, showcasing the cinema of 131 countries, and attracting an approximate attendance of 4,575,000. So reads the official website.

The Opening Night Gala Film presentation is 'Three Goodbyes', from Italy and Spain and is Co-Written and Directed by Isabel Coixet and stars Alba Rohrwacher.

In the Golden Tulip Competition are the following fifteen titles :-

* 'Rose of Nevada' - from the UK this mystery thriller film is Written, photographed, Directed, Edited and Scored by Mark Jenkin, and stars George MacKay and Callum Turner. In a derelict fishing village, a boat mysteriously appears in the old harbour. The Rose of Nevada, lost at sea with all hands thirty years ago, has returned. For the few who remember, it’s a sign. The Rose of Nevada must go out to sea again, maybe then the luck of the devastated village will turn. A new crew boards the ship, but something is amiss.

* 'Dead Dogs Don't Bite' - from Turkiye, this drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Nuri Cihan Ozdogan.

* 'Resurrection' - from France and China, this drama film is Co-Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Bi Gan.

* 'Summer Beats' - from France this coming of age drama is Co-Written and Co-Directed by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret.

* 'LifeLike' - from Turkiye, Greece and Romania this drama film is Written and Directed by Ali Vatansever.

* 'Memory of Princess Mumbi' - from Kenya, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia this Sci-Fi romantic adventure film is Written, Co-Produced, photographed, Directed and Edited by Damien Hauser.

* 'Renovation' - from Lithuania, Latvia and Belgium, this drama film is Written and Directed by Gabriele Urbonaite.

* 'Those Who Whistle After Dark' - from Turkiye, Bulgaria and Germany this supernatural thriller is Co-Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Pinar Yorgancioglu.

* 'Lali' - from Pakistan, this supernatural comedy drama film is Co-Written and Directed by Sarmad Sultan Khoosat. 

* 'Only Rebels Win' - from France, Lebanon and Qatar, this romantic drama film is Written and Directed by Danielle Arbid.

* 'Hen' - from Germany, Greece and Hungary this drama film is Co-Written and Directed by Gyorgy Palfi.

* 'Rose' - from Austria and Germany, this drama film is Written and Directed by Markus Schleinzer, and stars Sandra Huller. Amidst the turmoil of the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th century, a mysterious soldier appears in a secluded Protestant village somewhere in Germany. Small and quiet, his face disfigured by a scar, this stranger declares himself the heir of a long-abandoned farmstead and produces a document to support his claim to the suspicious villagers. With time, he overcomes their doubts and shows himself to be a hard-working, God-fearing man, becoming part of the community in a quest for acceptance made up of impossible deceit.

* 'Hear The Yellow' - from Turkiye, this drama film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Banu Sivaci.

* 'On the Dry Rock' - from Turkiye, this docudrama film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Yesim Ustaoglu.

* 'The Last Shore' - from Belgium, France and Qatar, this documentary film is Directed by Jean-Francois Ravagnan.

For the descriptors of the aforementioned films in main competition for the Golden Tulip, plus the full details of other film strands being showcased, and a whole lot of other good stuff, you can visit the official website at : http://www.film.iksv.org/en

Looking ahead to this weeks seven latest release new movies coming to your local big screen Odeon, we kick off with a drama offering that follows a Palestinian family across three generations during the time spanning from the 1948 days of Nakba to the 2020's under Israeli occupation. Then we turn to a RomCom in which a woman crashes at an empty Italian villa, posing as the owner's fiancee, before she discovers an unexpected romance that may transform her life. Next up is a road trip drama about three friends drawn to a rural commune where old wounds threaten to surface. This is followed by an Aussie comedy musical about two teenage girls attending a debutante ball in a small rural town, and then we have a Canadian horror offering in which the host of a popular paranormal podcast becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way. And closing out the week we have a pair of animated films - the first from Spain that sees two Irish orphans journey by train across America, encountering villains and heroes, and they make an extraordinary friend while searching for a new home. And the second is from New Zealand and Canada and is a live-action/animation hybrid about a young boy who copes with loss by talking to the everyday objects in his life.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the seven latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.

'ALL THAT'S LEFT OF YOU' (Rated M) - is a Co-Produced drama film between the countries of Germany, Cyprus, Palestine, Jordan, Greece, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and is Written, Co-Produced, Co-Stars and Directed by Cherien Dabis, who made her feature film Directing debut with 'Amreeka' in 2009 which she would follow up with 'May in the Summer' in 2013. In the meantime she has Directed episodes of TV shows including 'The Sinner', 'Ozark', 'Little Voice' and 'Only Murders in the Building'. The film had its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in late January 2025, was released in Germany in late November 2025, and is released this week here in Australia having garnered generally positive critical reviews, and so far collecting US$1M in Box Office takings. It is Co-Executive Produced by Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo, and has picked up six award wins and another five nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit. 

In the Occupied West Bank of the 1980's, a Palestinian teenager is swept into a protest that changes the course of his family's life. Reeling from its aftermath, his mother, Hanan (Cherien Dabis), shares the story that led them to that fateful moment. Spanning seven decades, this epic drama traces the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family, revealing not only the scars of displacement, but the unbreakable spirit of survival.

'YOU, ME & TUSCANY' (Rated PG) - is an American RomCom that is Directed by Kat Coiro who made her feature film Directing debut in 2011 with 'Life Happens' and which she would follow up with other titles including 'A Case of You' in 2013 and 'Marry Me' in 2022. In this film we find a free-spirited, young cook named Anna (Halle Bailey) makes a brash decision to become a squatter in an abandoned Tuscan villa owned by a man she barely knows, leading to a whole new world of adventure, lies, and love when she meets Michael (Rege-Jean Page), the homeowner's cousin. The film is released Stateside this week too.

'EVERYTHING GROWS IN EDEN' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian drama film is Written, Co-Produced, photographed, Directed and Edited by Jack Johnston in his feature film making debut. The film follows Lily (Sophie Reynolds), a young woman struggling to find her place in inner-city Melbourne, as she tries to support her best friend Shane (Cameron Mighell) through a difficult time in his life, when she promises to take him to an alternative mental health retreat near her hometown. But when their volatile mutual friend joins the trip, the journey instead leads them on an unexpected detour to a rural commune where hidden truths and unresolved tensions begin to surface. The film was made for just AU$9K.

'THE DEB' (Rated M) - is an Australian coming of age comedy musical film Co-Produced, Co-Starring and Directed by Rebel Wilson, in her feature film Directorial debut. It is based on the stage musical of the same name by Hannah Reilly and Meg Washington. Here, High School outcast Taylah Simpkins (Natalie Abbott) is certain that the upcoming Debutante Ball ‘the Deb,’ is her one chance to redefine herself and become the popular girl once and for all. When her cynical cousin from the city, Maeve Barker (Charlotte MacInnes), is sent to Taylah’s drought stricken small farm town of Dunburn as punishment for staging a protest at her own city High School, she thinks the ball is a farce and immediately tries to disrupt the status quo. In their search for the spotlight, Taylah and Maeve dig deep to find self-acceptance, and a date to the Deb. Also starring Julian McMahon and Shane Jacobson. The film Premiered in mid-September 2024 as the closing film of the Toronto International Film Festival, and has been mired in controversy and legal disputes ever since, resulting in its delayed release. 

'UNDERTONE' (Rated M) - this Canadian horror film is Written and Directed by Ian Tuason in his feature film making debut. Here, Evy (Nina Kiri), a woman who hosts a paranormal podcast with her friend Justin (Adam DiMarco), where she is the skeptic to his believer. After Evy moves back home to become the caregiver to her dying mother (Michele Duquet), she and Justin are sent recordings by a married couple experiencing paranormal noises in their home, drawing Evy into fear and paranoia. The film saw its Premiere screening at the Fantasia International Film Festival in late July last year, where it won the gold audience award for Canadian films. The film was released Stateside in mid-March, has generated largely positive critical reviews, cost US$500K to produce, has so far grossed US$19M in Box Office receipts.

'BUFFALO KIDS' (Rated PG) - is a 2024 Spanish animated adventure film directed by Pedro Solis and Juan Jesus Garcia. Two parentless Irish siblings Tom and Mary (Conor MacNeill and Alisha Weir) arrive in New York City in 1886 via ocean liner and quickly find themselves on a wild, cross-country journey aboard an orphan train where they meet an extraordinary new friend who will change their lives forever. Fuelled by curiosity, friendship, and teamwork, their dangerous and discovery-filled quest will introduce them to devious villains, unexpected heroes, and surprising adventures in their heart-warming and hilarious search for a home. The English language version has the voice talents of MacNeill and Weir as well as Gemma Arterton, Sean Bean and Stephen Graham. The film premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in mid-June 2024, was released in its native Spain in mid-August 2024, in the UK in mid-October 2024, the USA in early February this year and only now does it arrive in Australia having so far grossed US$10M at the worldwide Box Office.

'I, OBJECT' (Rated CTC) - this New Zealand and Canadian Co-Produced live-action animated film is Written, Co-Produced, and Directed by Andrew Niccol, whose previous feature film Directing credits take in his debut with 'Gattaca' in 1997, 'Simone' in 2002, 'Lord of War' in 2005, 'In Time' in 2011, 'The Host' in 2013, 'Good Kill' in 2014 and 'Anon' in 2018. He also wrote the screenplay and Co-Produced 1998's 'The Truman Show'. Here then, a ten year old boy Tom (Bentley Storteboom) is struggling to connect with anyone after the death of his father, and becomes fascinated with the everyday objects around him, and envisions himself speaking to them, as they reveal their true identities to him. Starring Karl Urban, Jemaine Clement, Anna Faris and Skywalker Hughes.

With seven new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

READY OR NOT 2 : HERE I COME - Tuesday 31st March 2026

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'READY OR NOT 2 : HERE I COME' at my local multiplex this week, and this American comedy horror film serves as a direct sequel to 2019's 'Ready or Not' and is once again Directed by Matt Bittinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The first film collected US$58M at the Box Office from a US$6M production budget and garnered positive critical reviews. This film saw its Premiere at the SXSW Film & TV Festival in mid-March before its release Stateside and here in Australia two weeks ago. It has generated positive critical press, and has so far collected US$25M at the worldwide Box Office from a production budget of US$14M.

The film follows on immediately following where the first film left off, with Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) collapsing directly out the front of the burning Le Domas mansion on the steps, still wearing her very bloodied wedding gown. She lights up a cigarette, as Police and emergency services sirens are heard approaching, and then promptly falls unconscious from exhaustion and her wounds endured during the previous evenings game of Hide and Seek. She is taken by ambulance to hospital, where she later that day comes round handcuffed to her bed, with Police Detective Bassett (Grant Nickalls) standing over her. 

Into the room walks Grace's estranged younger sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) whom she has not spoken to since she left for college, some seven years previously. Faith is still registered on Grace's phone as the person to contact in the event of an emergency, hence her appearance. Bassett tells her that she needs to accompany him to the Police Station for questioning as she is the prime suspect in the murder investigation of two people whose corpses were recovered from the building, and the blood on her dress is not her own. 

In the meantime, the Council, an order of six elite families are notified of the Le Domas' demises and prepare to unite at the Danforth estate for another game. The head members include twin siblings Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Titus (Shawn Hatosy) Danforth, Wan Chen Xing (Olivia Cheng), Viraj Rajan (Nadeem Umar-Khitab), Ignacio El Caido (Nestor Carbonell), and Bill Wilkinson (Kevin Durand). Prior to their arrival at the Danforth estate, Ursula and Titus kill their elderly father Chester (David Cronenberg), the current 'High Seat' of the Council, by suffocating him with a pillow, so they can enter the game simultaneously. Chester's last duty before his death was to text a message to the remaining families that 'the game is in play'. Bill attempts to kill Grace at the hospital, but he and the Wilkinsons explode in a shower of blood because they failed to wait for the game's official commencement at 2:31pm that afternoon.

Grace and Faith are gassed as they try to make their escape from the hospital, and come round bound and gagged at the Danforth estate while Le Bail's representative, the 'Lawyer' (Elijah Wood), explains their new found situation, which due to Grace's victory at the Le Domas' hide and seek game, the four remaining families must kill her before dawn to acquire the High Seat, and a ring with seemingly infinite worldwide power will be provided to the winner. The players are not allowed to kill each other, and their deaths allow the next eldest member of their family to enter the game. Grace initially refuses to take part, but agrees when Faith's life is threatened with a knife to the throat. The pair are then drugged, as the eldest members each in turn sign a blood oath and the next game commences at the allotted time.

The sisters are handcuffed together and put on a golf course, on hole 9. After evading attempts from different families, they manage to kill Viraj in an industrial sized washing machine sending him spinning round and round at high speed in very hot water, so that his skin melted. Wan Chen Xing finds them and reveals a loophole, whereby if Grace marries one of the elite's family members, the game immediately ceases, granting her husband the High Seat and allowing her to live. Grace refuses as it would mean selling her soul to the Devil. Ignacio interrupts them, and Chen Xing unintentionally kills him with a Japanese katana sword. The Wans explode into blood as Ignacio's daughter and Alex Le Domas' ex-fiancee Francesca (Maia Jae) prepares to enter the game. Faith berates Grace's refusal of the opportunity of marriage.

Viraj's death allows his brother Madhu (Varun Saranga) to enter the game, but he cowardly forfeits head status to his wife Martina (Masa Lizdek) signing over all of his worldly possessions to her. Instead of playing, she drives off from the hunt at speed destroying the front gate in the process. Madhu then relents and says he's ready to enter the game, but alas says the Lawyer, its too late and that he has nothing, zip, diddly squat possessions to his name, and as his wife still lives there is absolutely nothing that can be done. Ursula nearly kills Grace with a foot long metal spike right through her shoulder and is about to cut her throat with a blade as Faith saves her and the pair flee. Grace lambasts Faith's return and wishes they had never reunited, resulting in a downtrodden Faith to leave. Titus attacks Faith, beats her up and is about to kill her when Ursula intervenes and says she's better use to them alive than dead. They take her hostage while Francesca targets Grace, though Grace acquires a shotgun from the Guardhouse and kills her. Through an intercom, Titus taunts Grace and forces her to the main lounge where Faith is being held captive.

Grace storms into the lounge blasting away with her shotgun, until she runs out of cartridges. She locks herself in a walk-in coolroom in the kitchen, but is cornered by the surviving players. Using Chen Xing's previously advised loophole, Grace suggests she marries Titus to ensure her and Faith's safety, handing over the High Seat to the Danforths and concluding the game despite Faith begging her not to. Both Grace and Faith are washed, cleaned up and their injuries attended to by a group of maids, after which Ursula privately warns Grace about Titus' psychopathy and her fears of what could develop under his worldwide order. Ursula suggests that she and Grace work together to control Titus after the marriage. Titus, having overheard, kills Ursula by strangulation, as there is no rule against killing family members. At an underground cavernous altar, the marriage ceremony begins before a crowd of Satanic cult members and presided over by the Lawyer. 

After they sign their intertwined familial blood pacts, Grace stabs Titus with a fountain pen repeatedly in the neck, and Faith then kicks him into an open circular pit full of the skeletons of sacrificed human and animal bodies, killing him. Now with rightful ownership of the High Seat, Grace announces everyone in attendance to kneel, and they obligingly do so. She then further states her removal from the organisation and throws the ring into the pit. Since the High Seat now belongs to whoever is wearing the ring at dawn, which is just three minutes away before the sun rises, the wedding guests all jump headlong into the pit for a chance at locating the ring, murdering one another as they do. As Grace and Faith look on at the melee unfolding before them, no one succeeds before dawn and the entire Council erupts in a torrential explosion of blood and guts covering the recently cleaned up pair. As they turn to leave, Le Bail's spirit briefly appears behind the alter, and nods to both Grace and Faith as they are finally free. The sisters walk out of the premises holding hands at the beginning of a brand new day, and Grace promises never to leave Faith again.

'Ready or Not 2 : Here I Come' is a fun and entertaining enough follow up to 2019's sleeper hit, but I'm not sure that I'd describe it as a comedy horror offering as the jump scares and frightening scenes are very thin on the ground, and by very thin I mean non-existent! That said, the film ramps up the bloodletting, the creative kills, the emotion, the chaos and the dark humour which is no bad thing, and the chemistry between Weaving and Newton as estranged sisters brought back together under very trying circumstances, works a treat. Once again it's good to see two working class girls rise to the challenge of dispensing with the controlling elitist hierarchy of this world, as their individual and collective demise is meted out in interesting and inventive ways, courtesy of their grit, determination and sisterly bond, unlike the antagonists who just want to play a high stakes game of cat and mouse. It's a worthy follow-up, but I'm not sure there's much room left in this universe for 'Ready or Not 3'!

'Ready or Not 2 : Here I Come' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

    

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 2nd April 2026

The 44th Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF) takes place this year from Friday 3rd April through until Saturday 18th April, in the Belgian capital city of Brussels. The BIFFF offers more than just horror movies. It is first and foremost a genre film festival that is open-minded, and offers a great deal of variety. Its programme serves up thrillers, science fiction films, fantasy films, black comedies, action films, as well as many other genres. As one of the most famous genre film festivals in the world, the BIFFF does not limit itself to screening feature films and shorts. In the course of its sixteen days, almost twenty peripheral activities will be on offer. The programme includes the famous vampire ball, the must-see make-up competition, an art exhibition, as well as many other surprising events. During the festival, you can enjoy more than a hundred features and shorts and get the opportunity to discover a truly unique audience. Thanks to the master classes held by prestigious guests, lively debates, exceptional exhibitions, and breathtaking animations, this is not merely a festival you are going to attend. It is an experience like no other! So reads the official website.

The main International Competition of the festival consists of eight to ten feature films each year. In this section you’ll find the cream of the crop in terms of recent fantastic features from around the globe. The selected films can win the grand prize of the festival, the Golden Raven, or one of two Silver Ravens, two incentive prizes for film Directors that show great potential. Those films in this main competitive category are :-

* 'Back to the Past' - from Hong Kong and China, and this action Sci-Fi film is Directed by Jack Lai and Yuen Fai Ng.

* 'Gaua' - from Spain, and this fantasy horror film is Written and Directed by Paul Urkijo Alijo.

* 'Imposters' - from the USA and this Sci-Fi psychological horror film is Written and Directed by Caleb Phillips. European Premiere.

* 'Never After Dark' - from Japan and this mystery ghost story is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Dave Boyle. European Premiere.

* 'Nirvana The Band The Show The Movie' - from Canada and this time travel Sci-Fi comedy film is Written and stars Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol and is Directed by Matt Johnson.

* 'Saccharine' - from Australia and this crime horror thriller film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Natalie Erika James.

* 'The Home' - from the USA and this horror film is Co-Written and Directed by James DeMonaco, and stars Pete Davidson, John Glover and Bruce Altman.

* 'The Red Mask' - from the USA and this black comedy slasher film is Directed by Ritesh Gupta.

* 'Tristes Tropiques' - from South Korea and this action thriller film is Written, Produced and Directed by Hoon-jung Park.

* 'Whistle' - from Ireland and the USA and this supernatural horror mystery film is Directed by Corin Hardy and stars Dafne Keen, Nick Frost and Sophie Nelisse.

For the descriptors of the above named films, plus the full details of the the other competitive strands being showcased, together with a summary of each of the 132 films being screened over the duration of the festival, and a whole heap of other good stuff, you can visit the official website at : http://www.bifff.net

Turning the focus back on this weeks five new release movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you, we launch with a comedy drama in which estranged siblings reunite after years apart, forced to confront unresolved tensions and reevaluate their strained relationships with their emotionally distant parents. Then we have a RomCom where a happily engaged couple get put to the test when an unexpected revelation sends their wedding week way off track. This is followed by a film from Iraq that tells the story of while people across 1990's Iraq struggle to survive, a nine-year old girl has been selected to prepare a cake to celebrate President Saddam Hussein's birthday. Next up is a Vietnamese horror offering where a young woman returns to her family's dyeing workshop after years of being ostracised, only to be confronted by a supernatural entity. And closing out the week we have an Aussie doco about ten young dance hopefuls who score the chance of a lifetime to audition for a London dance theatre company under the guidance of a renowned choreographer.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.

'FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER' (Rated M) - is a comedy drama anthology film Written and Directed by Jim Jarmusch whose filmography takes in his feature film debut with 'Permanent Vacation' in 1980, which he would follow up with the likes of 'Stranger than Paradise' in 1984, 'Down by Law' in 1986, 'Dead Man' in 1995, 'Ghost Dog : The Way of the Samurai' in 1999, 'Broken Flowers' in 2005, 'Only Lovers Left Alive' in 2013 and 'The Dead Don't Die' in 2019. This film Premiered in the main competition at last years Venice International Film Festival at the end of August where it won the Golden Lion. It has generated mostly positive critical reviews and has so far grossed US$7.5M following its US release on Christmas Eve last year. It is released in the UK and Ireland next week.

Carefully constructed in the form of a triptych, the three stories all concern the relationships between adult children, their somewhat distant parent (or parents), and each other. Each of the three chapters takes place in the present, and each in a different country. In 'Father', siblings Emily and Jeff (Mayim Bialik and Adam Driver) make a dutiful trek to their father (Tom Waits) somewhere in rural USA, whose destitution may be an act; in 'Mother', Charlotte Rampling presides over ritual tea with daughters Lilith (Vicky Krieps) and Timothea (Cate Blanchett) in Dublin, Ireland; and in the third 'Sister Brother', Skye (Indya Moore) and Billy (Luka Sabbat) sift through the residue of their parents lives in Paris, France. Also starring Sarah Greene and Francoise Lebrun.

'THE DRAMA' (Rated MA15+) - this American RomCom is Written and Directed by Kristoffer Borgli who made his feature length film Directorial debut with 2017's 'Drib', and which he would follow up with 'Sick of Myself' in 2022 and 'Dream Scenario' in 2023. Here, a happily engaged couple - Emma Harwood (Zendaya) a bookstore clerk from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Charlie Thompson (Robert Pattinson) a British museum Director - just days before their wedding, has their relationship shaken when one partner learns of unsettling truths about the other which sends their wedding week off the rails. The film also stars Mamoudou Athie and Alana Haim, and is released this week too in the US.

'THE PRESIDENT'S CAKE' (Rated M) - is an Iraq, Qatar and US Co-Produced drama film Written and Directed by Hasan Hadi, in his feature film making debut. Set in the 1990's, it’s 'draw day' across Iraq, when schools select students for the honour of bringing items to their mandatory local celebrations of President Saddam Hussein’s birthday. Nine-year-old Lamia (Baneen Ahmad Nayyef) lives in the historic marshes with her spirited grandmother, Bibi (Waheed Thabet Khreibat). Before school, Bibi teaches Lamia clever tricks to avoid being chosen for the president’s cake. However, when Musa (Ahmad Qasem Saywan), the authoritative teacher, calls Lamia’s name for the most challenging task - the birthday cake - she has no choice but to accept. Refusing could mean imprisonment or even death. The film had its World Premiere showing at the Directors' Fortnight section of last years Cannes Film Festival in mid-May where it won the section's Audience Award and the Camera d'Or. It had its US release in early February, has garnered widespread critical acclaim and has so far generated US$2M in Box Office receipts. 

'THE CORPSE 2' (Rated MA15+) - this Vietnamese supernatural horror film is Directed by Pom Nguyen and serves as a prequel to the 2025 film 'The Corpse' which was also Directed by Nguyen. Here, a young woman, Minh Nhur returns to her family's dye workshop after years of exile, only to confront supernatural phenomena and the brutal truth behind her mother's death and a blood pact from the past. As karma comes full circle, can Minh Nhur escape the grip of the evil that surrounds her? The film was released in its native Vietnam in mid-March and has garnered average reviews.

'DANCE FOR YOUR LIFE' (Rated PG) - is an Australian documentary film Co-Produced, Directed, photographed and Edited by Luke Cornish in only his second feature length film after 'Keep Stepping' in 2022. Here, ten young Australian dancers from Australia's leading commercial dance school - Brent Street Performing Arts School in Sydney, compete for a spot with an international dance company, traveling to London to audition for Shapehaus Dance Theatre under choreographer and Artistic Director Dean Lee. The film serves as a powerful testament to the transformative power of dance, where every leap is a story, every setback a lesson and every moment a chance to be seen. 

With five new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

PROJECT HAIL MARY : Tuesday 24th March 2026

I saw the M Rated 'PROJECT HAIL MARY' earlier this week, and this American Sci-Fi adventure film is Co-Produced and Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, whose previous Co-Directing credits are 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' in 2009, '21 Jump Street' in 2012, 'The Lego Movie' in 2014 and '22 Jump Street' also in 2014. The film is based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Andy Weir. It saw its Premiere showcasing in London earlier this month, and was released world wide last week, having garnered generally favourable critical reviews. The film cost US$200M net to produce, and has so far grossed US$164M at the global Box Office.

The film opens with Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling, who also Co-Produces here) slowly waking up from an induced coma on a spaceship. He is disorientated, his muscles are weak, he is suffering from retrograde memory loss, and while in his enforced sleep he has grown a long beard and hair. We don't know how long he has been in stasis. Grace quickly discovers that his other two crew members have died while in their induced comas. He then scribbles away on a white board deducing that he is 113 light years away from Earth in a distant planetary system.

Grace's memory gradually starts to return and he remembers that he is a middle school science teacher and former molecular biologist. In the past, scientists have observed the dimming of our Sun, which has coincided with the formation of an infrared line from the Sun to Venus called the Petrova line. The dimming, is seemingly caused by a microorganism known as Astrophage rapidly increasing its population on the Sun's surface, which will result in a catastrophic global cooling of Earth within the next thirty years, which we are told will wipe out half of all humankind, animal and plant life. Government agent Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller) recruits Grace and a few hundred other scientists from across the world to study Astrophage.

Grace is tasked with examining samples of Astrophage under strictly controlled lab conditions. He discovers that Astrophage is a cell which is impenetrable to any form of electromagnetic radiation, and that it thrives on Venus through the planet's carbon dioxide rich atmosphere and energy from the Sun. Researchers also discover that Astrophage is a very effective, albeit volatile, fuel source. It has also infected other stars within our solar system. Stratt discloses Project Hail Mary, a plan to send a crew on a suicide mission to Tau Ceti, the only undimmed nearby star. The Hail Mary spacecraft only has enough Astrophage as fuel for a one-way trip, but will carry probes to send the crew's findings back to Earth.

Back in the present, as Grace approaches Tau Ceti, his on board computers alert him to an alien object approaching. That object turns out to be an alien spacecraft, vastly larger than his own ship. It docks with the Hail Mary, and Grace determines it is made of 'xenonite' (solid xenon - a dense, colourless, odourless gas found in Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts.). The pilot of the alien ship is a rock-like, five-legged alien from Eridani. Grace names it 'Rocky' after the Eridian's appearance and Rocky Balboa (voiced by James Ortiz).

Grace deduces that Eridians see via echolocation, and creates a laptop computer translation system for Rocky's music like speech. There were twenty-three other Eridian's on Rocky's ship but they all perished. Rocky explains that he is a mechanic and also the sole survivor of a mission to stop the Astrophage. Neither can survive in the other's atmosphere, so Rocky enters Hail Mary using a small, multi-sided transparent ball like structure as a spacesuit.

Grace has a memory flashback where he recalls meeting the commander Yao Li-Jie (Ken Leung), engineer Olesya Ilyukhina (Milana Vayntrub), and scientist Annie Shapiro (Liz Kingsman) for Hail Mary, along with their backups. While handling Astrophage, a mishap kills the scientist and backup three days before launch in a massive explosion at command base. With no time to train a replacement, Stratt requests that Grace take the place of the deceased scientists giving him three hours to make up his mind. When Grace refuses to go, Stratt tries to convince him that he will be saving humanity and the planet, but he still maintains that its not for him, and that he'll face his fate with the rest of humanity. Stratt has him drugged and forcibly placed in an induced coma on the Hail Mary.

Following Tau Ceti's Petrova line, Grace and Rocky find that the planet Tau Ceti e, which they name 'Adrian' after Rocky's mate and Adrian Balboa, holds an organism which preys on Astrophage, so controlling its population. After learning that Grace cannot return home, Rocky offers enough Astrophage to refuel Hail Mary. Shortly after gathering the organism from the upper atmosphere of Adrian, a fuel leak causes the Hail Mary to spin uncontrollably, which results in Grace being slammed into a control bank and being knocked out. 

Rocky breaks his spacesuit, saves Grace, and is able to bring the ship back under control by stabilising the ships gyroscopes at the touch of a button, but is severely injured in the process. With Rocky in a state of hibernation to recover, and Grace maintaining a watchful eye on his alien colleague, he finds a way to breed the Astrophage-consuming organism, which he calls 'Taumoeba' (an amoeba from the planet Tau). Rocky revives, and he and Grace part as friends, to return to their own solar systems, and home planets.

During the return journey back to Earth, Grace is awakened from a sleep by a contaminate alarm sounding throughout the ship. He isolates the alarm to the ships labs where he has stored the Taumoeba in xenonite flasks. He subsequently discovers that Taumoeba has evolved the ability to pass through their xenonite containers and is eating Hail Mary's fuel. Grace fixes the problem on his ship by ejecting the offending fuel tank, but realises that Rocky's entire ship is made of xenonite, which will allow the Taumoeba to consume all of his fuel. Left with the choice of returning to Earth or saving Rocky and his home world, Grace chooses to save his friend, sending Taumoeba and his research notes and video diaries to Earth via four probes, which he names John, Paul, George and Ringo - a journey that will take a little over four years.

The probes deliver to a now older Stratt on Earth what humanity needs to kill Astrophages, as she watches his video diaries from the bridge of an ice breaker ship carving through a frozen seaway in what is clearly a cooling world. The Eridians meanwhile have created a biodome on their planet for Grace to live in, and he clearly has a very comfortable existence on his new home away from home. Rocky later tells him that scientists have finished preparing the Hail Mary to enable him to return to Earth. While contemplating the news, Grace begins another day of teaching science to Eridian children, who all bounce around the room enthusiastically when he asks 'what is the speed of light'?

I really enjoyed 'Project Hail Mary' and by and large it seems that the critics and the movie going audience do too. It's a crowd pleaser of a film that combines science fact, science fiction, emotion, heart, connection, danger and moments of laugh out loud humour into a neat package that doesn't outstay its 156 minute runtime. The production values are top notch, and Ryan Gosling carries the weight of the film firmly on his shoulders as he grapples at first with the loneliness of infinite space, then befriending an alien rock, and ultimately saving Earth from near extinction. Directors Lord and Miller have here crafted what is sure to become a classic of the genre - a wholly immersive piece of film making that is a cinematic experience to be savoured. It's also a pleasing change to see an alien that is friendly, welcoming and collaborative on the big screen rather than those Hell bent on the widespread destruction of all mankind and our tiny blue planet, as is usually the case. If I have one gripe, however, it centres around the disconnect between timelines from the start of the film and the end of the film, the passage of time in between, and the fact that Stratt clearly ages, yet Grace doesn't, and although I haven't read Andy Weir's novel, I'm told that this isn't addressed in the book either! A minor criticism in what is otherwise an almost flawless film. Enjoy it on the biggest screen possible - you won't be disappointed.

'Project Hail Mary' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-