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“The Limehouse Golem” is the Nostalgic Whodunit You Didn’t Know You Needed
In an age of big special effects, over the top monsters, and all too shallow plotlines, it’s easy to forget that really good stories not only exist but can still thrill viewers in unexpected ways. Luckily, from time to time, a film like The Limehouse Golem comes along to remind us of that very fact.
Directed by Juan Carlos Medina with a script by Jane Goldman (who also wrote the screenplay for The Woman in Black) based on the novel by Peter Ackroyd, The Limehouse Golem tells the story of Lizzie Cree (Olivia Cooke) a former music hall actress who’s accused of murdering her husband (Sam Reid). At the time of his death, however, there’s a much larger case that’s rocked an entire community. A killer known only as the Limehouse Golem has committed a series of brutal murders, the last including an entire family. Inspector John Kildare (Bill Nighy) from Scotland Yard has been brought in to solve the case, and to serve as a fall guy for the Yard if he cannot.
Kildare soon realizes the two cases are inextricably linked but discovering the killer’s identity may put more at risk than his career.
It’s a beautiful throwback film, embracing the tropes of the great British mysteries that came before it. No one is completely innocent and guilt lies not only on the killer but on the people who helped create them. The streets are just a little too clean, and the poor just a little too healthy looking, for it to all be completely believed, and yet we do. It is mystery theater at its best, inviting the audience to put the pieces of the puzzle together having no idea what the larger picture truly is.
Bill Nighy (Underworld, Pirates of the Caribbean) turns in a brilliant, understated performance as Kildare consciously choosing a subtle approach to this intelligent and caring man. Interestingly enough, Alan Rickman was originally cast in the role, but when his health began to deteriorate he had to leave the production. Nighy stepped in, and while one cannot help but imagine Rickman in the role, it is undeniable that the film did not suffer in the least with the substitution.
Cooke (“Bates Motel”, The Quiet Ones), an undeniably talented actress, is serviceable in the role of Lizzie, at once strong and vulnerable, and yet there were times where her performance was overwhelmed by those around her. About half the movie passes before she finds her even footing with Nighy and some of her co-stars. That firm footing locks into place, and the second half of the film is the better for it.
It is Douglas Booth (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jupiter Ascending) who steals this show, however. As music hall performer Dan Leno, Booth is magnetic, radiating sex, mystery, and danger. He is beautifully ambiguous in his desires and commanding on stage in 19th century drag, and the screen sizzled with his charisma each time he appeared.
Medina, who I was surprised to find only had four directing credits to his name on IMDb, directs his cast beautifully with an innate ability to balance silence with dialogue and stillness with action to fully tell the story of The Limehouse Golem. Many a horror director could take lessons from Medina in the realm of gore. His murder scenes are seriously gory, but he doesn’t linger. He gives us just enough to take in the scene before cutting away quickly leaving an afterimage for the viewer to process. The method is extremely effective.
The Limehouse Golem releases September 8, 2017 in theaters and on demand from Number 9 Films in associate with RLJ Entertainment and Lionsgate among others. Check out the trailer below!
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Movies
‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments
It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.
We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.
“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”
That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”
Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:
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Movies
‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening
Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.
Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.
Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.
Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.
Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.
The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.
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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date
Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.
Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.
These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:
According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”
Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.
Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.
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