STACK #156 Oct 2017

REVIEWS DVD&BD

There goes the neighbourhood! THE HOUSE

Join the cult! CULT OF CHUCKY

Release Date: 04/10/17

Format:

Release Date: 18/10/17

Format:

Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell play a married couple who have overextended on their big home. So naturally they're relying on their only child to make good and fix them up. There's no denying she's bright, having earned a public-funded scholarship to university, except this year, the town's decided the money is better served building a gigantic pool. Desperate to pay the fees, they team up with a compulsive gambler neighbour (Jason Mantzoukas), whose house gets turned into the wildest illegal casino the suburb has ever seen. Poehler and

Picking up after the events of 2013's Curse of Chucky , wheelchair-bound survivor Nica (Fiona Dourif) is now incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital and insisting that it was Chucky who murdered her family (it was). And when her disbelieving (and sleazy) doctor attempts to use a Good Guy doll as therapy, the scene is set for Chuck to run amok. The spirit of Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) has learned a few new voodoo tricks, which results in a surprise twist and some wildly subversive moments. The seventh in the long-running Child's Play

Ferrell get plenty of comic mileage as the bored parents, who find a new calling in this ill-advised venture. Add Mantzoukas' madcap turn, plus a willingness to roll the dice on some rude nods to Scorsese's Casino , and you've got all the ingredients for a winning comedy. AC

series also sees the return of Chucky's original owner Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent), as well as Jennifer Tilly's Tiffany. It's also the goriest Chucky movie to date – and the first to receive an R-rating – which should be all the recommendation horror fans need. SH (see page 28)

Road games. DETOUR

Doubt over D-Day. CHURCHILL

Release Date: 11/10/17

Format:

Release Date: 04/10/17

Format:

Baby-faced Tye Sheridan plays Harper, an LA law student who blames his stepfather (Stephen Moyer) for the car accident that has left his mother in a coma. After mentioning in a bar one night that he'd like to have wicked stepdad killed, career thug Johnny Ray (Emory Cohen) takes him up on the offer, and the pair are soon Vegas-bound in a Mustang to do the deed, with Johnny's stripper girlfriend (Bel Powley) along for the ride. British writer-director Christopher Smith, who helmed the twisting thriller Triangle, deploys another

The first of two films out this year to focus on the iconic British PM and his historic wartime achievements, Churchill features an assured performance by the great Brian Cox in a role he was born to play. Similar to the recent Jackie, the film is an intense and intimate character study that observes its larger than life subject during a time of crisis. In this case it's the countdown to the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, and Churchill’s own gnawing doubt over the campaign's success. Beautifully shot and impeccably

narrative gimmick here, using split-screens to create a Sliding Doors - like alternate scenario. It's not entirely successful, but the noirish tone and ample twists and turns make for an entertaining ode to Tarantino, Hitchcock, and '90s thrillers like Love and a .45 . SH

acted, this revealing and absorbing World War II drama celebrates the great Winston's indelible role in “the field of human conflict”, as well as highlighting his ongoing struggle with angst and depression. It's a remarkably personal insight into a very public figure. SH (see page 30)

037