Three hundred years have passed since our last visit to the Planet of the Apes. It’s felt like it. In real world terms, that’s seven years since Andy Serkis’ Caesar expired his mortal coil, mere moments after his band of superior simians finally reached the paradisal Oasis. The legacy of Serkis – and, indeed, his chimpanzee counterpart – weigh heavily on Kingdom, film four in the reboot era. Coming from an already high bar, the advancement is astonishing and the apes have never looked, nor swung, better. Humanity, meanwhile, has regressed. You decide on which side of the screen.
Sweaty, muscular and desperately horny, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers lusts in the fashion of an old courtly romance. The emphasis is on the court – it’s a tennis film – but the romance is as pervasive as it is dripping in the erotic energy of unquenched climax. Every game is intercourse. As befitting the Chaucerian tradition, there are knights, jousts and a fair maiden worth fighting for. More modern is the youthful vibrance of the piece. Guadagnino’s cast are electric but it’s his own reinvention of point of view filmmaking that drives forth the avant-garde vigour.
A deliciously simple premise delivers gory satisfaction in Abigail, the first post-Scream horror from Radio Silence directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. In short, a pint-sized, tutu wearing, vampire torments ragtag criminals in a Scooby-Doo mansion. It’s proper elevator pitch material and ballet’s bloodiest episode since Darren Aronofsky pitched Natalie Portman against Mila Kunis. Neither would last a pas de trois on stage with Alisha Weir.
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