Worthwhile 2018 Movies You May Have (Actually) Missed

Assassination Nation

Imagine The Purge directed by Tumblr and you might have some idea of what you're in for with Assassination Nation, a decidedly vitriolic modern retelling of the Salem witch trials transposed into middle-class suburbia and focusing on social justice issues, extreme violence, misogyny, and a critique of modern technology. The political message of the film may be a bit muddled, but everyone should appreciate the electrifying film-making, including a terrifying home invasion tracking shot which lasts for several minutes but feels like an eternity and a far more anarchic and confronting depiction of a lawless society than that captured in any of the Purge films themselves.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6205872/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9qyOGEuLY4

Bees Make Honey

Alice Eve stars in her brother's noir-infused film about a widow who uses an extravagant, Gatsby-level Halloween party in 1934 to investigate the murder of her husband exactly one year earlier. Everything about the film is a bizarre mashup of the modern and the antique, right down to the music at the party, which runs the gauntlet from Jamie XX to Glenn Miller's 'In The Mood'. The result is an infectiously fun and unique murder mystery romp that takes several unexpected twists and packs plenty of dark laughs along the way to a very satisfying conclusion.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5228304/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIhaviiFm7M

Bill Murray Stories

Documentary filmmaker Tommy Avallone investigates the countless myths and legends surrounding Bill Murray's bizarre public appearances. We've all heard the stories, but it's a joy to see them all collected in the one place, including first-person accounts from witnesses and personal videos of the events. The doco isn't overly successful in drawing any greater meaning from the stories, but it's a breezy and enjoyable watch for fans of the great man looking for a bit more detail about some of his legendary, too-strange-to-be-real moments.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7329810/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAkp0h4ktf0

Elizabeth Harvest

In a Shining-inspired cold open, Elizabeth Harvest starts with Elizabeth (Abbey Lee) travelling with her famous scientist husband Henry (Ciarán Hinds) to his idyllic mansion, where she is told that she is free to do anything her heart desires, except investigate behind one mysterious locked door. To say any more about the film's plot would be to give away too much, but what follows is a wild, blood-drenched scifi thriller that is relentlessly surprising and makes superb use of its single location, vivid colours, and a hauntingly atmospheric score. A real genre treat from Venezuelan director Sebastian Gutierrez.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6852872/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcMs46Lg7a4

Galveston

There's some serious talent behind Galveston, as writer Nic Pizzolatto (True Detective) and director Mélanie Laurent team up with a cast spearheaded by Ben Foster and Elle Fanning to tell the story of a terminally-ill hitman who survives a set-up and flees to his hometown while reluctantly protecting a troubled young woman he met during the job. Predictably, given Pizzolatto's involvement (although he asked to be credited with a pseudonym), this is a slow-boil neo-noir, with fleeting moments of violence that are shot superbly by Laurent using long-takes that never linger on the bloodshed but keep her characters both figuratively and literally front and center. Ben Foster is fast becoming one of those rare actors whose involvement alone justifies seeing a film.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2315596/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfdxq5eLrxM

Hot Summer Nights

Timothée Chalamet stars in this strange little mashup of a coming of age story and crime drama from first-time writer/director Elijah Bynum. Chalamet plays a teenager who begins selling drugs in late-80s/early-90s Cape Cod, setting him on a journey of self-discovery as he struggles with the dangerous lifestyle but also revels in his new-found popularity. The film has an impeccable sense of time and place, from the neon-drenched, VCR-inspired visuals, to the killer soundtrack featuring Bowie, The Zombies, and even 'Tarzan Boy', but thanks to Chalamet's fantastic lead performance and some emotional moments there's more here than just nostalgic appeal.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3416536/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5ROSS9ReUY

In Darkness

Following in the wake of Wait Until Dark and See No Evil, In Darkness is a thriller centered around a blind woman (Natalie Dormer, who also co-wrote the film) who hears a murder committed and finds herself suddenly embroiled in a far-reaching criminal conspiracy. The first act is pure Hitchcock and, even though the film eventually warps into something else entirely, the one constant throughout is Dormer's stunning and convincing lead performance that has you empathising with her character regardless of her unclear motives; a mystery which isn't resolved until the final, delightfully convoluted frames of the film.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5164184/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAvHoeClyc4

Izzy Gets The Fuck Across Town

This is the Mackenzie Davis show. The lead actress is absolutely phenomenal in Christian Papierniak's feature-length directorial debut, as she races against the clock and her hangover across Los Angeles to disrupt the engagement party of her ex-boyfriend. Brief supporting turns from Lakeith Stanfield, Haley Joel Osment, and Alia Shawkat add some depth and comedic moments, but you won't be able to take your eyes off Davis' gloriously disheveled, incompetent, self-destructive Izzy, who careens with reckless abandon to an unpredictable but refreshingly honest denouement with the same headstrong certainty that made her character in Halt And Catch Fire so fascinating.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5198796/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKx-QBMiyh4

Look Away

Look Away explores the duality of teenage life in a way more literal than many of its peers, as Maria, an introverted high school student, gives in to her more sinister desires and inner darkness in the form of her mirror image, who assumes a physical form and takes her place in day-to-day life, with increasingly bloody results. It's obviously a silly premise, but director Assaf Bernstein plays the whole thing so straight-faced and emotionless, and the performances from India Eisley and (hello to) Jason Isaacs are so convincing, that the thrills, chills, and eventual spills all hit home.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5834760/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuLJHROphdM

Summer Of 84

Summer of 84 (from the directors of Turbo Kid) plays out like an R-rated mashup between Rear Window and Stranger Things, as a group of socially misfit kids, bored during the titular summer break, become convinced that their neighbour is a serial killer. While the first two acts will feel very familiar, the film leaves its mark in its final moments, which go to places that few films of this kind do, to spectacular effect. Round it out with plenty of retro appeal, likable performances from the cast of mostly unknown teenagers, and (of course) a great synth soundtrack, and you have a very enjoyable, albeit derivative, low budget thriller.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5774450/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxj0mgS3fRg

The Domestics

The post-apocalyptic genre has become absurdly saturated, particularly in terms of low-budget films, but The Domestics stands head-and-shoulders above all similar efforts in 2018, if only due to its bonkers worldbuilding and impressive devotion to squeezing as much insanity as possible into its 95-minute runtime. The unmistakable influence of the usual suspects is plain to see, from Mad Max to Fallout to A Boy And His Dog, and the commentary on the American Dream is basically par-for-the-course in this genre, but the post-apocalyptic world is so vivid, imaginative, and savage, that this is worth your time even if you're all apocalypsed-out.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5591666/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrcQhTm2h2I

The Guilty

This Danish thriller takes place solely within a police dispatch room, as our protagonist Asger becomes emotionally involved in an emergency call from a woman who has been kidnapped by her ex-husband. We follow the story as it unfolds from Asger's point of view; always one step removed from the action as he tries desperately to co-ordinate the effort to locate the woman before it's too late, whilst also dealing with his own personal demons. The film rests entirely on the shoulders of lead actor Jakob Cedergren, who is in every single frame, but he rises to the challenge and delivers one of the standout performances of the year. This is thrilling, tense stuff, even if (or perhaps because) we never leave the call center.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6742252/
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abaoKA6rn5k