Stu Brynien

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Hardly for everyone--not by a longshot--but if you have the stomach for some truly horrifying imagery (bodies sawed in half, dangling entrails, blood- and other sinister-looking stains, corpses arranged in a grotesque recreation of the Last Supper) this may be the Ryan Murphy shockfest for you. Niecy Nash-Betts stars as Lois, a world-weary homicide detective investigating a string of murders with no leads, no clues, and no hope. Nash-Betts is fine (if a bit too low-key), as is Micaela Diamond as a young nun who writes for a local Church paper and believes there's more going on than anyone suspects. But the pace is slow, there's been little to look forward to in the first three episodes besides the killer's grisly calling-card set pieces, and the family subplots (added, no doubt, to deepen our appreciation for Lois' lot in life)--involving her overweight daughter and unfaithful, comatose husband--seem largely unnecessary. Nevertheless, the whole thing looks rather stylish in its way, and Lois' adversarial relationship with her husband's hard-nosed nurse (Lesley Manville) provides a few (dark) laughs. Once you've tuned in, you'll probably want to stick around to find out whodunit. My advice: check it out.

a streamlined version of the 1963 seaborne thriller by suspense novelist charles williams. you needed a doctorate in nautical terminology--or a whole lot of patience to survive the occasionally endless psycho-babble--but, wisely, the filmmakers have dispensed with all that, and what's left is the very simple plot: a husband and wife are yachting across the pacific when a stranger comes rowing frantically in their direction, they take him aboard, allow him to stay (despite the misgivings of the husband, the suspicious type)...and eventually, all hell breaks loose. dead calm tells two tales in one: rae's efforts to outwit and outlast the handsome--and not altogether sane--newcomer, even as john, her husband, explores the rapidly sinking ship the fellow was fleeing. in her first major movie role, twenty-two-year-old nicole kidman is a ravishing redhead with the face of a teenager and (even then) a courage and expressiveness beyond her years; and, also in an early role, billy zane as the interloper, hughie, is nearly as pretty, just as powerful, and altogether scary. (two more attractive faces in late '80s cinema would have been hard to find.) sam neill as john underplays his role to perfection. dead calm isn't a great film, but it's certainly a good one, and despite its lack of much of an explanation for hughie's behavior--which the book provided via all that layman's psycho-babble--it's still a whole lot better. see it, but pop a dramamine first. you may need it.

Meddy Chan is back--along with all her aunties--in this delightful sequel to "Dial A for Aunties". This time, she's getting married to Nathan, the love of her life and the scion of a wealthy British family. To make the big day even more special, the wedding is going to be at one of the most spectacular churches in all of London in front of no fewer than two hundred guests--including, as it turns out, one attendee Meddy has never met before but whom she takes an immediate liking to: a wedding photographer who reveals that she's a (gasp!) contract killer for the mob... The dialogue leaps off the page, the pace is dizzying, the aunties are hysterically funny, and as the rollicking plot rushes headlong toward the unexpected finale you may find yourself unable to turn the pages fast enough. A familiarity with "Dial A for Aunties" may add to your appreciation of the shenanigans (there are plot tie-ins that come up at the end), but I haven't read it yet and I had a heckuva time anyway. IS the photographer really a hired gun for the mafia? Who's her intended victim? And will the wedding take place despite all the hub-bub? Another winner from Jesse Q. Sutanto. (If you like this one, in addition to "Dial A" you also might want to try Sutanto's "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers". No aunties--but lots of comedy!)

Ted Danson, who seems to star in a new hit sitcom every few years, may have hit the jackpot again. This time he's playing Charles, a lonely widower who answers a newspaper ad (after his worried daughter tells him to Get Out and Do Things) and ends up working undercover for a private detective hired to solve a jewel robbery in a retirement home. Danson is as good as ever, the very definition of a comic pro, but just as much fun in this charming (and occasionally heartbreaking) new show are all the reliable old pros surrounding him, including TV vets Sally Struthers and Veronica Cartwright and stage and screen actor Stephen McKinley Henderson. The dialogue is sharp, the relationships--among the residents, between the residents and staff, and between Charles and his adult daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids--are completely believable, and the series' message about aging gracefully and productively with your sense of humor and zest for life still intact is a worthy one. From the producers of "The Good Place," Danson's last big hit. Kick your feet up, sit back, and enjoy.

What would you do if you learned that all your neighbors--and their homes--had been turned into ghosts? And your home, too? Twenty years ago, Talitha and her friends received a call at their college dormitory informing them that the suburban block they all grew up on had become a literal ghost town, virtually invisible in the thick, cloying mist surrounding it and inaccessible to anyone brave enough to draw near. Now forty, Talitha has succeeded, more or less, in putting it all behind her, until yet another investigator into the paranormal asks her to return to the old neighborhood to find out exactly what happened that day--which, eager to reunite with her little sister, who was left behind, she does... "The Haunting of Velkwood" is every bit as much about family and friends and people and relationships as it is about spirits, and evil, and ghosts; it's just as readable because of Talitha's tortured love for her longtime girlfriend Brett, and her fears for the safety of her frightened kid sister Sophie, as anything else. What DID cause an entire block of neat suburban homes, and the families inside them, to disappear? Was one of Talitha's friends somehow responsible--or was it someone (or something) else? Nicely written, but slow in parts--there are so many moments of will-she-go-back-one-more-time-or-won't-she, should-she-go-back-or-shouldn't-she that the narrative becomes a bit repetitive after a while--yet worth reading anyway, especially if, like me, you can't wait to see how it ends. A most unusual ghost story, indeed--and a touching one, too. Give it a try.

Thanks to its stylish black-and-white cinematography, noirish use of sunlight and shadow--and, of course, its hard-boiled dialogue, terrific performances, and fast-moving plot--"Double Indemnity" has become a classic, and one of the finest suspense films ever made. The first time I saw it I was a bit distracted by Barbara Stanwyck's unbecoming (and almost comical-looking) wig, as were, I think, a lot of people; this time, however, it didn't bother me at all, and I was able to appreciate her femme fatale performance for what it was--one of the most unforgettable of her career. Every bit as riveting is Fred MacMurray as the insurance agent who--having fallen hard for her--cooks up a supposedly foolproof plan to help her murder her husband for the insurance payout that will follow; watching MacMurray sweat it out in scene after scene as the net closes in around him is a treat in itself. There are plenty of plot twists involving other characters, too, just as you'd expect in a thriller like this. If you haven't seen "Double Indemnity" yet--what are you waiting for?

Nicole and Christina are teachers at a private boys' school in Paris who conspire to kill the school's headmaster, Michel, a cruel man married to one of them and maintaining the other as his mistress. The story gets started immediately--in an early scene, we see how much he dislikes them (particularly his wife, the younger Christina, who suffers from a heart condition) and how much they, in turn, despise him--and it isn't too long before they're already plotting the brute's demise and, in equally short order, have carried out their plan. But things aren't entirely as they seem; no sooner have they done the deed than the twists start piling up, and right through to the shock ending (one of the most famous in movie thriller history, although--given the seventy years since the film's release--the finale's big reveal isn't nearly as eye-popping today as it must have been back then) the story's narrative drive keeps it moving right along. The performances are terrific, the black-and-white cinematography adds to its allure (at least for me), and oh, those twists! This was the second time I've seen it, and thanks to the vagaries of memory, I didn't even recall all of them--including the final one. Call it the Hitchcock thriller that Hitchcock DIDN'T direct. (He tried to secure the rights, but failed.) In French, with English subtitles. Not to be missed.

Jake and his girlfriend (the novel's narrator, who is never identified by name) are driving out to visit his parents on the farm where he grew up. Along the way, she expresses all kinds of doubts--at least to the reader-- about whether she and Jake have a future together, and even if this visit to his folks (they've only been together for seven weeks) is a good idea. To pass the time, they discuss high-minded subjects like the nature of depression and the permanence of memory, even as she continues to be plagued by (but never mentions to him) her own memories of all the vaguely threatening late-night phone calls she's been receiving lately. Everything seems perfectly normal--until, that is, they arrive at his parents' rundown farmhouse way out in the middle of nowhere, and (cue the ominous music) the story, which until then has been rather uneventful, turns more than a little (and this is an understatement) creepy... Using short, punchy sentences, lots of dialogue, and tons of atmospheric touches (descriptions of snowy roads and icy fields outside, and dark, foreboding rooms inside), Iain Reid sets a mood that practically reeks of mystery and menace. Why are Jake's mother and father so, for lack of a better word, weird? Why is Jake himself behaving oddly? And what are we to make of that dank and dusty cellar with all those books and paintings on the walls? When the story shifts back to the car for the long trip home, things become spookier still until Reid springs on us one of the saddest, most terrifying, most unexpected twist endings I've ever come across. If you've been reading carefully (and I would suggest you do) you may anticipate the Big Reveal before I did. Or you may not. No matter; "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" is lightning- fast (I finished it in one sitting), deeply thought-provoking, and unforgettable--and, quite simply, one of the best horror thrillers I've ever read. It was lauded as one of the best books of 2016, and deservedly so. Don't let this one slip by.

The plot is thin but the tension is thick as grieving mother Iris visits the spot deep in the woods where her young son recently died. As she stands on a hilltop contemplating suicide, she is interrupted by Richard, a friendly sort with a heartbreaking tale of his own. He talks her down, they return to their cars--and he promptly injects her with a slow-acting paralytic, stuffs her in his backseat, and drives off. What follows is an exercise in suspense as the increasingly weakened Iris desperately seeks help from the few people she sees (no small feat, given her inability to speak or move). Kudos to the filmmakers for not wasting a moment anywhere, even at the beginning, and to Kelsey Asbille as Iris (hardly an easy role to play) and Finn Wittrock as Richard. How do you start with such a chilling yet simple premise and then successfully stretch it out for ninety nerve-wracking minutes? This is how. "Don't Move" is a tale of survival, and you'll be rooting for Iris every step of the way. It is absolutely terrifying. Don't miss it.

A love story, a psychological thriller, a crime drama, a character study... 2017's "Since We Fell" is all of those things, and if the good guys vs. bad guys part takes its own good time getting started, don't fret--once it does, the pace picks up and it becomes the twisty, Hitchcockian suspenser we'd been expecting all along. Rachel Childs is a woman in her thirties with a difficult mother, an absentee dad, a birth father she's never met, a successful career as a writer and reporter that comes crashing down around her, a debilitating personality disorder that turns her into a shut-in...and a man who, years after they meet, becomes her one true love. Rachel's personal history (the character study part, which occupies half the novel) reads like an unusually fast-paced bio--Lehane gives us the kind of detailed look at Rachel's life that we rarely see in this kind of genre novel--but much of it sets up the action that follows, and once the villains arrive (you'll probably be ready to concede, after all is said and done, that they were really there all along), you'll be in for quite a ride. Slow going at first, but be patient and you'll be amply rewarded. Another fine effort from the talented Mr. Lehane, and worth reading.