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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 MAY 2015 32 This Week IN CINEMAS TODAY St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 NT Live presents - The Hard Problem 18:30 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 The Avengers: Age of Ultron 3D (12A) 10:20, 14:30, 18:00, 21:00 Child 44 (15) 10:00, 13:00, 16:45, 18:25, 21:05 Far from the Madding Crowd (12) 10:00, 13:00, 16:45, 18:20, 21:00 John Wick (15) 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (PG) 10:00, 12:15, 16:00, 18:15, 20:50 Woman in Gold (12A) 10:20, 13:50, 16:15, 18:40, 21:05 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Project Almanac (12) 14:05, 16:20, 18:45, 21:05, 23:30 The Avengers: Age of Ultron 3D (12A) 14:15, 17:30, 20:45, 23:50 The Water Diviner (15) 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:10, 23:40 Woman in Gold (12) 14:10, 16:30, 18:50, 21:15, 23:35 Cinderella (U) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40 John Wick (15) 14:10, 16:30, 18:45, 21:10, 23:30 Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (PG) 14:15, 16:20, 18:35, 21:00, 23:10 Wild Tales (15) 18:20, 23:35 Fast and Furious 7 (12) 14:30, 17:45, 20:50, 23:45 White God (15) 14:30, 20:55 Child 44 (15) 14:30, 18:00, 20:50, 23:35 Far From the Madding Crowd (12) 14:30, 18:15, 21:05, 23:40 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 A Royal Night Out (12) 10:40, 13:10, 15:40, 17:50, 20:45 Child 44(15) 10:05, 12:55, 15:40, 18:25, 21:10 The Avengers: Age of Ultron (12A) 10:00 (3D), 12:45(3D), 15:35, 18:25, 21:15 (3D) Woman in Gold (12) 11:00, 13:30, 15:50, 18:10, 20:50 John Wick (15) 10:55, 13:25, 15:50, 18:15, 20:50 Fast and Furious 7 (12) 10:10, 12:55, 15:40, 18:25, 21:15 Far From The Madding Crowd (12) 10:30, 13:15, 15:45, 18:15, 20:50 John Carpenter has a lot to an- swer for. The cult director of hor- ror classics like Halloween (1978) and The Thing (1982) influenced a generation of other filmmakers whose work appears to be com- ing into full bloom over the last couple of years. One recent film that distinctly bears the Carpen- ter stamp is last year's The Guest (dir. Adam Wingard) – whose smooth electronic soundtrack and disarming suburban setting bring to mind Carpenter's pioneering use of both during Michael My- ers's first psychotic outing as the lumbering 'Shape' in the original Halloween. But while Wingard's film also folded in the likes of The Terminator movies into its 1980s mélange, a more recent tribute – which shares a com- mon actress in the young Maika Monroe – keeps a sharper focus, privileging its young protagonist's struggle with su- pernatural forces nestled within a placid American neighbour- hood. After she sleeps with a stranger, teenager Jay (Mon- roe) doesn't exactly contract a sexually transmitted disease… but something far stranger, and potentially as life-threatening as the worst of them. Soon after the fateful event, Jay is pursued by strange, zombie-like beings who appear to be hell-bent on securing her demise. Turning to her sister and clique of friends for help, Jay ultimately discov- ers how to break the curse… but the key to it all comes down to a very difficult decision. Director David Robert Mitch- ell (The Myth of the American Sleepover) is hardly a horror- hound, a fact that elevates this, his second feature film, from by-the-numbers dross and places it on far richer thematic ground. It's an atmospherically involving piece too, making use of the genre's inclination towards the slow build-up to full effect. But it's the perva- sive ambiguity and stylization that ensures Mitchell's film is not just another entry in the suburban horror genre (and not yet another Carpenter pastiche to simply be consumed and discarded by film geeks). The obvious allegorical link to make between Jay and her plight would be sexually transmitted disease, but Mitchell's roving and immersive film isn't after settling on boilerplate the- matic 'beats', and the viewer isn't forced to accept any single interpretation of the horror. But neither can this rich and troubling brew be taken at face value. A postmodern folk tale of sorts, It Follows zooms in on that pervasively taxing psy- chological time in any person's life – the teenage years – and Jay's plight will trigger asso- ciations for anyone, reminding you either of current or previ- ous experience, despite being drenched in a very particular American milieu. And because he's not exactly keen on name-checking hor- ror tropes for their own sake – instead employing them to deepen the atmospheric tension and psychological make-up of his film – Mitchell thankfully doesn't indulge in yet another facile 'deconstruction' of the genre ala Scream (1996-2011) or Cabin in the Woods (2012). Its playfulness is subtler than all that, adding a twist to the 'don't have sex or you'll wind up dead' trope by dint of the fact that you could selfishly shake off the curse by having sex with some- one else. This throws a cheeky consideration of sexual politics into the mix, with Jay's ago- nised handling of the ghostly disease contrasted starkly against the laissez-faire attitude of her male counterparts. But conventional thrills are present and accounted for too, with a nail-biting climax at a swimming pool justif ying the price of admission on its lone- some. It Follows will be showing at St James Cavalier, Valletta tonight at 21:00, May 22 at 20:00 and May 30 at 21:00 By Teodor Reljic A sexually transmitted haunting in suburbia ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ NOT BORN TO FOLLOW ★ ★ ★ ★ FOLLOW-THROUGH ★ ★ ★ FOLLOW THE LEADER ★ ★ FOLLOWER ★ BLIND LEADING THE BLIND IT FOLLOWS (18) ★ ★ ★ ★ FILM Lust, caution: Maika Monroe suffers a unique consequence of a sexual encounter in this heavily-buzzed horror film