VOD: Annihilation (dir: Alex Garland, 2018)

"God didn't make mistakes - that's somewhat key to the whole being-a-God thing."
"Pretty sure he does."

With the planet under a growing threat from a destructive zone named The Shimmer after a meteor strike, Alex Garland's latest film shows all his trademark intelligence, careful construction and visual aplomb.  Natalie Portman works well as the seemingly-bereaved biologist who joins a quartet of women set to explore The Shimmer, with a tight focus on their fracturing minds and bodies.  The pace is languorous, but the storytelling and dialogue are economic and efficient, and there are some excellent visual ideas (with gorgeous colour-saturated natural sights), and with some appropriate genre nods to Alien, The Thing and 2001.  Ultimately, the trip into this other environment is very reminiscent of Apocalypse Now but with scientists, and the intriguing final act proves an interesting challenge.  Annihilation is perhaps not the easiest film to market without misrepresenting it to the audience, but its mix of sci-fi, philosophy, body horror and creature-feature maintains interest.

VOD: Veronica (dir: Paco Plaza, 2018)

"'Once prodded, the imagination is a horse run wild....'"

When the internet exploded with claims that Veronica is 'the most terrifying film ever', you simply knew that it would not be the case, but the film - directed by one half of the [REC] duo - certainly does its best to unsettle.  Apparently based on a true story, Sandra Escacena does a very good job portraying the 15-year-old titular protagonist, who with her friends makes the obvious error of using a Ouija board during a solar eclipse, not just contacting her late father but also enabling another evil spirit to latch on to her and attack the family and their home in Madrid, 1991.  Direction is stylish and very well controlled, the sound mix is a vital component (headphones advised) and Chucky Namanera's score is a retro-synth delight.  A lot of possession/poltergeist conventions are neatly ticked off, but there are some very uncomfortable moments involving Veronica's younger siblings and some nicely-played-out sequences with an interesting finale (although it does get a bit Dario Argento at times), making Veronica a quality Euro horror overall.

VOD: The Young Offenders (dir: Peter Foott, 2016)

"Ignorance really is bliss...and we had s**tloads of it...."

The movie that introduced amiable idiots Conor and Jock to the world and subsequently spawned a wonderful TV series is in itself a comedy treat.  Using many of the locations and most of the main characters that have become familiar, the movie is based on the 2007 scuttling of a cocaine-smuggling vessel off the Irish coast and our fictional heroes' subsequent road (cycle?) trip to obtain a package and become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.  Although not quite as big-hearted as the small-screen series (and lacking the girls), the film is warm, hugely funny, very well-played by all concerned and the central relationship is an utter delight.  Pitched somewhere between The Inbetweeners and This Country, if you have not yet discovered The Young Offenders, this little bit of joy awaits.