Amongst mainstream creative types of his stature, British novelist-turned-filmmaker Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Devs, Annihilation) projects a rare desire to engage with the messiness of the modern world, for better or worse. That desire arguably reaches its apex (although he’s not retiring, despite premature reports to that effect) in Civil War, in which Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura and Stephen McKinley Henderson play journalists traversing a conflict-ravaged near-future United States. “Less of a cautionary tale about America and more an interesting dissection of war journalism,” says Jamie. Letterboxd stalwart Claira calls it “a generational horror story about the necessity of documentation and passing the bloody torch to the next group of bright-eyed, naive visionaries”, deeming it simultaneously “politically toothless” and “creatively venomous”. Meanwhile, Michael declares, “Men apologists are eating good.” Garland, Moura and Dunst gave us their Four Favorites at the film’s SXSW premiere, and a Journal interview with Spaeny and Dunst publishes next week. Now in theaters.

Cruelly (ingeniously?) tapping into even the mildest arachnophobe’s worst nightmare with its marketing imagery alone, Sting tells the tale of an “unnervingly talented” pet spider that grows to enormous size and starts eating people. Sounds nice and straightforward. Coming on the tails of a string of breakout horrors from Australian directors, Sting was written and directed by Kiah Roache-Turner, who made an impact with his gnarly 2014 post-apocalyptic thriller Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, which spawned a 2021 sequel. Check out Kultgestalt’s list for more spider horror. Now in US theaters.

Filmmaking brothers David and Nathan Zellner, who previously collaborated on the cult comedy Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, and more recently directed episodes of Nathan Fielder’s The Curse, unleash their boldest vision yet: Sasquatch Sunset follows a family of Sasquatches, played by the likes of Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough, underneath some pretty nifty prosthetics. The dialogue-free, grunt-filled film had a somewhat divisive premiere at Sundance earlier this year. “Not a lot of filmmakers could pull this off with full sincerity, but the Zellners absolutely commit and bring a heartfelt and hilarious story to life with the help of their dedicated cast,” reports Matt. “Gross, disgusting, crude, but it has a strange sense of beauty to it,” says Chadwin. Jack admits he “was expecting Bigfoot Trash Humpers, kinda got that, kinda got a crazy dose of existentialism.” Now in select US theaters, expands April 19.

Co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who brightened up the Scream franchise after displaying considerable horror-filmmaking flair with 2019’s Ready or Not, return to the “old, dark house” milieu of their breakout hit for Abigail, in which a group of kidnappers (including Scream V and VI star Melissa Barrera, as well as Kathryn Newton, Dan Stevens and the late Angus Cloud) find themselves trapped in a mansion with a young girl who turns out to be a vicious vampire. “Takes the knowing gothic escapades of Ready or Not and applies them to the story of some Usual Suspects-style crooks [versus] a seemingly eight-year-old vampire in a tutu,” affirms Andrew. “Expertly choreographed insanity,” promises Chelsea. “Could’ve gotten away really easily with just being campy nonsense, but it was much more than that,” says K8. Back in 2019, I spoke to Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett for Journal (one of our first interview features!) about gore and board games. In theaters worldwide April 19.

Minhal Baig’s coming-of-age drama We Grown Now premiered at Toronto last year (where Baig gave us her Four Favorites) and earned the festival’s Changemaker Award. Set in the early ’90s, it follows two friends, Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez) growing up in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing complex, a real location made (in)famous by the first Candyman film. Robert calls We Grown Now “an unassuming character study set to poetic rhythms [that] makes for an empathetic study of Black life, full of resolve”. “The child actors in this movie really steal every scene,” says Logan. More than a couple of reviews note the connection to another Chicago-set coming-of-age movie. “To boil my review down to ‘most emotional Ferris Bueller reference’ would be a disservice but that part did make me cry,” admits Lily. In select US theaters April 19.

Reliably lively comedic performer John Early gets a rare (but always deserved) lead role in filmmaker-actor Theda Hammel’s indie comedy Stress Positions as a man looking after his nineteen-year-old model nephew (played by Qaher Harhash) in the early days of the pandemic. “Deliriously funny… refreshing to see a movie about millennial queers not about identity or becoming, but about the surveillance state of moral puritanism and carceral logics of identity,” raves Sam. “John Early will never not make me laugh,” says Michelle. “Early is astounding, bringing a Cary Grant Bringing Up Baby-caliber performance that deeply moved me,” celebrates John. In select US theaters April 19.

Alexandre Dumas’s 1844 adventure The Three Musketeers is one of the most adapted books of all time, and the latest, spread across two films, is the most ambitious French-language mounting of the novel yet. The Three Musketeers: Milady is the follow-up to The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan, with French screen icon Eva Green once again portraying Milady de Winter. Both films were shot back-to-back and released eight months apart last year in France; the first installment came out in the US in December. “A lot darker and a lot more brutal than the first part,” says Milo. “More intrigue, [fewer] one-shot battles, a little more drama… and Eva Green in full power mode,” promises LeSchroeck. In select US theaters April 19.