THE ROYAL HOTEL. I was momentarily at a loss, Killers of the Flower Moon having left a rightful vacuum, both in terms of theatrical releases (who wants to follow that?) and my desire to go see them. This was compounded by a sense of having missed out on scary movie season. And so I cast about in the vast, overfished seas of streaming services for something that might satisfy both a desire for something a little less monumental and more genre-leaning. I came up with a couple of riffs on the tried-and-true Final Girl scenarios (partially in tribute to the Editor’s tastes), with decidedly divergent results. And yes, the Season of the Witch will have officially passed by the time this reaches the news stand. Don’t @ me.
I was unfamiliar with Kitty Green until her first scripted feature The Assistant (2020), which captured a cultural moment with revelatory skill and insight. It followed Ukraine Is Not a Brothel (2013) and Casting JonBenet (2017), both explorations of the documentary (which I have guiltily yet to see). Anchored by a quiet, devastating performance from Julia Garner (probably best known for the series Ozark), The Assistant deployed some of the tactics of horror cinema to tell a story about the abuse of power and sexual dynamics. Set within the entertainment industry, it has some obvious parallels to a specific series of actual events but, as in all things, its specificity creates universality. I loved it, as much for its timeliness as for the style and craft it demonstrated. It left me wanting another unnerving Green feature and in The Royal Hotel, I’ve got one.
Moving from the claustrophobia of Manhattan office spaces to the equally unnerving outback of Green’s native Australia, The Royal Hotel tells a vastly different story than The Assistant, but with a familiar tone, aesthetic and theme. Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick), partying in Sydney and telling everyone they’re Canadian, find themselves abruptly out of money. They seek out temporary employment and soon enough are tending bar at the eponymous watering hole, the only source of hospitality for apparently hundreds of miles. Owned and operated by a problem drinker named Billy (Hugo Weaving), the Royal is primarily a destination for nearby mine workers, whose degrees of misogyny and implied capacity for sexual violence range from some to all-consuming.
Hanna, uncomfortable from the beginning, unsuccessfully entreats Liv to leave together, but Liv is content to make the most of the party life as offered. Tension mounts continually as Billy becomes increasingly incapacitated and refuses to pay the pair their rightful wages, while one particular bar patron proves ever the more threatening.
The trick to The Royal Hotel is in its constant, sustained sense of dread and impending violence. Now some (my wife included) may find this somewhat frustrating, but I found the palpability of the movie’s darkness, along with its desolate, inherently ominous setting, deeply satisfying. And Garner, playing an entirely different part than in The Assistant, proves again that she is as much in conversation with vulnerability and desperation as maybe just about any young working movie actor.
The story might not pay off in a climax that will satisfy pure horror fans, but its psychological violence and the implication of unseen prior events is as terrible as it is artfully presented. R. 91M. STREAMING.
SLOTHERHOUSE. So … yeah, the title got me. Admittedly, I’ve been feeling nostalgic for the Criterion Channel’s late lamented collection of ’80s horror (a year ago seems like forever and no time at all); the notion of a three-toed sloth rampaging through a sorority house seemed like it might be just the thing. And, as the plot began to play out, the notion emerged that it might be able to mine my contempt for college “Greek” culture and the garbage island of social media. Which it does … sort of?
The plot is predicated on a patently implausible notion, so in terms of horror the suspension of disbelief might already be in unrecoverable freefall. Shy, earnest Emily (Lisa Ambalavanar) wants desperately (inexplicably) to be the president of her sorority. This would mean unseating influencer-extraordinaire Brianna (Sydney Craven), by all accounts a vile person and perhaps unbeatable opponent. But Emily has a trump card: the advice of a weirdo she met at the mall who traffics in exotic pets. She gets her hands on a murderous sloth (who will eventually post to IG and drive a manual transmission Mustang), which provides her with the soupçon of extra cachet she needed. No matter that the sisters of Lambda Sigma whatever are disappearing at an accelerating clip.
Slotherhouse tends more Keenan Ivory Wayans than Amy Holden Jones and isn’t self-aware enough to acknowledge either influence. But on the plus side, one character calls another “a clout chasing slut who’s all glowed up,” and then somebody gets run over by a smart car, so I guess it’s not all bad. PG13. 93M. HULU, STREAMING.
John J. Bennett (he/him) is a movie nerd who loves a good car chase.
NOW PLAYING
AFTER DEATH. Christian documentary about near-death experiences. PG13. 103M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.
THE CREATOR. A soldier (John David Washington) in the war between humans and AI robots captures a secret weapon in the form of a child robot. PG13. 133M. BROADWAY.
THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER. Ellen Burstyn reprises her maternal role from the original horror masterpiece, this time to aid possessed twins. R. 121M. BROADWAY.
FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S. Haunted Chuck E. Cheese vibes with Josh Hutcherson and Mary Stuart Masterson. PG13. 110M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK, MINOR.
FREELANCE. John Cena takes a security job protecting a journalist (Alison Brie) who stumbles into a coup while interviewing a dictator (Juan Pablo Rabe). R. 109M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of the David Grann novel about oil-thirsty murders of Osage Nation people by white men in Oklahoma in the 1920s. R. 207M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK, MINOR.
LONESOME SOLDIER. Based on a true story about a soldier returning from war with PTSD. R. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.
THE MARSH KING’S DAUGHTER. Daisy Ridley seeks revenge as the daughter of a kidnapper and rapist lately escaped from prison. R. 108M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993). Jack Skellington does some disastrous cultural appropriation. PG. 76M. BROADWAY 3D, MILL CREEK 3D.
PAW PATROL: THE MIGHTY MOVIE. An asteroid grants dogs superpowers in this animated adventure voiced by Dan Duran and Kristen Bell. PG. 92M. BROADWAY.
TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR. Swifties, your time is now. NR. 165M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK, MINOR.
Fortuna Theatre is temporarily closed. For showtimes call: Broadway Cinema (707) 443-3456; Mill Creek Cinema 839-3456; Minor Theatre (707) 822-3456.
This article appears in Gold Rush Outpost now in Native Hands.