HAUNTED MANSION 12A

All the ride moves…

Spooky surprises await for Travis (Chase W. Dillon) and Gabbie (Rosario Dawson)

★★★★✩

OUT NOW CINEMAS

Previously adapted in 2003 with Eddie Murphy, the classic Disney ride gets a new lease of life (and death) with this fresh take from director Justin Simien (Dear White People) and scribe Katie Dippold (2016’s Ghostbusters).

Single mum Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and son Travis (Chase W. Dillon) are seeking to start over in a cobwebbed New Orleans mansion. But when things start going bump in the night, a motley crew of eccentric experts is called in to deal with those (un)happy haunts - and one sinister spectre in particular, Jared Leto’s mysterious Hatbox Ghost. A spirited chemistry develops among the starry cast: Danny DeVito (a historian), Owen Wilson (a priest) and Tiffany Haddish (a psychic) bag the LOLs, while Jamie Lee Curtis has an entertaining (if small) role as crystal-ball-bound medium Madame Leota.

The Mansion itself is also a lively character, whipping up 12A peril via moving portraits, endless hallways and other spooky surprises. More could have been made of the house’s sprawling potential, but Simien manages to pack in the Easter eggs without assuming knowledge of the original attractions. Anchoring all the fun is a surprisingly emotional performance from LaKeith Stanfield as widowed tour guide Ben. Chase W. Dillon, meanwhile, is a standout as a sweet but socially awkward youngster. The film’s exploration of loss makes for a cathartic third act, proving it was well worth reopening the Mansion doors.

MOB LAND 15

★★★★★

OUT 25 AUGUST CINEMAS

An ill-advised robbery spells doom for all concerned in writer/ director Nicholas Maggio’s impressive debut, a Deep South neo-noir with echoes of Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, Hell or High Water) and No Country for Old Men. Shiloh Fernandez and Kevin Dillon are small-town crooks without a chance, Stephen Dorff is a philosophically inclined killer and the seen-it-all sheriff is played by John Travolta. The latter is no Tommy Lee Jones and the second half loses momentum, but the generally strong performances and handsome cinematography mark Maggio as one to watch.

APOCALYPSE CLOWN 15

★★★★★

OUT 1 SEPTEMBER CINEMAS

There’s plenty of goofing around in this wacky farce about a group of over-the-hill children’s entertainers obliged to take a cross-Ireland road trip after a solar flare knocks out the power. (‘This is Y2K times 2K!’ says a reporter riding their coattails.) And Natalie Palamides deserves a new tiny bike for her zany scene-stealing as a Pennywise-style harlequin certain to terrify coulrophobics. A pity, then, that the anarchic exuberance George Kane’s (Crashing, Inside No. 9) film initially projects isn’t sustained, leaving us instead with something akin to a slowly deflating balloon animal.

A LIFE ON THE FARM TBC

★★★✩✩

OUT 8 SEPTEMBER CINEMAS

The extraordinary tale of filmmaking farmer Charles Carson is told in this engaging doc from first-time director Oscar Harding. It all begins with the discovery of a VHS tape containing home videos of Carson’s life on a Somerset farm. The found footage is peppered with moments that are by turns odd, creepy and unintentionally hilarious; perhaps the most striking moment is when Carson records his own brother’s funeral with the enthusiasm of a teenage cineaste. Less fascinating, however, are Harding’s attempts to contextualise the footage with some superfluous talking-head interviews.

BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT TBC

★★★✩✩

OUT 1 SEPTEMBER

CINEMAS

The power of music comes to the fore in this fly-on-the-wall doc about Bobi Wine, a Ugandan singer who took on Yoweri Museveni, the country’s ruthless leader since 1986. Directed by Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp, the film follows Wine as he goes from recording protest songs to finding himself arrested by a dictatorship where kidnappings and torture are the norm. Although hardly groundbreaking, it’s a solid introduction to the Ugandan situation and the courage of those who stand against Museveni.