Priyanka Roy

There is nothing wrong with an inconclusive ending. Many popular films — some even cult classics, without a shred of doubt — have ended on a note that invites speculation many decades later. Think The Shining. Think Donnie Darko. Think The Inception. But what about an ending which is not really an ending, ambiguous or otherwise? One which builds its tension to claustrophobic levels in the first hour and then allows it to inexplicably dissipate in the next? A House of Dynamite — Kathryn Bigelow’s latest look at how we could be seconds away from being wiped out of existence in this age of nuclear weaponry — is that kind of film. As one review aptly noted about this film — A House of Dynamite is good… until it isn’t.

Vash: Level 2 literally hits the ground running — pun fully intended. The sequel to the 2023 Gujarati film Vash (which found its Hindi remake in last year’s Shaitaan, starring Janki Bodiwala from the original, along with Ajay Devgn, R. Madhavan and Jyothika) retains the deeply unsettling psychological horror vibe of the first film, all the while expanding its canvas in terms of plot and players.

Rumour has it that if Brad Pitt hadn’t thrown his weight behind F1 (read: put his movie star foot down), then the film would have bypassed the big screen and been a straight-to-streaming release. The high-octane film fittingly found a release in theatres in June, made pots of money and will arrive on Apple TV only in December. No such luck, however, for another Apple TV-backed project. After a limited release in theatres in the US, The Lost Bus found its way to the streaming service earlier this month.

Sinking its teeth — pun fully intended — into the horror-comedy universe is Thamma. Spawned by Stree in 2018, whose super success so far has led to the creation of one sequel (Stree 2) and two connected verticals (Bhediya, Munjya), Thamma is the latest in this multiverse which has now acquired the name MHCU (Maddock Horror Comedy Universe), which, of course — tongue firmly in cheek — is not to be confused with the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).

Aspiring to be Agatha Christie-lite, mounting a narrative that reminds one of the Knives Out films and attempting to throw in a bit of Hitchcockian suspense in a confined space setting, The Woman in Cabin 10 is the latest in the subgenre of unreliable female narrators, one that has gained momentum in the last decade with films like Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, Before I Go To Sleep, The Woman in the Window, et al. The Woman in Cabin 10, recently released on Netflix, is based on Ruth Ware’s 2016 novel, and swaps the manor-style/chamber drama setting reserved for mysteries of such kind for a cruise ship. While that may initially come across as inventive, one immediately realises that Christie did it almost 90 years ago with Death on the Nile, that found its way to the big screen in 1978 and then as recently as 2022.

Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell star in You’re Cordially Invited — the most Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell film possible. That both actors function as executive producers in this 2025 romantic comedy shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, both have earned their stripes largely being a part of such films — ones that are predominantly distinguished by their ability to slap together a ludicrous but mostly watchable story that brings on ample belly laughs. Whether you retain any bit of those films once you walk out of the theatre is, however, questionable.

A low-frills survival thriller with the drama ratcheted up to a level optimum enough to keep audiences on the edge of their seats is hard to come by. Last Breath gets quite a bit of that tricky formula right, even as it serves up an astounding story of resilience based on a true account. Directed by Alex Parkinson and released in select markets earlier this year, Last Breath is a feature film remake of the 2019 documentary that Parkinson co-directed with Richard da Costa. It follows the remarkable real-life story of a group of deep-sea divers who race against time to rescue a stranded teammate after an accident.

Every parent’s worst nightmare comes scarily alive in Hallow Road, a smartly mounted and slickly directed thriller that is packed as much with chills as it is laden with metaphor. Hallow Road is directed by British-Iranian filmmaker Babak Anvari, who has earned his stripes in the horror genre with a few memorable titles, including the 2019 film Wounds, starring Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson and Zazie Beetz. In his latest turn, he takes his craft a notch higher with a single vehicle-two people story that takes place within the course of a few hours one night.