Irish filmmaker Lee Cronin made something of an impact with his slow-burn 2019 horror The Hole in the Ground. It certainly made an impression on Sam Raimi, who hired Cronin to direct the latest film in his 42-year-old franchise: Evil Dead Rise. It’s a follow-up to Fede Alvarez’s soft reboot from 2013, and early reactions indicate it’s every bit as gnarly as that intensely gory film. “If you’re looking for an onslaught of sadistic carnage, you’re in the right place,” warns/promises Sethsreviews. Andrew Pope says it’s “the big, crowd-pleasing Evil Dead movie we were hoping for.” (In theaters worldwide April 21.)

It’s hard to fully articulate the importance of Makoto Shinkai’s 2016 anime Your Name. to so many Letterboxd members. Data helps: it’s been logged by almost 700,000 members, and appears in the Letterboxd Top 250. Words also help: Charlie writes after a recent rewatch that “Shinkai is a filmmaker fixated on stories of connection and love and the strength it gives us especially in the face of tragedy.” And so it is with Suzume, which takes the devastating earthquake of 2011 and weaves a story of magic doors and the high schooler who must close them as she criss-crosses Japan with her crush, who has been turned into a three-legged chair. “This movie found a way to treat this tragedy with the sweetest care,” writes AnnisCritique. Kambole Campbell chatted with Shinkai-san about animating the chair in question. (In theaters in multiple regions now.)

With his first two features, Hereditary and Midsommar, writer-director Ari Aster not only marked himself as one of the most interesting American filmmakers working today, he helped define the success of boutique distributor A24. His highly anticipated new work, which was announced as Disappointment Blvd but has reached cinemas as Beau Is Afraid, appears to be an extension of his 2013 short Beau, with Joaquin Phoenix as a man attempting to get home to his mother in “an epic journey through the peculiar and the macabre,” says Jeff Nelson. The rest of the cast is also worth the ticket: “I love that the credits go ‘WITH Parker Posey AND Patti LuPone’,” raves Alex Engquist, “because the two of them combined … steal the entire movie and (deep into its third hour) somehow catapult it to a whole other level of Completely Bonkers.”  (In US theaters April 20, coming to the UK in May.)

Judy Blume is one of the most popular American authors of the last fifty years, and more or less invented the YA market, but Hollywood has struggled to successfully translate her works into films—fewer than a thousand Letterboxd members have logged Tiger Eyes (directed by her son, Lawrence). In the modern, intellectual-property-driven marketplace, Blume’s name recognition was never going to go unexploited, and one of her earliest coming-of-age successes is now getting the big-screen treatment. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret follows the title character (not God) as she enters adolescence. A week before the film’s US release on April 28, the recent Sundance documentary Judy Blume Forever goes up on Prime Video. Louisa Moore calls that one “a comprehensive, delightful look at one of America’s best-selling (and most censored) children’s book authors of all time.”

Like Ari Aster, David Lowery is a filmmaker who gets a lot of love around here. Unlike Aster (so far), Lowery has demonstrated a knack for switching between acclaimed independent films such as A Ghost Story and The Green Knight and studio family fare like the wholesome Pete’s Dragon. His latest film is technically “one for them”, but even Lowery’s mainstream work benefits from his lyrical approach. That appears to be the case with Peter Pan & Wendy, which lands on Disney+ on April 28 (depriving families of another much-needed kid-friendly title in cinemas, alas). Alexander Molony and Ever Anderson (Milla Jovovich’s daughter) play the leads against Jude Law’s Captain Hook. If anyone can breathe new life into this oft–adapted tale, it’s Lowery.

We didn’t know we needed a movie about a Finnish prospector killing Nazis during World War II, but pretty much everyone who sees Finnish/American co-production Sisu (which premiered at last year’s TIFF during the fabled Midnight Madness section) is adamant that we did. Directed by Jalmari Helander (whose evil Santa movie Rare Exports impressed in 2010), Sisu follows Aatami (Jorma Tommila), a former soldier who discovers a huge pile of gold in Lapland towards the end of World War II, but must square off against a Nazi death squad (led by Norwegian star Aksel Hennie) in order to get the bounty home. Ben Schwartz tantalizingly calls it “a Mad Max ’79-level action movie”. “Think Rambo mixed with Django [Unchained] and some Seven Samurai thrown in!” raves Mal Jutley. (In US theaters April 28.)

With James Gunn now heading up DC’s cinematic offerings (alongside producing partner Peter Safran), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will stand as his Marvel swansong. You may recall he was once fired from the job of directing this film due to some old, bad tweets, and so he went off and made The Suicide Squad for Marvel’s distinguished competition. Gunn was eventually re-hired once things calmed down, and is one of only two directors to work at both companies (Bryan Singer made X-Men movies either side of Superman Returns). After so-so reactions to recent Marvel offerings, Disney will no doubt be hoping that this gets the MCU back on track. (In theaters worldwide May 5.)

British outfit Working Title helped define the modern romantic comedy with movies like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually. Tonal traces of both can be found in What’s Love Got to Do with It?, which applies the studio’s rom-com model to the world of assisted marriage in contemporary Western Muslim communities, via the pen of Jemima Khan. Lily James stars as a documentarian making a film about her childhood friend (a dashing doctor played by Shazad Latif) as he willingly participates in his family’s search for a bride. “Emma Thompson steals scenes,” writes Nikki. For another fresh take on the British rom-com, see Rye Lane—we have details about a very Working Title cameo from that film’s director. (In US theaters May 5.)

Following a surprise screening of a “work in progress” print at SXSW, anticipation is forming for Robert Rodriguez’s new film Hypnotic, his first (proper, adult-targeted) movie since 2019’s Alita: Battle Angel (which deserves a sequel). We’re less than a month out from its release, and it only just got a trailer, which hints at a combination of Paycheck (Ben Affleck back on a motorbike—yay!) and Memento (polaroids as key plot points—yay!). It’s rare that we know so little about such a big film so close to release. Which is exciting. Also exciting: the great William Fichtner in a high-profile villain role. (In US theaters May 12.)

Among our latest stories on Journal, Adesola Thomas spoke to A.V. Rockwell, writer-director of Harlem-set Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner A Thousand and One, which is now in theaters. Mickey Reece (“the Soderbergh of the Sticks”) marked the release of his latest film Country Gold by telling Aaron Yap about the movies he loves (everything from Raging Bull to Adventures in Babysitting) in the latest Life In Film. And Oscar-nominated actress Hong Chau told Gabrielle Sanchez all about getting knotty and handling birds in their conversation about Showing Up.

There have been perceivable advances in representative storytelling of late, but films where the lesbians get together at the end still feel like the exception rather than the rule. Well, it turns out there are at least 133 of them, as celebrated by Aria Velz in their list titled The Lesbians Get Together At The End. Just in time for Lesbian Visibility Day, April 26. (Comes with a Very Obvious Spoiler Warning.)

As mentioned earlier, lost-film non-profit Missing Movies now has a Letterboxd HQ, and to mark the occasion, Mitchell Beaupre pulled together a feature in which various members of the collective extoll their passion for several out-of-print movies that deserve to be available. Read Lingua Franca director-star Isabel Sandoval’s insightful take on Elaine May’s The Heartbreak Kid and see what obscure-movie expert Joe Dante (the director of Gremlins) has to say about 1964 curio Terror in the City, among many others.

Stuntman-turned-stunt-coordinator-turned-director Chad Stahelski really outdid himself with John Wick: Chapter 4, a superlative crescendo of an action film. To mark its release, Stahelski told us about all the films that influenced him in its making, a list that runs from Amélie to The Warriors. He also explains how he conceived the action spectacular’s insane final hour.

Speaking of The Warriors, that’s just one film on Fae’s Personal Arab American Canon list, a timely curation for April, which is National Arab American Heritage Month in the US. Many of the films also appear on Lee Benson’s list recognizing the month.

There are few film fans as passionate about the work of Willem Dafoe as our senior editor Mitchell Beaupre. So naturally we got them to interview Dafoe about his new lockdown film Inside, currently in theaters. Mitchell asked Dafoe to open up about many of his iconic performances and his “kinky relationship” with autograph hounds.

They really have a cinematic universe for everything these days, including blue eye shadow.

It’s time for Dom’s Pick! Each month, Call Sheet editor Dominic Corry ends with a recommendation for your watchlists. This month: The Ruins (2008). If you enjoyed the grisly aspects of the new Evil Dead film, be sure to check out this surprisingly nasty little thriller with a much smaller profile than it deserves. Adapted from a book by Scott B. Smith (who also wrote A Simple Plan’s source material), it follows four shiny young Americans vacationing in Mexico who become trapped on top of an ancient Mayan temple for reasons they don’t initially comprehend. The marketing kept the exact nature (hehe) of the threat somewhat ambiguous, which is perhaps understandable as it’s kind of ridiculous on paper, but the execution is relentlessly gripping and the body-horror aspires to Cronenbergian levels of squirminess.