📽 AT THE MOVIES-

Talk to Me is the horror movie you’ve been waiting for all year. Originally debuting at the Sundance Film Festival, this viscerally terrifying film by twins Danny and Michael Philippou, who got started making horror shorts for Youtube, is chilling to the bone. It rivals this summer’s wildly successful blockbusters in ratings, currently standing at a very comfortable 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and four out of five stars on Google audience ratings. It stars breakout actor Sophie Wilde as Mia, who delivers a striking performance as she grieves her mother’s passing.

The risky party game that kicks off the plot involves a severed hand that once belonged to a psychic or a Satanist, and was presumably cut off to stop them communicating with the dead. Discovering the hand, which has been embalmed and cased in ceramic, a group of teens do what teens do — make a game of it, film it, and post it online. The game involves holding the hand and inviting the spirit of a dead person to possess your body — with the trick being that you have to end the ritual within 90 seconds. Unfortunately for that group of friends, as the game goes on, the spirits start to become a little too familiar.

The Philippou brothers’ debut on the big screen delivers an intelligently crafted and genuinely terrifying film, perhaps the scariest A24 production to date. As well as a genuinely unsettling experience that will not only have you on the edge of your seat, but also watching through your fingers, it is a poignant exploration of the psychological relationship between the living and the dead, especially during times of grief.

WHERE TO WATCH- Talk to Me is screening at Cairo Festival City, Plaza Cinemas, Arkan Cinema and Sun City Cinema.

What happens when you release a Halloween movie smack dab in the middle of summer? Short answer: You lose mns of USDs. Disney’s Haunted Mansion is based on Disneyland’s The Haunted Mansion ride. It features a host of talented actors such as Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, and the beloved Danny DeVito, but unfortunately for this ensemble, the studio expected them to do all the heavy lifting with no support from the script. The movie had a Disney-sized budget of USD 157.8 mn, according to Variety — compared to Barbie’s USD 145 mn and Oppenheimer’s USD 100 mn — and only garnered USD 33 mn with its debut.

The plotline: It follows Dawson’s character, a single mother looking for a fresh start in a visibly haunted home, who enlists the help of a grieving astrophysicist (Stanfield), a priest (Wilson), a psychic (Haddish), and a professor (DeVito) to help rid her new home of spirits.

Our take:It is a solid premise for a spooky Halloween movie, but its inconsiderate release date and bad writing sabotage what could have been a fun watch for children and a nostalgic watch for older audiences. While some good chase sequences, effective jumpscares, and the odd chilling scene arepeppered throughout the film, the cast is severely underutilized, and what could have been moving scenes are lost due to the forced Disney-fication of the tone of the movie. As a result, the comical Haddish and DeVito struggle to deliver the punchlines written for them, and only a few glimmers of the ensemble’s chemistry — Wilson and Stanfield’s specifically — shine through.

WHERE TO WATCH- Haunted Mansion is showing on VOX screens in City Center Almaza and Mall of Egypt, Cairo Festival City standard and VIP theaters, and Premiere Point 90. You can also find it streaming on Disney+, though we would recommend waiting until the official spooky season for a fun family watch.

📚 FROM THE BOOKSTORE-

Forensic accounting specialist Kelly Richmond Pope guides us into the world of financial fraud in Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Tn-USD Fraud Industry. In a realm that causes so much damage to individuals, families, corporations, and even governments alike, there is much to be said, from how victims fall for crafty ponzi schemes to what drives perpetrators to commit fraud. Pope sits down with fraudsters, victims and whistleblowers to more clearly understand the psychology of fraud.

The book is filled with fascinating fraud stories + interesting analysis: Pope takes us beyond the technicalities of fraud in her book, offering a gut-wrenching view of cases where harm far exceeded money. For instance, the author tells the story of a doctor who cheated his cancer patients by diluting their treatments to maximize his income — with devastating health consequences to unsuspecting victims. The book undoubtedly leaves you wiser about the inner workings of the minds of criminal fraudsters, and the threats that surround us in our daily lives.

WHERE TO FIND IT- The book is available at Diwan Bookstore for EGP 1.2k.

🍴 HOT AND FRESH OUT OF THE KITCHEN-

Lado’s Pizza brings a taste of Napoli to Mall of Arabia’s The Park. The pizzeria has fresh ingredients, uses thin dough —- the Italian way — and makes the crust extra crispy.The restaurant menu features all the classic favorites like Funghi and Pepperoni, and the best part is: f you can’t commit to one choice, you can switch things up by ordering from a selection of choices that are available per slice — but fret not, they’re not stingy when it comes to portions.

Don’t skip dessert. As far as desserts go, we loved the Tiramisu, but you can also opt for the torta di mele: An apple pie with the perfect mix of sweet and tangy.

💵 Per person: EGP 200-250

🪑 Outdoor seating: Yes

🍺 Alcohol: No

🦽 Accessibility friendly: Yes

Tags: