Director: Edgar Wright

Stars: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg, Rita Tushingham, Terence Stamp

High on style but running on empty for substance, Wright’s horror thriller is so derivative it feels more like curation than filmmaking, but crucially without the idiosyncratic tweak that a Tarantino would bring to the table.

Jojo Rabbit’s Thomasin McKenzie is Eloise, a 60s obsessed young woman who moves from Cornwall where she lives with her grandmother (Tushingham) to London to study fashion. Tired of her bitchy halls of residence roommate, Eloise takes a room in an attic at the house of grumpy but not unsympathetic cockney Ms Collins (Rigg, characteristically great in her last role). Her first night at Mrs Collins’ sees Eloise enter some kind of portal where she becomes glamourous wannabe it-girl Sandie (Taylor-Joy) in swinging 60s London. But Eloise’s nocturnal alter ego’s journey takes a very dark turn when Sandie meets geezer about town Jack (Smith).

Technically the picture is accomplished, particularly the recreation of the 60s West End and seedy Soho, although it’s a lot more bashful about the sex than the horror elements. The script is merely perfunctory with some of the less accomplished actors floundering with their thinly-sketched characters. Ever the maximalist magpie, Wright throws everything at screen as the film draws to a conclusion to diminishing effect.

David Willoughby

Follow David on @DWill_Crackfilm