Screening Guide: Super sleuths, pandemic horror and murder games

Millie Bobby Brown stars in Enola Holmes on Netflix. Photo: Supplied.

Enola Holmes
(Netflix)

Stranger Things' breakout star Millie Bobby Brown leaves the 1980s behind to get even more retro in her new mystery film, Enola Holmes. Set in 1884, she stars as the younger sister of a very famous detective (we'll leave you to puzzle over who that might be) who decides to break out of boarding school and crack the case of her missing mother. She soon gets entangled in a separate - or is it? - mystery involving a missing lord. A case her famous brother also happens to be in the process of solving. And thus, the game is afoot, as the two super-sleuth siblings pit their detecting skills against each other. It looks terrific and with its all-star cast, which includes Helena Bonham Carter and Henry Cavill, checking it out seems an elementary decision. Streaming now.

Inside
(Prime)

Prime's local Covid-19 horror series Inside takes another shot at infecting our screens. The show, about a woman self-isolating during a second lockdown, proved eerily prescient as its original air date came as Auckland's second wave began to crash. Correctly, Prime pulled it from the schedule. But now as the country slides down the emergency levels, the time is right for some pandemic-based horror.

Scene from Prime's new local mystery/horror series INSiDE. Photo: Supplied

Inside follows a tech support worker who hacks into people's Zoom recordings to spy on them. Her voyeurism and lockdown isolation begin to see her paranoia take over as she struggles to keep a grip on what threats are real and what are in her head. One to check out if you like your horror extremely close to home. Premieres tonight, 8.30pm on Prime.

Ready or Not
(Neon)

Neon reanimates the Sunday-night horror this week with the bloodied slasher flick Ready or Not. Like all good B-flicks, it takes itself just seriously enough. At the time of its cinema release, our reviewer described it as "a raucous dark comedy that feels like a game of Cluedo played in an abattoir".

Samara Weaving in the film Ready or Not, streaming on Neon. Photo: Supplied.

The film follows a new bride whose in-laws insist on fulfilling their strange family tradition; a postnuptial board game. She humours them and - surprise - the game turns out to be a murderous and splatter-filled romp of hide-and-seek. Despite the blood, gore and decapitation, things could still have been worse; they could have played Monopoly. Streaming from Sunday.