Screening Guide: Trauma, tennis royalty and werewolves

Mila Kunis as Ani in Luckiest Girl Alive, streaming on Netflix.

Luckiest Girl Alive
(Netflix)
With Netflix's recent true-crime biopic on Jeffrey Dahmer causing controversial headlines for re-traumatising the families of his victims, this new film feels rather timely.
In this tense drama, Mila Kunis stars as a woman who has completely reinvented herself as an adult in a bid to mentally escape a shocking and traumatic sexual assault that happened to her as a teenager at a prestigious school. This trauma is dredged back up when the director of a true crime series approaches her to star in the series and give her version of events. Faced with what she'd tried to forget her carefully staged new life, including her great job and upcoming marriage, threatens to all fall apart.
Streaming from tomorrow.

Werewolf By Night
(Disney+)
Marvel mashes into the monsterverse with this retro-flavoured Halloween special that looks spooktacular. The whole thing is a loving homage to the hammy horror of the 1930s and 40s, right down to being shot in glorious black and white and riffing on all the tropes of the genre.

Laura Donnelly in Marvel Studios' Werewolf By Night, streaming on Disney+ from tomorrow.

The story is delightfully inspired, following a bunch of monster hunters charged with eliminating a werewolf that is hiding in their group.
Mixing suspense, scares, comedy and comic book violence, it should offer fans of the genre a frightfully good time.
Streaming from tomorrow.

King Richard
(Neon)
The American Film Institute named this conventional but superbly crafted sports bio-pic one of the best films of last year.

Will Smith in King Richard, streaming on Neon.

Its star, Will Smith, won an Oscar for his portrayal of Richard Williams, the demanding father of tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams, who was single-mindedly determined to make tennis stars of his daughters.
Critics praised the uplifting movie with one raving, "it's a film that transcends the trappings of sports biopics".
Despite all that, it will most likely be remembered for Smith assaulting Award presenter Chris Rock during the Oscar ceremony earlier this year.
Streaming from Sunday.