Alfie Williams

I don't share Manny's general antipathy to horror as a genre (I put Final Destination Bloodlines on my list of top films for this year), but I was not impressed with Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later, which was the #2 movie in US theaters last week. (Neither of the big new releases, Boyle's film and Pixar's Elio, was able to knock the tiresome live-action remake of the tiresome animated franchise How to Train Your Dragon -- three films, in 2010, 2014, and 2019 -- out of the top spot in its second week.) But 13 yo Alfie Williams, who plays Spike, does his best in an underwritten role. He is on screen for practically the whole movie, though sadly overdressed, and almost makes the film watchable. A sequel (not directed by Boyle) has already been filmed for release in January, apparently also with Williams in the leading role. Let's hope this time the zombies (sorry, the "infected") put some clothes on and instead Alfie gets naked. Fat chance. Too bad Williams wasn't cast in Black Phone in 2022 instead of Mason Thames, who also stars in Train Your Dragon. Thames, 17, is well past his sell date now, which doesn't portend well for Black Phone 2, which comes out in October. Black Phone was disappointingly reticent about Ethan Hawke's sexual motivations as "the Grabber." Hollywood knows how to titillate when it puts girls in peril, but doing the same with boys seems to scare the industry. hugzu ;-p