Illustration: Neil Edwards. Getty Images
Writer-director John Murlowski has been making low-budget genre fare since Return Of The Family Man (1989) — with such VHSera items as Amityville: A New Generation (1993) and Black Cadillac (2003) to his credit. Lately, he’s specialised in those mild-peril thrillers Channel 5 run every afternoon (Sisters In Crime, Killer Contractor, that sort of thing). 2019’s Assimilate, a lively spin on Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, is his best film to date. Misfit teens Joel Courtney and Calum Worthy post videos to show how dull their small town is, yet wind up chronicling its take-over by alien duplicates. The movies need to tell this story every few years, and it always feels relevant. Murlowski blends small-town satire with gruesome, inventive business. In a fresh wrinkle, people set to be replaced are first attacked by their naked doppelgängers — which gives the normals at least one shot at resisting duplication.