Film: The Monkey

Tonight, I just couldn't resist The Monkey, with The Hideout. Based on a short story by Stephen King, with screenplay, and directed, by Osgood Perkins (son of Anthony Perkins), it just seemed to have such a great sense of humour.. definite shades of Final Destination, with its inventive ways of killing people. They were going to see it at Cineworld Leicester Square, so I booked for Bella Italia Cranborne Street beforehand.

The bus was delayed - and packed, the upstairs, where I had to sit, all steamy, with a couple of girls drawing cartoons on the condensation-covered front window. So I was late arriving at the restaurant - on the very first occasion when they were packed, and didn't have space for me! Never fear - as one guy promised me an imminent Pinot Grigio, an older lady I didn't remember from before gave me the nod that a table were just leaving, and beckoned me upstairs five minutes later.

My wine arrived before I had a chance to order food - I went for the dough balls again this time, and they were gorgeous. And, of course, the chicken Milanese - as my server (rightly) remarked, "You're never going to change your order, are you?!" Well, you know, if it ain't broke.. I gobbled it down, it was piping hot and delicious. And then I scurried a few doors down to the cinema, a few minutes late for the advertised meeting time.

I appear to have been the first of the group to arrive. I got myself a drink, and a seat on a sofa - in due course, someone lost-looking materialised near the entrance, very obviously looking for someone, at around the time that someone posted a message on the site about trying to find us. "Ahah", I thought - and sure enough, she was new to the group. We chatted until some others arrived - and went in, just after the ads started. A small enough screen, there were only three rows, so we were never going to be sat far from each other.

Ok, so - I was attracted to this by the trailer. Loved the sense of humour. And that is exactly what I found with the film as well - now, the group as a whole was divided afterwards. But as I say, horror and comedy are both subjective things.. I found the humour never far from the surface, in what isn't a very scary film, but is frequently quite surreal. And as one reviewer remarked - what's remarkable about it is, although the jokes keep coming, it retains its darkness, and a substantial count of gruesome deaths. The Stephen King story gave this its inspiration, but most of the plot is straight from Osgood Perkins - and my, does he have a twisted sense of humour. And I'm never going to listen to Let the Good Times Roll in the same way again..

Tomorrow, rounding off a run of three Meetups, I'm back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies, whee! I couldn't manage his weekend walk last month, he had it on a weekend I was in Ireland.. great to be back with him again. This one is Belgravia: Elegance, Criminality & Shopping.

Sunday sees our monthly meeting of ex-colleagues - well, most of them; Martin finally confirmed he can probably make it, and James' sore throat seems to be clearing up - but now Ivan's dog is in hospital, requiring him to be there, in all likelihood. Well, you never know. Heading in the direction of Victoria again, we're going to try The Phoenix. Ivan managed an all-day booking.

On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Lynn Faces, a comedy about women of a certain age starting a punk group, and playing at the New Diorama. And that's it for socialising for me for the week - the rest is on my own.

On Tuesday, I was thinking film - and the film at the top of my list looks really good; I'm Still Here is about a Brazilian woman whose husband disappeared during the military dictatorship. Based on a true story, this is receiving a lot of attention. Also showing widely - the closest to me is in the BFI. I've booked it, because it's started to sell out, and booked to eat at The Archduke afterwards.

On Wednesday - whee, more storytelling! This one is Folk Horror Night, and takes place in Folklore Hoxton, tickets through Dice - run by the Crick Crack Club, performed by Laura Sampson and Daniel Morden. Already sold out. I've booked for The Blues Kitchen Shoreditch beforehand.

On Thursday, I've booked - because it was also selling out - for Intercepted, an interesting-sounding documentary, showing at Curzon Bloomsbury only, as far as I know, about phone calls home from Russian soldiers in the Ukraine, and intercepted by Ukrainian security forces. And then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.