Film reviews: Apostasy, Iceman, Of Gods and Warriors … and more

The Manchester-born writer-director is a former Jehovah’s Witness and his brilliant debut takes us inside the cult’s Kingdom Hall in Oldham. 

Kokotajlo doesn’t use the word “cult” but it feels entirely appropriate. 

He shows us a closed community with a radical, apocalyptic agenda that deliberately divides families and places dogma above human life. 

But Kokotajlo clearly cares for these people. Apostasy is a hard-hitting film but it’s also a sympathetic one. 

Siobhan Finneran plays Ivanna, a devout middle-aged Witness with two teenage daughters, Luisa (Sacha Parkinson) and Alex (Molly Wright). 

Both will test her faith. Alex has a blood condition but in accordance with the rulings of the “elders” is risking her life by refusing transfusions. 

And when Luisa falls pregnant she is “disfellowshipped” and must fend for herself. 

The performances are excellent, the plot is full of surprises and the characters are complex and credible. 

Next month a film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel The Children Act will also examine the Witnesses’ deadly rulings on blood transfusions. 

Kokotajlo’s film feels far more authentic, revealing the group’s jargon and the ideology that underpins it. 

Here the always imminent apocalypse is referred to as the arrival of “the new system”. 

As Witnesses will be spared to live for ever in an earthly paradise, the faithful may be looking forward to the apocalypse but their humanity still demands a euphemism. 

So when a seemingly well-meaning elder called Steven (Robert Emms) proposes marriage to Alex he tells her about his prospects. 

He thinks his salary from the church, coupled with the takings from his window-cleaning round, will allow them to live comfortably until the “new system” arrives.

When you realise he is talking about mass murder this conversation feels chilling in its mundanity. 

I’ve suffered some long nights of the soul over the past few years but my faith in British film has just been restored.

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ICEMAN 

A 5,000-year-old murder mystery is finally solved in this near-wordless revenge drama. 

Ötzi is the name archaeologists gave to the Copper Age man whose well-preserved mummy was found in a glacier on the Italo-Austrian border in 1991. 

This entertaining drama offers a speculative explanation for how he came to be killed by a single arrow wound. 

German writer-director Felix Randau bravely chooses to shoot his scraps of dialogue in unsubtitled ancient Rhaetian so we don’t get to know much about what made Ötzi tick. 

But after seeing his tribe wiped out by raiders our grizzled hero (Jürgen Vogel) heads up the Alps to take his revenge. 

The scenery is beautifully shot and the furry costumes are convincing. But the plot feels overly familiar. 

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OF GODS AND WARRIORS 

If you can’t wait for the next series of Game Of Thrones this cheap and cheerful swords and sandals saga might fill the gap. 

The plot concerns a family feud between Viking Princess Helle (Anna Demetriou) and her evil usurper Uncle (Timo Nieminen) who has killed the king and framed her for murder. 

While Princess Helle is on the run, Odin (Terence Stamp) keeps popping up in a swirl of CGI smoke to dispense nuggets of advice while a warrior, played by Will Mellor, provides more earthly assistance. 

The dialogue is naff and the battle scenes are short on extras but it’s reasonably exciting and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. 

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HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3: SUMMER VACATION

Three movies in, this animated vampire comedy feels a little long in the fang. Adam Sandler returns as the voice of Dracula, the worrywart proprietor of Hotel Transylvania, a gothic hostelry for classic movie monsters. 

In the first film he fretted over the relationship between his 118-year-old daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and her human boyfriend Johnny (Andy Samberg). 

In the second he was going batty over his half-vampire, half-human grandson. 

For the third, director Genndy Tartakovsky has turned to the British sitcom spin-off staple: the holiday abroad. 

Mavis decides he needs a break so she packs him and his guests off on a cruise to Atlantis. 

Dracula soon falls for the ship’s captain (Kathryn Hahn), unaware that she is the great-grandaughter of his arch-nemesis Abraham Van Helsing and she is seeking revenge on Dracula. 

Tartakovsky uses the plot as a platform to deliver a non-stop barrage of puns, slapstick, musical numbers and fart gags. 

Little ones should enjoy it. 

Grown-ups may find themselves sympathising a little too readily with exhausted werewolf parents Steve Buscemi and Molly Shannon.