A director’s wild relationship with the original franchise star now threatens the stability of a planned reboot, altering the film’s launch narrative before it can find its feet. Jane Schoenbrun’s third feature, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, is out now and foregrounds queer horror while following an up‑and‑coming director who falls into a relationship with a former lead, played by Gillian Anderson. That internal drama arrives as competing releases aim for attention.
Also out now, Mutiny returns Jason Statham to his familiar territory, an action thriller where one man takes on a conspiracy after being framed for his boss’s murder, co-starring Annabelle Wallis and Adrian Lester. Spa Weekend, another current release, trades on buddy‑comedy energy with Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau and Anna Faris as three childhood friends whose pamper break is upended by a chaotic former companion. The horror franchise market continues with Insidious: Out of the Further, the sixth instalment in a series that began in 2010, centring on a young mother who discovers she can bring back supernatural demons.
Live music and performances pile in across the UK and Ireland. Rochelle Jordan lands in Dublin on 25 August and Manchester on 26 August to support last year’s album Through the Wall, while Tyler, the Creator headlines two All Points East shows at Victoria Park, London on 28 and 29 August, with support across the dates including Turnstile, Dijon and Rex Orange County. The London Symphony Orchestra decamps to Snape Maltings on 28 August with Bruckner’s Ninth and Gubaidulina’s Viola Concerto conducted by Antonio Pappano and featuring violist Eivind Ringstad.
On the visual arts and fringe circuit, Elizabeth Xi Bauer’s roving exhibition Our Place in These Worlds runs in London to 27 September, presenting work on migration and collective identity by Esvin Alarcón Lam, Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín and Simón Vega. South‑east London’s Night Club Taco ! becomes a three‑week cabaret under Chloe Langlois from 22 August to 13 September, opening with a 24‑hour occult marathon. Walker Art Gallery’s Gender Stories continues in Liverpool to 31 August, and Simeon Barclay’s John Hansard show runs to 29 August.
Theatre and screen also add new viewing options. Simon Stephens’s A Slow Fire is at Jermyn Street theatre to 26 September, a post‑apocalyptic piece staged by a trio of Irish actors. Edinburgh’s Summerhall hosts Sauna Sessions through 31 August in an 80‑seat venue, with immersive pieces including a morning rave and a reworking of Virginia Woolf’s The Waves. On screen, Fightland premieres on Sky Atlantic and Now on 27 August at 9pm, a 50 Cent‑produced drama linking London boxing with criminal networks, while Netflix debuts Australian airport drama The Airport Chaplain on 26 August starring Hugo Weaving and Shabana Azeez.
The cultural calendar this week is dense and varied, from genre cinema navigating fraught publicity to major live gigs and long‑running exhibitions. Expect those runs and broadcasts to shape headlines into September as venues and screens carry the season forward.
