“Priest” begins with a chunk of nicely animated exposition, explaining the back-story in very visual terms, thusly saving audiences from having to digest dry monologues or clichéd narration. However that’s about the only genuinely clever thing it does for the entirety of its concise 87 minute runtime.

The cast are phenomenal, battling unremarkable writing and emerging victorious. Saoirse Ronan brings both an irresistible innocence and frightening ferocity to the title role, the delicate actress injecting the part with a radically impressive helping of physicality.

It’s been over a decade since 2000’s “Scream 3”, the world’s thirst for pictures featuring the iconic Ghostface having dried up right alongside it. However thanks to Hollywood’s consistent inability to produce fresh ideas, we now have “Scream 4”, a random and mostly unwanted continuation of this once proud franchise.

Who is the wolf? This mystery is easily solved early on, Hardwicke making it obvious through a selection of distressingly clumsy shots. “Red Riding Hood” attempts to use this central idea to incur a state of paranoia and suspense, but thanks to some unsubtle indicators and the film’s general refusal to unleash any genuine threat, the fear levels remain fairly low.

A sturdy sophomore effort, “Source Code” suffers from a few minor missteps, but generally holds up as an entertaining and soulful blast of imaginative cinema.

The soundtrack is uneven, the song selection never able to give the production anything more than a surface level adrenaline rush. Being a Zack Snyder film, “Sucker Punch” is of course visually flawless, both the cinematography and CGI reaching a pretty dazzling standard.

“Limitless” doesn’t have much to say on the perils of addiction, yet for at least 50% of its runtime the picture operates as a phenomenally slick thriller. It certainly detonates before its finale, but on the basis of several impressive ingredients, “Limitless” isn’t a total bust.

Christopher Smith’s “Black Death” is a hardened picture, but maybe not in the way you expect. An apocalyptically vicious examination of the damage that can be wrought through religious fanaticism, “Black Death” is a taut and thoroughly uncompromising affair.

A thriller of epically ridiculous proportions, “Drive Angry 3D” is pure schlock from start to finish.

Following up his 2008 winner “The Wrestler” was never going to be easy, but with the formidable “Black Swan” director Darren Aronofsky may even have bettered it. A psychological thriller set against a production of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”, Aronofsky’s film is a compellingly tragic affair.