The Neon Demon

Fans of Drive who felt led up the garden path by its follow-up, Only God Forgives, should perhaps bypass the tenth feature by Danish provocateur Nicolas Winding Refn, who has long abandoned the realist bent of earlier work such as Pusher. Admirers of the style of the director's recent output, however, will find plenty to chew on in this graphic, gothic-psychological horror movie, which stars Elle Fanning as teenage model Jesse, who moves to LA to start a modelling career. Jesse proves to be an instant smash hit, but her success has a price, stirring up dangerous jealousies on the catwalk and deadly, unrequited passions off it. Taken by some to be a lurid satire on the fashion world, this is really a cerebral tribute to 1980s slasher films that's better seen as a psychedelic meditation on fame, with a trippy score by Cliff Martinez that helps soften the narrative lurches between each striking set piece.