Our movie critic, Paul McGuire Grimes, rates a new movie that is streaming and one that is out in theaters – plus he sits down with some of the stars.

THE GREATEST HITS (Hulu)

Music has the power to transport us to another time and another place. The new film The Greatest Hits takes a look at what could happen if music could take us back to saving someone’s life as a way to cope with grief. For Lucy Boynton’s character, Harriett, listening to vinyl records or her Spotify playlists takes her back to vivid memories with her boyfriend, Max (David Corenswet). It’s been two years since his tragic death in a car accident. Harriett survived the crash but has been wracked with guilt and grief since then. Her apartment walls have a timeline of the events, memories, and musical selections leading up to that moment. She attends a grief support group where she meets David (Justin H. Min) who recently lost his parents. David also happens to have a love of music and vinyl, and it’s this connection that allows Harriett the chance to move on from Max’s passing.

–The Greatest Hits comes from writer/director Ned Benson who offers a unique look at the grieving process. Hopefully, anyone can relate to this notion that music has the ability to take us back a specific memory from our past.

-If you’ve ever dealt with sudden loss or grief, you’ll also understand how that can creep up on you without any warning. Harriett is young and struggles with the acceptance that comes with grief and death.

-Ned Benson wisely knows the stages of grief are not linear and Harriett certainly goes that rollercoaster of emotions, acceptance, and wanting to change the past.

-It would be easy for a character like this to be a sad sack, but I felt an endearing quality through Lucy Boyton’s performance that carries the film with just enough hope for the audience.

– Justin H. Min is so charming and lovable as David. He’s not some pretentious music geek but meets Harriett where she’s at while trying to push her along the way.

-Ned Benson teases this concept of Harriett going back in time with music, and you’re not quite sure if it’s just intuition, a mental escape, or an actual bit of time travel. This gets explored in depth in the climax as the teaching tool it needs to be for Harriett. It adds that fantasy element of the movie taking it out of the realism it usually rests in.

–The Greatest Hits is only 90 minutes, and worth a watch with its endearing performances and indie folk soundtrack. If you liked 500 Days of Summer, this should appeal to you as well.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 TICKET STUBS

ABIGAIL (in theaters)

There are countless vampire movies out there going from Nosferatu in 1922 to Dracula, True Blood and everything in between. The new film Abigail takes a crack at the monster movie subgenre about a young vampire ballerina. The film starts off with a home invasion with a group of criminals tasked with kidnapping Abigail from her home. All they know is that she’s the daughter of a very wealthy man and they’re all set to walk away with millions if the mission goes off without a hitch. Giancarlo Esposito stars as Lambert, the leader of the group who informs them must keep Abigail in this dusty old mansion for 24 hours. None of the criminals know each other and are given aliases named after members of the Rat Pat. Melissa Barrera plays Joey, Dan Stevens is Frank, Kathryn Newton is Sammy and so forth. They each seem to have their own skill set aiding them in the mission. It’s not long into the night when they realize they’re locked, bolted, and trapped in the house and that Abigail is no innocent young girl, but rather a ferocious vampire.

–Abigail comes from the directing team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet who go by the name Radio Silence and the writing team of Stephen Shields and Guy Busick. It was Shields idea to mash up a heist film with a vampire movie and see what happens next.

-Radio Silence is certainly the right duo for the job at hand as you can see their directing style at play if you’ve seen their previous films Ready or Not and Scream 5 and 6.

-It’s self-referential horror with a bloody bloody gauntlet thrown down for the audience. It certainly feels like they know how to play up the vampire stereotypes, the haunted mansion tropes, and of course having a creepy kid at the center of the story.

-I will say that the less you know about what happens the better. The mystery element is there, and I think it helps to have a love of the vampire subgenre if you want to have fun along the way.

-Much like the movie Clue, each of these characters are strangers, so they begin to distrust one another along the way. Kathryn Newton and Melissa Barrera are continuing their work in the horror genre making them contemporary scream queens. Newton has some great freak out moments as the technie member of the group.

-Alisha Weir previously starred in Matilda the Musical and goes a complete 180 by playing the diabolical Abigail. She’s a stunning young talent that’s up for the dance sequences, fight choreography, and all the blood that comes along with it.

–Abigail may only work for its intended audience, but Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett know what they’re doing with this horror mashup. They play up the ridiculous concept and it’s clear they’re aiming for laughs and screams with the jump scares and the snark.

RATING: 3 out of 5 TICKET STUBS