People who specialize in killing and murder are on display in these two very different films. In one, there’s a cold, amoral contract killer, while the second offers a serial killer/aspiring actress and how the craving for attention spurs her to homicidal extremes.

The Killer (Netflix USA) There was a time, and it wasn’t that long ago, that if I just said ‘David Fincher and Michael Fassbender’, a legion of cinephiles would immediately prick their ears up in attention and be ready to catch the first screening of the film attached to those two names. The Killer premiered in Cannes earlier this year, and while there were praises for the film, it no longer carried the kind of attention that a Fincher film would have signified. Seven, Fight Club, and Gone Girl are just some of the films directed by Fincher that made him such a favorite to a generation, my eldest son of 32 in that generation. And this film sees Fincher back in familiar territory, that of the lone, contract killer.

Fassbender makes this Killer an introspective thinker, with a narration that works like an inner monologue. It’s when one contract goes disastrously wrong, and consequences are meted out; the film goes on a trajectory unique to the genre. The narrative involves ‘biting the hand that feeds you’, and Fassbender’s character going on revenge mode. It’s obvious from the very start that this is Michael’s film. We may have the likes of Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, and Arliss Howard on board, but they’re either minor characters at best, collateral damage, or merely serve as something for Fassbender to react against. You’ll either love the film's measured pacing or feel it’s too much of nothing. Take your pick.

Pearl (Amazon Prime On Demand) - Ti West directs, and Mia Goth is a muse, co-producer, and guiding light of this crazy film prequel. Its connection is to the nostalgic slasher hit X - the one where a bunch of kids set out to film an X-rated feature and end up being terrorized in a manner reminiscent of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. X was well-reviewed, enjoyed brisk business, and was admired for trying to stretch the horror genre. Here, Mia Goth showcases why she’s enjoyed such a strong fan following and is considered today’s High Princess of Gore and Shock. With Pearl, we have a psycho-drama slasher film that really pulls out all the stops to disturb us.

Kitschy and filmed in over-saturated Technicolor, like we’re back in the 1950s, Pearl is about a farm girl in 1918 who wants to be a Hollywood star and will stop at nothing - even murder - to get her way. The desire to be a star at all costs and being a serial killer are portrayed as two sides of one coin. How Pearl’s everyone will remember my name and that my name will be in lights will fit both her acting resume and the lurid trail of deaths left in her murderous wake. A pet crocodile in the swamp by the farm is just one sublime, off-kilter touch to this film, and how its philosophy is ‘Nothing is too weird or bizarre’ to ramp up the psychodrama.