A teen boy’s strength and courage are put to the test when a mysterious stranger appears at his family’s motel and a woman is determined to save her home and her family’s rich Hawaiian culture from being forgotten.

A young boy, Krish, is growing into puberty and is stuck helping with his family’s motel property and then one night a stranger, JD, begins taking out the family one at a time. This fun, coming-of-age tale suggests that puberty is more than a battle against developing hormones, particularly if there’s an essential family secret that has been kept from you.

In Hawaii, Leilani is fighting back against a company that is trying to buy out her neighbourhood for redevelopment. The offers increase and the pressure to accept escalates, but at what point is there a risk that your heritage will be erased? The monster is big business, but there’s a poignant representation of the loss of culture and identity that’s pretty on the nose but worth saying.

Verdict: Two solid and very different stories with less familiar villains. 7/10

Nick Joy