‘BRAVE THE DARK’: Movies about inspirational teachers are a well-worn subgenre. Whether it’s “School of Rock” or “Dangerous Minds,” the relationship between a caring teacher and a group of (usually) troubled students offers easy access for heartstring-pulling and triumphant feelings of hard-earned success. The new film “Brave the Dark” treads this familiar territory, but it’s more of a unique one-on-one connection between teacher and student. The film, which is about an unconventional chosen family, is co-written by Nathaniel Deen, based on his own life story about being taken in by his drama teacher, Stan Deen. The film is also a family affair in front of and behind the camera — it’s directed by Damian Harris and stars his brothers, Jared and Jamie Harris. The film is a loving tribute from a son to a father figure, but perhaps Deen is too close to the story to have much perspective on it. We’ve seen this story before and “Brave the Dark” doesn’t shed new light. 1:50. 2 stars. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

‘INHERITANCE’: Within the first five minutes of “Inheritance,” Maya (Phoebe Dynevor) has stolen a bottle of tequila, gone home with a stranger from a rave and dangled her legs out his window while smoking. Then she attends her mother’s funeral, where her estranged father Sam (Rhys Ifans) shows up and offers her a mysterious “real estate job” in Egypt. This is all captured with a restless, roaming camera that follows her down the street as she pounds the New York City pavement, propelled by the giddiness and guilt of grief and a desire for annihilation. “Inheritance,” directed by Neil Burger and written by Burger and Olen Steinhauer, immediately plunges us into Maya’s world, captured with a gritty, grungy lo-fi aesthetic. Maya quickly learns that her father’s promised job prospect is not what it seems, and that his past includes working as a spy in Turkey as well as international money laundering. When he disappears from a Cairo restaurant, she receives a call he has been kidnapped, and she has to retrieve the correct items in order to ensure his safety, sending her to India and then Seoul. Made with a run-and-gun ethos that infuses the film with an edgy immediacy, “Inheritance” is Burger’s best film in years. 1:41. 3 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘NOSFERATU’: “Nosferatu” is a story about real estate and sexual obsession. A young newlywed, Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is dispatched from his small German city to the Carpathian Mountains in order to execute the paperwork on the purchase of a rundown manor for a mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), a tall, pale wraith with a rumbling voice that sounds like a beehive. Thomas has a generally bad time with the terrifying Count Orlok, while his young bride at home, the seemingly clairvoyant Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) is taken with terrifying nightmares and bouts of sleepwalking, consumed by psychic messages from the Count, who has become obsessed with her. He makes his way to his new home in a rat-infested ship, unleashing a plague; Ellen weighs whether she should sacrifice herself to the Count in order to save the town, which consists of essentially three men: her husband, a doctor (Ralph Ineson) and an occultist scientist (Willem Dafoe). Despite the sex, nudity and declarations of desire, there’s no eroticism or sensuality; despite the blood and guts, there’s nothing scary about it either. This film is a whole lot of style in search of a better story, and without any metaphor or subtext, it’s a bore. Despite his passion for the project, or perhaps because of it, Robert Eggers’ overwrought “Nosferatu” is dead on arrival, drained of all life and choked to death on its own worship. 2:15. 2 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘ONE OF THEM DAYS’: “One of Them Days” is a pretty good time, made better when one of its major points of distinction takes the wheel. The driver? Keke Palmer, at 31 a seasoned pro. She’s one of many alums of Issa Rae projects collaborating on this feature, including director Lawrence Lamont, first-time screenwriter Syreeta Singleton and R&B star and four-time Grammy winner SZA, taking her first co-lead. Palmer and SZA are an easy on-screen pair in all the best ways: easy interplay, near-zero visible effort even when the movie itself strains for laughs, easy enjoyment for the audience. Palmer delivers an on-the-fly masterclass in overlapping comic skills, sometimes heightened, sometimes subtle and heartfelt. Her keen instinct for pacing, and for propelling an exchange or a scene from point A to B, or C, keeps things energized. She and SZA won’t change anyone’s lives with this one, but I came out smiling. 1:37. 3 stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

‘PRESENCE’: In “Presence,” a ghost story from director Steven Soderbergh, we, the viewers, are the camera, and the camera is the unseen spectral being that’s haunting an ordinary house newly purchased by a troubled family of four. This is the setup for screenwriter David Koepp’s paradox: a confined yet highly mobile scenario, 85 minutes long. The Paynes, settle on their offer with the agent in near-record time. Rebekah, played by Lucy Liu, wants the house for the public school in its district for the benefit of her clearly favored child, high schooler Tyler (Eddy Maday). Tyler’s sister, Chloe (Callina Liang), is locked inside a shell of grief. In overheard bits and pieces, her parents — Chris Sullivan of “This is Us” plays her conflict-avoidant but empathetic father — and her dead-eyed brother refer to Chloe’s recently deceased best friend, victim of an apparent drug overdose. Even with its flaws, “Presence” pays attention to matters of depression and grief, and how some parents look the other way when their kids’ words or behavior cry out for the opposite. 1:25. 3 stars. — Michael Phillips

‘WOLF MAN’: Fans of “SCTV” may remember a “Monster Chiller Horror Theatre” episode in which Joe Flaherty’s late-night host, Count Floyd, mistakenly programs a made-up Ingmar Bergman film, “Whispers of the Wolf,” thinking it’s a simple werewolf picture instead of a moody, existential mashup of Bergman’s “Hour of the Wolf” and “Persona.” The new “Wolf Man” from Universal Pictures and co-writer and director Leigh Whannell may likewise provoke some puzzled Count Floyd-esque looks of confusion among horror fans. Not that it’s a failure or a joke. Whannell makes genre films for a wide audience, adults included. He doesn’t play these Universal franchise reboots for kicks. In “Wolf Man,” he really doesn’t. The results are equal parts marital crisis, sins-of-the-father psychodrama and visceral body horror. They’re also a bit of a plod — especially in the second half, when whatever kind of horror film you’re making should not, you know, plod. “Wolf Man’s” seriousness is heavy going. Its leitmotif sticks, doggedly, to the idea of transmutable, unholy fears and sins of the fathers, transmitted like a virus down the family line. That was neither the first nor the last werewolf movie. This one goes about its business with a solemn air, even when it’s super-blechy and Christopher Abbott’s character is chewing on his own forearm for obvious reasons: an unemployed writer’s gotta eat. 1:43. 2 1/2 stars. — Michael Phillips

RATINGS: The movies listed are rated according to the following key: 4 stars, excellent; 3 stars, good; 2 stars, fair; 1 star, poor.