Well, we've hit our first real dud. The slasher sub-genre has never really been my cup of tea simply because there are so many following the exact same tropes. There have been deconstructions, purposeful inversions, and surprisingly good formula-followers, but overall it's just been done to death. Then resurrected, ret-conned, and killed again.Everyone gathered at Red's (Aaron Himmelstein) ranch knows that the true goal of the party is to see which dude is finally going to hook up with angelic, virginal Mandy Lane (Amber Heard), though they also do a lot of drinking and drugs. Then an uninvited stalker shows up and starts killing off all the drunk, horny teens.
There is the obligatory "twist" ending though it's less twisty than one might have hoped.
Honestly, I just don't know who this is supposed to scare. Mandy spends 90% of the film a practically mute, personality-less sex object for the teenage boys to obsess over and the final 10% as a murderous, manipulative bitch. There is no indication of any sort of internal life or motivating factors. There's no depth to her, or to any of the other female characters. Chloe (Whitney Able) and Marlin (Melissa Price) are desperate for male attention and willing to slander and destroy each other's self-esteem to get it. The boys, meanwhile, are no fucking prizes. Jake (Luke Grimes) is a completely unredeemable asshole. Red and Bird (Edwin Hodge) are slightly better by comparison, but still total dicks to each other and to the other two girls. All of them are so awful, I was hoping the killer would show up way earlier.
I'm actually shocked Amber Heard would choose to be in this movie, though I guess it was technically her first starring role. Fortunately, all of these actors have moved on to bigger and better things.
Pumpkin rating: 1/5
No comments:
Post a Comment