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In 1979 a group of six wannabe porn stars and film makers, head to a small farm in Texas to film it.
Once there, tensions rise, as the three very different couple dynamics switch.
There is also the problem with the elderly couple who own the farm in which they are staying.
Direction
Near perfect direction from Ti West. He perfectly captures the look and feel of the late 1970’s, and his use of graphic imagery, as well as setting up scenes of terror are breathtaking.
Cast/Characters
Mia Goth steals the show in twin roles. First is Maxine, the young starlet desperate to become a porn star. Secondly as Pearl, the nonagenarian who owns the house, and starts… well more on that in breakdown.
Martin Henderson plays her boyfriend Wayne, and the director of the film they are making. He gives a fantastic secondary character and is great at playing the not quite sleazy, sleazeball.
Jenna Ortega, who was in her ‘Scream Queen’ phase (technically with Wednesday she still is), plays Lorraine, the boom mic operator, who on seeing the scenes being filmed, wants to film one herself, much to the annoyance of her boyfriend RJ.
Brittany Snow plays the blonde bombshell Bobby-Lynne and the main star of the movie.
Scott Mescudi (or Kid Cudi) plays Jackson, the other star of the movie.
Owen Campbell plays RJ.
Breakdown
Set in 1979, the entire aesthetic from the hair, to the make up, to the costumes to the use of era appropriate vehicles, are on point and near perfect.
The narrative, which begins with a quick “24 hours later” makes you wonder, what exactly happened here tonight. Following this, we are introduced to the six characters – who travel to a small farm owned by the nicknamed ‘old timer’ Howard and his wife Pearl.
There is some ongoing tension over the first hour or so of the film that sets up the ‘unease’ that will follow on to pure terror on the last hour of the film.
The second half of the film is a perfect homage to exploitation and grindhouse films. This includes some truly well placed jump scares, and gore aplenty. In one such moment the entire screen changes to hues of red as one of the members is written out. There are some great ‘foreboding’ moments too, such as one character in the barn looking through a peep hole. There are quite a few shock moments too that you won’t see coming!
Director West also has some great filming techniques too. When the characters are filming their movie, we get ‘camera’ vision which changes the aspect ratio we see. There is also a brilliant use of ‘spit screen’ – when Pearl is reminiscing on her youth, and Snow’s Bobby Lynn sings a haunting rendition of Landslide.
The soundtrack is also brilliant, with some great song choices, like Don’t Fear the Reaper in one of the film’s best moments between Pearl and one of the six.
The absolute standout of the film is Mia Goth as both Maxine and Pearl. She is bittersweet as Maxine, who longs for fame and to be someone. She is equal parts heartbreaking as Pearl, who is long past her prime, but then switches to effing frightening as she goes on her kill spree. Both Maxine and Pearl get their own spinoff movies, which will be reviewed shortly.
Overall
Near perfect horror gore fest, with great performances, great characters, great direction, and a great soundtrack…
Just great in every way. Followed by a prequel (Pearl) and sequel (Maxxxine) to be reviewed in the next few weeks.
4.5/5
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