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Despite a halfway original and eyebrow-raising setup, this is a good, but not quite great horror movie that is more love letter to ones that inspired it than an equal. I do not believe the hype, in other words, but I'll at least say the hype is real when it comes to Mia Goth. Her performance combined with the allure and mystery she gives Maxine is the movie's secret sauce. To paraphrase a quote from The Simpsons about a much less beloved character, whenever she wasn't on screen, I wondered where she was. Martin Henderson's McConnaughey-adjacent producer is also no slouch for being an ample source of comic relief, nor is Brittany Snow for how she subverts your expectations about the "blonde" in movies like this one. As for the main draw of its genre, each moment surprised me, as did the moment when they started happening. I also appreciate the director's clever predictors of each one. Speaking of, Ti West also proves he hasn't lost his knack for using the right song for the right occasion since The House of the Devil, and despite filming in New Zealand, he sure makes it pass for Texas.
I did have a good time with this movie and I am thankful that I caught it before Netflix yanks it at the end of June. Even so, I still have an unpleasant taste in my mouth; to be specific, one that's more like aspartame than sugar. For starters, it's all a bit too refined. Part of the appeal of this movie's inspirations is their grit, and when it tries to add some, it seems fake, which is disappointing since the equally homage-y The House of the Devil's attempts work. The affectations like the De Palma split screen also seem more like showing off like anything else and do not jibe with its modern techniques like a drone shot, as good as it is. In sum, it’s not easy to make a movie like this without doing something that Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven, Brian De Palma or anyone else whose movies' posters likely adorned the young Ti West's bedroom walls would have done. It’s just too bad that the end result looks more like one of their movies than a Ti West movie. With that said, and while casting Goth may be the answer, the superfan must have done something right because I'm eager to check out its follow-ups.
Despite a halfway original and eyebrow-raising setup, this is a good, but not quite great horror movie that is more love letter to ones that inspired it than an equal. I do not believe the hype, in other words, but I'll at least say the hype is real when it comes to Mia Goth. Her performance combined with the allure and mystery she gives Maxine is the movie's secret sauce. To paraphrase a quote from The Simpsons about a much less beloved character, whenever she wasn't on screen, I wondered where she was. Martin Henderson's McConnaughey-adjacent producer is also no slouch for being an ample source of comic relief, nor is Brittany Snow for how she subverts your expectations about the "blonde" in movies like this one. As for the main draw of its genre, each moment surprised me, as did the moment when they started happening. I also appreciate the director's clever predictors of each one. Speaking of, Ti West also proves he hasn't lost his knack for using the right song for the right occasion since The House of the Devil, and despite filming in New Zealand, he sure makes it pass for Texas.
I did have a good time with this movie and I am thankful that I caught it before Netflix yanks it at the end of June. Even so, I still have an unpleasant taste in my mouth; to be specific, one that's more like aspartame than sugar. For starters, it's all a bit too refined. Part of the appeal of this movie's inspirations is their grit, and when it tries to add some, it seems fake, which is disappointing since the equally homage-y The House of the Devil's attempts work. The affectations like the De Palma split screen also seem more like showing off like anything else and do not jibe with its modern techniques like a drone shot, as good as it is. In sum, it’s not easy to make a movie like this without doing something that Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven, Brian De Palma or anyone else whose movies' posters likely adorned the young Ti West's bedroom walls would have done. It’s just too bad that the end result looks more like one of their movies than a Ti West movie. With that said, and while casting Goth may be the answer, the superfan must have done something right because I'm eager to check out its follow-ups.