All the Boys Love Mandy Lane'
Runtime: 90min 23secsTagline: Everyone is dying to be with her. Someone is killing for it.
Written by: Jacob Forman
Directed by: Jonathan Levine
Plot Outline:
Mandy Lane (Amber Heard). Beautiful. Untouched. High school royalty waiting to be crowned. Since the dawn of Junior year, men have tried to possess her. Some have even died in reckless pursuit of this 16 year-old Texas angel.
A couple invite Mandy out to the family ranch for the weekend. Mandy sees it as an excellent opportunity to cement her new friendships. The boys see it as an opportunity to finally get with Mandy Lane. Driving across the Texas landscape, the kids begin to gently chip away at the wall that surrounds her. Joints are smoked. A keg is stolen off a beer truck. Pills are crushed to fine powder and inhaled. Mandy observes it all with the gentle interest of a foreign tourist. And they love her for it.
At the ranch, all the boys start to make their move -- each one hoping to be the first to attain the unattainable Mandy Lane. However, as night falls and the booze, drugs, and hormones take over, things are said and advances made which can never be reversed. Suddenly, sweet Mandy finds herself pit in a brutal struggle for survival against someone whose interest she has rejected. Forget reading, writing and arithmetic. In high school, learning to be yourself and not succumbing to peer pressure is the ultimate test. And this is one exam that Mandy is determined not to fail.
Overall Impressions:
Not being a fan of horror, I am more critical of them more so than others. In this particular case I find myself somewhat torn between being impressed or not. Let's say, I haven't been as moved by a film about teenagers dying in gruesome ways like this since the Scream or perhaps Final Destination franchises, however I did perceive them more as comedies rather than horror. This one is different in that respect.
It certainly is a strength of the film that it plays with your psyche. There are instances where you can anticipate what shall follow, yet even so are disturbed and disgusted by it actually going ahead and then there are also moments where they don't go through with it, keeping you second guessing how long the victims will last. Most of the kills leave an impact with you, especially due to their being quite realistic and feasible under the conditions given. This is in contrast to the earlier mentioned funny-kills of Scream and Final Destination.
That being said, I'm not all praise for the film. Some supposed plot twists were too obvious too early on and this lets it down a notch. In addition, on a simple story-level, I didn't feel there was much depth. If you're thinking I'm expecting too much from a film of this genre, let's keep in mind that we've been spoiled with more psychological horrors like Saw in recent times. Now I wasn't expecting anything as intense or clever, but just perhaps a little more than was delivered. The characterisation of Mandy Lane really bored me. Thankfully, it's the killer and victims that keep this film rolling forward.
Overall it's one of the better horrors in recent times. If you feel you haven't seen a decent slasher in a while, this may just be the one for you. That said, don't expect to be amazed by it. Certainly not for the squeamish.
For whatever reason, this one didn't even open around here. I was under the impression it was coming but maybe I misunderstood. To boot, I just saw it added to Zip (along with COUNTLESS Bollywood titles a bunch of which I've added to my watch list) so I've "zipped it". Good to hear it's better than the average horror flick.
I find horrors rarely get it right. nor does this one, but relatively speaking it's closer to it than most ;)
So .. "COUNTLESS Bollywood titles, a bunch of which I've added to my watch list" -- what have you gone for within the bunch?