Summary:
A musical prodigy seeks out the star pupil of her former school, and the encounter sends both musicians down a dark path.
My Thoughts:
I’m a huge horror movie fan (see last year’s 31 Nights of Thrills), so any time I hear about a horror flick that’s making the rounds, I tend to go out of my way to see it. I first heard about this film when I was on my way to work, while listening to NPR. The story essentially said that Netflix had released a new horror film, and it was so gross that it was making people throw up. My ears perked up. “This should be good,” thought I.
I waited to hear the title of the film, and then immediately tuned my radio to another dial so as not to spoil anything else. Hearing that a movie is so disgusting it makes viewers vomit would probably work as a good deterrent for most people; not I. For me, it made it a must see. So, with no other knowledge other than the fact that the film I was about to watch was vomit inducing, I plopped down in my chair and prepared for something I expected to be wholly terrifying.
Instead, I spent almost the next hour and a half laughing.
“You know what happens now.”
A musical prodigy named Charlotte (Allison Williams, “Get Out”) returns to her former school to judge a contest and in the process she meets the schools latest star pupil, Lizzie (Logan Browning). The two hit it off and decide to take a vacation, but things soon go off the rails.
There are a few things that this film does right, but those things also make me feel like this film is vying for attention in a way that seems classless and tawdry. As a whole, this movie is not good, but it has received decent reviews (right now its sitting at a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 60% on Metacritic- that’s a little above average). I honestly think that the only reason this film received any positive reviews at all is because it touches on a timely topic (#metoo).
Let me say this before I get started: I think the #metoo movement is important; I think the change it brought to Hollywood and the surrounding industry was needed; I think that movies about this tumultuous time of change should be made and they will be important. That being said, this movie’s execution was so bumbled that I don’t think this movie brought anything new to the #metoo conversation. If anything its conclusion is so ridiculous that it actually detracts from the message and paints its characters brainless, malleable idiots that can be convinced to do anything.
The themes that this movie tries (I say tries because again, the script is so poorly conceived) to convey are good. Essentially, this director is trying to get us to understand that some women are trapped in an abusive situation and aren’t even able to see that they are trapped until they get distance from that situation. Finding a way out of that situation can be difficult- as difficult as chopping off your own arm. I understand the metaphor and the purpose behind what the director is trying to show us, but Richard Shepard is no Jordan Peele- and this film is no “Us” or “Get Out”.
Another major problem this film has is acting. I thought Allison Williams was fine as Marnie in HBO’s Girls and in “Get Out”. Her character in Girls didn’t have a ton of range other than in a few episodes, and she was supposed to be rather cold and calculated in “Get Out”. In this movie, Allison’s limited range becomes a problem. There are scenes when she and Logan Browning (with whose work I’m rather unfamiliar) are supposed to feel a sense of connection, but I never felt that from either actor. In fact, I never really felt any of the emotion I was supposed to feel in this film- instead I just found myself laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.
So, lets get to the thing that brought me to this film: the gross out bits. Really there’s nothing all that gross in this movie. There are a couple moments where people throw up and there are maggots in the vomit; I guess if seeing people puke makes you puke that explains the rumors surrounding this film. As far as horrific moments go, this is pretty tame- I’d venture to guess that if the themes weren’t so #metoo-themed the film could’ve received the equivalent of a PG-13 rating.
Verdict:
I’m honestly surprised I heard anything at all about this film. Netflix puts out so many movies now that 90% of them just fly by me unwatched. Every once in a while Netflix hits gold (“Apostle”, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”), but unfortunately this film is just another entry on the growing list of Netflix misses (“Bright”, “The Cloverfield Paradox”, “The Silence”).
Review Written By: