riangrey
Joined Jul 2021
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Reviews6
riangrey's rating
Abigail is the daughter of legendary serial killer (and snuff film maker) Roger Bladekill. When Roger starts to see the effects of age slow him down, he entrusts Abbie to follow in his footsteps - killing teens on video. Upon entering high school to scope out her victims, she encounters friendship and more, snagging her plans of a murder spree. And Dad isn't happy.
Now, that's my synopsis. A good pitch right? If I was a Shudder exec, I would also be putting money behind this. It sounds pretty damn awesome.
Sadly, this falls victim to oh so much. The writing is not coherent in its genre or mood, the characters are given some depth, but it's not delivered right and they still feel 2D, the whole snuff subplot is kinda forgotten for the most part? And something that bothered me to the nth degree: this seems to be set in the 90's, but I'm not sure the costume or set department got the memo.
That bothered me probably more than it should. The 90s have this specific...touch. Taste. Vibe. The clothes used here seem to be repurposed modern day pieces layered to appear grunge-esque. Sam Crane wears a chain as a belt, but it looks like cheap crap bought from Hot Topic. It doesn't look NATURAL. They look like your average current day citizens.
I started noticing corded phones, cassettes, wood-panelled cars, corded headphones, and I realised this is either satirising the popularity of slasher flicks in the 90s or, more likely, supposed to be set in that decade. The integration of old tech didn't make it pass though, too many things were too clean, too cheap, too flimsy, all aspects that are more common to modern day items. This is very specific but it did distract a whole lot, and possibly changed the mood of the whole film.
Most acting is pretty average, with the exception of Margo Anderson-Song, Eddie Leavy, and Billy Burke (yes, Bella Swan's dad in Twilight). These three really seemed to feel their characters. They were much more into it and managed to land their jokes.
That's a whole other problem. The writing. This film doesn't quite know where it wants to sit when it comes to mood. Are we serious? Are we comedic? Are we going into slapstick humour? We can have all of it in one scene, for sure, but the way these bits are written, they mostly fall flat on the floor. It's the sort of jokes where you nod, you don't laugh. You know it's meant to be a joke, but it's terribly unfunny. And it happens every few minutes. It's unbearable. The writers didn't leave time for us to breathe. Just, maybe space the comedy out next time, okay?
I think, overall, I wish there had been a bit of reworking this script before even shooting it. With some changes, it could have even more potential. It might've even been a good film.
I don't think this should be the end for the filmmakers, I do think they clearly have a vision, but it wasn't realised here. Maybe next time.
Now, that's my synopsis. A good pitch right? If I was a Shudder exec, I would also be putting money behind this. It sounds pretty damn awesome.
Sadly, this falls victim to oh so much. The writing is not coherent in its genre or mood, the characters are given some depth, but it's not delivered right and they still feel 2D, the whole snuff subplot is kinda forgotten for the most part? And something that bothered me to the nth degree: this seems to be set in the 90's, but I'm not sure the costume or set department got the memo.
That bothered me probably more than it should. The 90s have this specific...touch. Taste. Vibe. The clothes used here seem to be repurposed modern day pieces layered to appear grunge-esque. Sam Crane wears a chain as a belt, but it looks like cheap crap bought from Hot Topic. It doesn't look NATURAL. They look like your average current day citizens.
I started noticing corded phones, cassettes, wood-panelled cars, corded headphones, and I realised this is either satirising the popularity of slasher flicks in the 90s or, more likely, supposed to be set in that decade. The integration of old tech didn't make it pass though, too many things were too clean, too cheap, too flimsy, all aspects that are more common to modern day items. This is very specific but it did distract a whole lot, and possibly changed the mood of the whole film.
Most acting is pretty average, with the exception of Margo Anderson-Song, Eddie Leavy, and Billy Burke (yes, Bella Swan's dad in Twilight). These three really seemed to feel their characters. They were much more into it and managed to land their jokes.
That's a whole other problem. The writing. This film doesn't quite know where it wants to sit when it comes to mood. Are we serious? Are we comedic? Are we going into slapstick humour? We can have all of it in one scene, for sure, but the way these bits are written, they mostly fall flat on the floor. It's the sort of jokes where you nod, you don't laugh. You know it's meant to be a joke, but it's terribly unfunny. And it happens every few minutes. It's unbearable. The writers didn't leave time for us to breathe. Just, maybe space the comedy out next time, okay?
I think, overall, I wish there had been a bit of reworking this script before even shooting it. With some changes, it could have even more potential. It might've even been a good film.
I don't think this should be the end for the filmmakers, I do think they clearly have a vision, but it wasn't realised here. Maybe next time.
7.5/10
This feels like a rare find even though it's well known both in and out of LGBT+ communities. A change of pace when it comes to most gay pieces, we see something that places family first, racism close behind, and the taboo gay affair after all that.
The shady ongoings within family paired with the constant threat of fascist, anti-immigrant gangs, serves well to make sure you never let down your guard for a single second during the whole 98 minute run time.
The family dynamics are truly wonderful. It draws your attention to how out of place this Pakistani family feels in racist England, and how they have become what they had to fight through just so they could survive. Warping their own into the mindset of money and power, we see it take a toll on relationships between Omar and Johnny, and even Naseer and his mistress.
Now, I know it was probably a small budget piece done mid-80's, but some of the acting is truly awful. I love Omar as a character. I think the actor is a delight to the eyes. But his acting could've been a little more...fluent. He seems a little wary on screen but maybe he was just new to it all.
The sets are wonderful, particularly the laundrette, with such a wild change between renovations.
In all, this was on my watch list for much too long and I feel I could've learned a lot from this when I was younger. I'd recommend this to people from the LGBT+ community as it rightfully deserves its status as iconic queer cinema. I'd also recommend it to anyone else willing to watch. It's borderline educational on current political topics.
As an added sidenote, it's not very sexually explicit. It's mostly just violent.
The shady ongoings within family paired with the constant threat of fascist, anti-immigrant gangs, serves well to make sure you never let down your guard for a single second during the whole 98 minute run time.
The family dynamics are truly wonderful. It draws your attention to how out of place this Pakistani family feels in racist England, and how they have become what they had to fight through just so they could survive. Warping their own into the mindset of money and power, we see it take a toll on relationships between Omar and Johnny, and even Naseer and his mistress.
Now, I know it was probably a small budget piece done mid-80's, but some of the acting is truly awful. I love Omar as a character. I think the actor is a delight to the eyes. But his acting could've been a little more...fluent. He seems a little wary on screen but maybe he was just new to it all.
The sets are wonderful, particularly the laundrette, with such a wild change between renovations.
In all, this was on my watch list for much too long and I feel I could've learned a lot from this when I was younger. I'd recommend this to people from the LGBT+ community as it rightfully deserves its status as iconic queer cinema. I'd also recommend it to anyone else willing to watch. It's borderline educational on current political topics.
As an added sidenote, it's not very sexually explicit. It's mostly just violent.
It's so refreshing to see a film where being queer isn't the heavy burden to the characters. Being gay is just an aspect of their character.
The comical world this is set in allows for us to believe along with the crazy ideas they come up with, to believe that these adults are actually kids. You can suspend reality for the hour and a bit of runtime.
I spent every minute or so with a good laugh. The lines almost always hit, and when they want to get serious they do it well.
Rachel Sennot and Ayo Edebiri are so good together and make such a good pair. Edebiri absolutely shines. But the whole cast is fantastic.
Worthwhile watch.
The comical world this is set in allows for us to believe along with the crazy ideas they come up with, to believe that these adults are actually kids. You can suspend reality for the hour and a bit of runtime.
I spent every minute or so with a good laugh. The lines almost always hit, and when they want to get serious they do it well.
Rachel Sennot and Ayo Edebiri are so good together and make such a good pair. Edebiri absolutely shines. But the whole cast is fantastic.
Worthwhile watch.