Tag: Katharine Isabelle

THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS Review

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I don’t like speaking ill of the dead, especially icons who’ve defined an entire genre, but name-dropping is a marketing tactic best left for the living. Director Nick Simon’s newest feature film is titled THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS and I honestly believe I see Wes Craven’s name pop up in connection with this film more than Simon’s. Naturally, with Craven having passed in August of 2015, he’s likely to have had little [if anything] to do with the marketing of this movie, but it would certainly seem like he’s calling the shots from the gave.

Sadly, THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS is not the shining example of groundbreaking genre filmmaking for which the legendary master posthumously deserves credit. For a man so synonymous with influencing the slasher horror genre, the executive producer credit should have been given more of a backseat while the “For Wes” title card before the film’s opening was a much more appropriate touch. Regardless, the film does not do much to maintain the flame of the torch Wes Craven once helped to first set ablaze for moviegoers.

The story revolves around a young woman named Colleen (played by Claudia Lee) working as a grocery store clerk when she starts finding photographs of recently murdered women placed around her workplace. The images themselves are gory, but sloppy and nothing you would come to expect from more seriously devoted killers as we’ve become accustomed to in serial killer films. There is a level of ambiguity toward the pictures at first, as even the police are not certain if they’re genuine or elaborate fakes. Nonetheless, they begin to make the clerk nervous and she doesn’t seem to be getting any support of law enforcement. Convenient.

As the photographs begin to add up, one has to wonder where the film intends to go with the awkwardly devised setup. Does the killer have a special place in his or her cold heart for this young woman, or is she the key audience for which this twisted maestro creates such gruesome artwork? Coincidentally, neither seems to be the case as we’re introduced to Peter Hemmings, a cocky photographer, and his posse of models who show up as a result of the killers’ growing notoriety.

Kal Penn plays Hemmings with great effect. It’s just too bad it’s the wrong effect needed for the film. Penn as Hemmings is like a more arrogant, slightly nerdy Ryan Reynolds. Hemmings is sarcastic to a fault, self-involved and just plain disrespectful, He shows up claiming to be influenced by the killers’ work, hoping to find art of his own amidst the bloody chaos, and perhaps he does, depending on how loosely that success is defined.

Ultimately, Penn’s testosterone-fueled performance is over-the-top and unnecessary, taking away even more hope from THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS actually amounting to anything substantially rewarding. I found myself actually getting annoyed by Penn’s blunt abrasiveness and utter disregard for the film as a whole, instead perhaps mistaking this for yet another installment in the HAROLD & KUMAR franchise. Penn, more than any other element, drew me out of the story and disrupted the cinematic experience. This sort of faux pax is devastating to the horror genre as it feeds so much off an effectively engaged emotional feedback from it’s audience, one which is severely lacking in this example.

Stylistically speaking, THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS fails to take itself seriously enough to become a truly frightening film. The movie suffers from being a half-cocked idea driven by a potpourri of influences from other films and no real, clearly defined voice of it’s own. The one positive element, albeit not a strong enough perk to save the film, is how the killers are portrayed as sociopaths resembling a twisted, modern version of George and Lennie from John Steinbeck’s classic Of Mice & Men. This relationship is unnerving and creepy, but not quite menacing enough to measure up to other more diabolical recent films that nail the approach and stick the landing.

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS opens in theaters & VOD April 1, 2016.

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AMERICAN MARY – Fantastic Fest Review

I’ve had this conversation on multiple occasions. When it comes to body modification of any kind — tattoos, piercings, etc. — I’m all for it. Go ahead. Cool. Express yourself. Experiment. As long as you’re a consenting adult, it’s your body and your choice. I actually think a lot of it is fascinating, even artistically accomplished. However, this comes with a flip side… I have zero body modifications. No reason. Just a personal choice. Why do I bring this up? Because when it comes to viewing a film like AMERICAN MARY, I can be as supportive and open-minded as I would like, but I’ll always remain someone viewing the culture from the outside. If you’re wondering why that matters, well… it matters a lot if you’re about to watch the sophomore outing from Canadian filmmakers Jen and Sylvia Soska, whose debut feature DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK (2009) made waves as an ultra-violent indie flick amidst the festival circuit.

AMERICAN MARY begins harmlessly enough. Mary Mason, played by Katharine Isabelle (GINGER SNAPS), is a talented and promising young medical student, relentlessly honing her craft as a future surgeon. It’s a wonderfully uplifting American dream kind of back story, with Mary rising above her underprivileged background to make something of her self. Except there’s a catch… she’s flat ass broke. Bill collector’s harassing her daily, Mary must find a way to bankroll her education if she plans to continue on the path before her. Desperate, Mary succumbs to the monetary allure of selling her body. Mary meets with with Billy Barker (played by Antonio Cupo), unaware that this interview will unexpectedly lead to a much more morally corrupt yet higher paying gig.

With this horrifying experience behind her, and a handful of Benjamin Franklin’s in her pocket, Mary finds the long sought relief she needed, but things are about to change for her in a way she never expected when she is contacted by Beatress Johnson, played by Tristan Risk (DARKEST HOUR). A member of the general “extreme body mod” community, the artificially cute-as-a-cartoon Beatress lures Mary once more into the fray with the promise of deep pockets, but this time her clients are willing recipients of the services she can provide. Mary has one last epiphany, a tragic twist of fate that sends her own American dream down a much darker path as she follows the white rabbit deep into the underground.

The Soska sisters have a distinctly severe and forthright style of filmmaking that’s in your face, yet also carries enough mental meat between the buns to be more than merely visual fluff. The Soska sisters take chances and their stories dwell in the fringes, making for content that’s above the usual mix of shock cinema produced today. AMERICAN MARY is visually stunning, if not often repulsing, revolting or just plain outrageous. The colors of the film accentuate the characters, a vividly bizarre bunch, and the graphic nature of the film has it’s place, making it anything but needlessly gratuitous. On the flip side, the film’s pacing suffers on occasion, the writing is more forced than it is unrefined, and the message could be labeled as being worn too flagrantly on the filmmaking sisters’ sleeves.

It’s evident that the Soska sisters have done their research, even so far as casting members of the extreme body modification community within the film. AMERICAN MARY will likely prove as educational as it is shocking to those unaccustomed to this particular culture, but don’t let this frighten your from taking the chance. While AMERICAN MARY is not a finely-tuned masterpiece, when compared to the sister’s feature film debut, it’s a positive step in the right direction, led — perhaps even greatly benefiting from — a truly riveting performance from Katharine Isabelle, offering a compelling shift in range and an uncanny ability to freak the Hell out of the audience — especially the men —  while somehow managing to maintain a hint of the innocent persona we swallow when first we meet her character.

Tristan Risk may not outshine Katharine Isabelle as an actress in AMERICAN MARY, but her presence is far from unnoticed or unappreciated. Beatress’ obsession with looking like Bettie Boop is a scene stealer in her first appearance, easing the audience into what’s in store with the gentle equivalent of a sledgehammer wrapped in a cheesecloth to soften the blow. The Soska sisters themselves make a particularly twisted cameo in the film, depicting a real urban legend within the body mod community. AMERICAN MARY is many things — a graphic horror display, a thriller, an expose of an underground culture, a very dark breed of Aesop’s fable, a revenge tale — but most of all, despite it’s flaws, AMERICAN MARY is a promissory note of better things to come from Jen and Sylvia, the Twisted Twins of terror.

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars