Velvet Buzzsaw strives to be an engaging derailment of age old horror tropes, yet fails to keep itself on track. This film tells the story of a high brow art scene, and the key figures driving it. These characters, soaking in pretension, are immediately shown to wear their motives right on the sleeve. In this film, it's far too often that through dialogue, we're able to immediately gauge a character's ambitions, desires, and vices. This on-the-nose style strips so much intrigue and ambiguity from its tense set up about the discovery of remarkable paintings made by a late troubled recluse. This coupled with unpleasantly hammy performances from most of the stars gives Velvet Buzzsaw a shallow B movie aesthetic. This does at least let Jake Gyllenhaal's character acting chops display immaculately. Whenever a scene tries to set up a jump scare, I get bored and hope Gyllenhaal will be back soon with some more gleefully egotistical banter.
Review of Velvet Buzzsaw
