A group of friends trying to make a pornographic movie end up fighting for their lives.
I guess your opinion of this film is probably going to depend on how you feel about Ti West. His movies are very minimalist, and there's often little in the way of plot. The characters are usually a bit interesting, but they just wander around for an hour doing their thing, and then a horror movie suddenly intrudes. A lot of people seem to find this suspenseful, but I can't really say that I do. This movie continues that trend.
The concept of a Jim Jarmusch style horror movie appeals to me, but it seems like Ti West's hipsters never really have very interesting adventures. It seems we're supposed to find some kind of meaning here. However, I'm not really seeing anything deeper than the most obvious interpretation - one that is simply stated outright by one of the characters. Then again, one of the characters is a pretentious director, so maybe there really isn't supposed to be anything here but a simple slasher story.
One thing you might notice about this movie right away is that the characters aren't a bunch of idiots who exist merely to be killed off. That's admirable in a slasher movie. The problem is that it's not really a high bar to reach for when you're a writer. Still, the state horror movies means we should probably be thankful of competent writing when we find it.
The acting was pretty good. If you're not a Ti West fan, some of the scenes in his movies come off like filler. There was singing, swimming, and people just hanging around, being somewhat creepy. The actors kept me engaged, though, even when the singing started. Mia Goth played a dual role, and I didn't even realize it.
The special effects are often the real stars of slasher movies. Mia Goth's makeup is fairly impressive. It basically transforms her into someone else. The gore is also pretty, well, gory. It looks like they wanted to really capture the feel of 70s exploitation. The thing is, we've already got enough exploitation homages, and I'm not really sure we need more unless they've got something unique to add.
If you're a fan of 70s exploitation, it should at least be watchable, even if you're not the world's biggest Ti West fan. It wasn't boring, and that's really the only unforgivable sin in a slasher movie.
I guess your opinion of this film is probably going to depend on how you feel about Ti West. His movies are very minimalist, and there's often little in the way of plot. The characters are usually a bit interesting, but they just wander around for an hour doing their thing, and then a horror movie suddenly intrudes. A lot of people seem to find this suspenseful, but I can't really say that I do. This movie continues that trend.
The concept of a Jim Jarmusch style horror movie appeals to me, but it seems like Ti West's hipsters never really have very interesting adventures. It seems we're supposed to find some kind of meaning here. However, I'm not really seeing anything deeper than the most obvious interpretation - one that is simply stated outright by one of the characters. Then again, one of the characters is a pretentious director, so maybe there really isn't supposed to be anything here but a simple slasher story.
One thing you might notice about this movie right away is that the characters aren't a bunch of idiots who exist merely to be killed off. That's admirable in a slasher movie. The problem is that it's not really a high bar to reach for when you're a writer. Still, the state horror movies means we should probably be thankful of competent writing when we find it.
The acting was pretty good. If you're not a Ti West fan, some of the scenes in his movies come off like filler. There was singing, swimming, and people just hanging around, being somewhat creepy. The actors kept me engaged, though, even when the singing started. Mia Goth played a dual role, and I didn't even realize it.
The special effects are often the real stars of slasher movies. Mia Goth's makeup is fairly impressive. It basically transforms her into someone else. The gore is also pretty, well, gory. It looks like they wanted to really capture the feel of 70s exploitation. The thing is, we've already got enough exploitation homages, and I'm not really sure we need more unless they've got something unique to add.
If you're a fan of 70s exploitation, it should at least be watchable, even if you're not the world's biggest Ti West fan. It wasn't boring, and that's really the only unforgivable sin in a slasher movie.