Brand New Cherry Flavor: Another journey into LA's absurd realities and cutthroat culture. Between You, Velvet Buzzsaw, and so many "sold her soul to make it" films like Neon Demon (my favorite of the pack)...I'm starting to get tired of the familiar narcissistic absurdism that every LA setting satirized. BUT...this one's got so much going for it that I enjoy it anyway.
First off...it's not a sell your soul to succeed story. It's a revenge horror for someone who refused to sell her soul to succeed. Left with the conclusion that she had her success stolen from her, the protagonist decides she'd sacrifice everything to get revenge on the people that screwed her over. It's the type of tweak that works really well. She's in over head, but that Hollywood narcissism and fakeness keeps hardening her resolve. From a narrative perspective, it makes you empathize with a character doing some pretty gnarly stuff to much more unlikeable characters.
The set-up also really pays for the director and editors. I LOVE to write, but this is the type of horror show that makes me think about how fun it would be to direct a great story or to splice together the pieces. There are an army of visually striking shots, stylish camera movements, and clever cuts or fades that make this ish feel dream-like but always verging on a nightmare. That visual flare is at it's best with scary creatures, gross zoom-ins, and horrific deaths too; like I said beauty to horror and dreams to nightmares all over. This shyt slaps!
The direction is matched by the performances. The main girl (Rosa Salazar), antagonist (Eric Lange), and supernatural guide (Catherine Keener) all BODY their performances. It's the balance between absurdism, humor and then harsh realities and pure horror. They all sell the moments and their conversations and interactions are always fun. They all have complicated relationships that play out in the most entertaining fashion. You'll look forward to their conversations with each other.
Now, I'm only half-way through but stopped to type this out because I'm REALLY enjoying this ride so far. The first episode felt like all set-up but it's been a rollercoaster since. The body horror is pretty nasty but effective, the creatures get more and more creepy, and the stakes have built all the way up to this midway point. I'll let yall know how the ride to conclusion is but so far I'm really getting a kick out of this.
in In The Mouth Of Madness was so alluring
