Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: A group of teens invite the most sought after girl in school, Mandy Lane, for a weekend of fun when the teens start dropping dead.
Review: This is one of the most unusual slashers I have ever seen. It's not that they innovated or introduced some foreign concept, but it played out almost too realistically that it left more unanswered questions than a film ever should. Meaning, in real life, we hardly understand the motivations of deranged killers, but a film usually will reveal, hint, or have a character flat out explain their drive to kill for the audience. However, this film leaves you guessing too much as if I'm trying to solve the damn mystery myself! At the same time, the twist is not all that shocking because any reasonable horror fan should see it coming a million miles away. Lastly, I should note that this film is in a weird limbo-like state because it was made years ago, but did not receive a proper international release. It's not hard to track down, but watch out for the region it's meant for or wait for it to pop up on youtube or something as it has in the past. But let's find out for ourselves, why do all the boys love Mandy Lane?
I've read many complaints wishing this film had been supernatural in nature, but, while I do agree it would have been better as a conventional plot, I can appreciate what they were going for. There is this certain '70s-ish tone to the setting and atmosphere combined with an '80s slasher vibe that makes for a unique experience. The plot is so straightforward to the point of almost making no sense because it overlooks why the events are even occurring. So Mandy Lane is like the hottest girl in some high school, and apparently she used to be a dork or outcast of some sort. I do love the presentation of our dear Ms. Lane, played perfectly by the beautiful Amber Heard, as this virgin saint goddess! The funny thing is, Mandy says so little in this film, but Ms. Heard has mastered subtlety with facial expressions and looks that will make much more sense by the film's end. The film opens with Mandy and her friend Emmet reluctantly invited to a pool party with a group of supposedly cool kids. Emmet convinces some drunken idiot to jump off a roof toward the pool and kills himself; months later, Mandy is now friends with these kids and Emmet is seemingly stalking her. For some reason, this group has arranged a getaway at a ranch in the middle of nowhere where the plan is that every guy will have a shot at "getting with" Mandy. Once there, you notice Mandy having second thoughts as this group of bitches are so annoying you cannot wait for them to die fast enough. Mandy then runs into the ranch helper, Garth, who appears to be a great guy and, I suppose, a red herring. As the "fun" begins at this ranch, the group of bitches become even more annoying doing drugs, drinking, fucking, talking shit, etc. all the while thinking they stand a chance with Mandy and hitting on her.
Finally, as the group slowly makes each other angry, they storm off like babies in a tantrum where a killer lurks in the shadows to pick them off. My main gripe with a lot of these kills are that they were by shotgun rather than a genre-typical stabbing weapon, but, like I said, they were trying for more realism. Another problem is that it is revealed far too early that the killer is Emmet. The audience should have been left in the dark for as long as possible, because, even though knowing it is Emmet was necessary, there were too many red herrings and clues that pointed toward other possible killers. Now, it should come as absolutely no shock that Mandy is in on it. I've read people claiming they did not see her involvement coming as they thought she'd have some other secret relevant to the story, but come on people! She's so shady, had no reason to go on this trip, she clearly hates these people, and often buys the killer time or sends people out to die herself. Once everyone is dead except Garth, it is explained that Emmet and Mandy had planned this with everything ending in a suicide pact. Unfortunately for Emmet, Mandy had no plans to follow through and attempts to get Garth to kill Emmet. When this fails, Emmet and Mandy fight until Mandy comes out on top, killing Emmet's emo bitch ass. The film ends with Mandy patching up Garth as the two drive off into the sunset, and the audience is left wondering whether Mandy really likes Garth or plans to manipulate him as she had everyone else in the film.
Okay, now let's try and delve into the mysterious mind of Mandy Lane! The biggest problem with this movie is we have no idea why Mandy was a killer, why target these people, or pretty much anything! There are hints strewn about but most lead down different understandings of why she killed. Let's deal with the traditional revenge route: it is implied she used to be an outcast and maybe even ugly. If this group in particular were the ones that bullied her most, that would explain why the need to infiltrate and kill them from within. But if it were all about simple revenge, why betray Emmet unless she thought he was like them in some way? He was obviously in love with her; we just don't know enough about her and Emmet's relationship. There is also the fact that there is something going on with Mandy's parents being dead. Is that somehow her drive? Did she kill her parents? Okay, so maybe Mandy is just a pure sociopath who shaped herself to be desirable in order to manipulate people. Obviously Mandy's primary trait is that of a manipulator and those subtle facial expressions I mentioned clearly show she was enjoying the idea that these idiots were dying (can't blame her there though). We have evidence that Mandy got herself in shape by working out as shown by her constant jogging and that she apparently changed her look over just one summer. We can also pretty much rule out any of this working with Emmet notion because she clearly had no plan to go along with him since she says she never did read his journal he wrote about their journey together. Clearly Mandy felt she was going to make it through this, presumably, letting Emmet take the fall. But the degree to her insanity would be determined by whether she continues killing or was this a one and done situation? Furthermore, I've read so many people debating whether Mandy was a lesbian because of one scene where she is seemingly coming on to another girl and it would explain why she has no interest in any guys. Well, she has no interest in the guys because they're all scum, clearly likes Garth because he's a nice guy, but all of this is missing the point of the scene! The girl, Chloe, says the line that "you're hands are shaking," which I suppose one may think it's because Mandy's nervous or thinking about kissing her, BUT what do we see when Mandy is about to kill someone? Her hands shaking! This so-called lesbian scene was merely Mandy preparing to kill Chloe, which she does anyway later, but was interrupted by the other guys. Finally, the whole Garth factor makes it so much harder to determine if Mandy is a sociopath or out for revenge. She didn't respect Emmet because he was just another guy that wanted her while Garth was not going along with things so easily. If Mandy wants revenge, maybe she thinks she can now move on with Garth as her equal or maybe she views manipulating Garth as a challenge of sorts. I'm not even going to discuss the many nuances and details that appear from time to time that apparently had no connection to why Mandy was a killer. Whether you hate this film or not, it will leave a lasting impression as you try to get to the bottom of the twisted psyche of Mandy Lane!
We are left with the rare predicament where the high points of the film are also the main detractors. I can applaud the use of a realistic duo of killers who were deranged and Mandy was perhaps even evil. But at the same time, this is a movie and the audience does not want to be left completely in the dark. There was certainly a desire not to spoon-feed anything to the audience so typically a second viewing is required if you're going to try and figure this shit out. But other than not understanding why things were happening, the pacing could have been tightened, the killer's reveal moved to later in the film, less one-dimensional characters, and don't close out on a flashback if it has no relevance whatsoever to the plot. On the other hand, there is a cool homage feel, the acting is decent enough especially from the subtle Ms. Heard, and the film successfully gets in your head whether you like it or not. I recommend this one for the horror fans out there as a cult following is building apparently leading to a theatrical release even though the film is seven years old already!
Notable Moment: You know I'm a man of simple tastes, and, I have to say, when Mandy is stripping down to her underwear to go swimming was phenomenal! But it was almost epic in its presentation with the rare usage of Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto which is a favorite of mine. Even the makers knew this scene was meant to be stared upon in awe.
Final Rating: 6/10
Ms. Heard preparing to go in for the kill.
