but I do know that I stalked it for a long while before I finally got my hands on it (release issues, kinda like Trick R’ Treat). I also remember the first time I watched it. Shady and I had wasted time that evening with a disappointment about a motel (seriously I have no idea what it was, but it went NO where in the 30 mins we put in) and were about to call it a night. I remembered Mandy Lane and twisted his arm a bit to hang around and check it out with me. We were absolutely delighted. Biting violence and a delicious twist. I considered writing about it then, but I never got around to it.
Fast forward a few months. I got to thinking about Mandy Lane again. Wondering if it had really been as good as I thought or if I had just been impressed with its newness (I’m like a little kid sometimes, I love a movie the first time and then after a couple more viewings I get bored and start seeing the faults). So all by my lonesome and bored, I gave it another go. I found myself delighted again.
The overall look of the movie was entrancing and somewhat dreamy. The flick a feel of being both clean/studio and gritty/indie at the same time. This backdrop provided the best contrast to the violence. When the jock we assume is going to be one of the lead characters leaps off his rooftop into the pool, thus filling it with blood, I was left feeling uncomfortable. When watching horror films you beginning by suspending disbelief, i.e.: ok I take that burnt to a crisp kid killer existing with a grain of salt now how do you stop him? Or, ok I take that a person can be so evil that it seems that nothing can kill him so how do you keep his little sister safe? When a horror movie tosses that need for suspension of disbelief (like Mandy Lane does with the jock’s roof dive) it makes the horror feel all too real. 20 mins in, at most, and I’m out of my comfort zone.
Mandy Lane does mimic some of the classic slasher flicks, the lovely cast of teens isolate themselves out at a farm house with the intentions of partaking in illegal substances and knocking some boots. On the other hand the identity of our killer is handed to us soon after the carnage begins. Again, this throws the viewer off balance. No big reveal of who and why at the end? No barely plausible reason for the carnage? Nope, just a killer, who after seeing years of high school shootings in the news, no one is surprised by. Again, it’s just too believable making the viewing slightly unpleasant but still absorbing.
And the carnage…. oh wow. We have the “shove something that has no business being there down a throat” scene. That never gets old to me. There’s also a very cringe worthy knife to the eyes (both times this scene lead me to yell “oh, fucking ow!”). And most viciously, our guy is running around with a gun. Most horror titans stick with some sort of stabbing instrument (butcher knife, machete, glove with attached razors) and there’s a reason for that. It’s personal. It gives the killer a personality. The gun on the other hand is cold and impersonal. To me, more scary somehow.
Honestly, I can only think of one place where Mandy Lane went wrong. Two scantily dressed hot blondes, both a little under the influence. Deep stares, kind words….. and NO MAKING OUT! Seriously? Robbed! We were robbed!
(And as an aside, I NEED a copy of the cover of Sister Golden Hair. I search and search but no dice.)
Lack of girl on girl action aside, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is brilliant. Worth putting in the effort to find.
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