20140107: Horror Review--Mandy Lane

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2006, rated R, 90 minutes, thriller, horror, mystery.  Spoken word is in English.  Aspect: 2.35; estimated budget, 750,000 USD.
2. IMDB: 5.6/10.0 from 18,779 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 41% on the meter; 34% liked it from 24,861 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.0/5.0 from 14,572 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Jonathan Levine.  Written by: Jacob Forman.
6. Starring: Amber Heard as Mandy Lane, Anson Mount as Garth, Whitney Able as Chloe, Michael Welch as Emmet, Edwin Hodge as Bird, Melissa Price as Marlin, Aaron Himelstein as Red, Luke Grimes as Jake.


2. Setup and Plot
1. It is not easy to get to like this, or even be interested.  The characters are all rather disagreeable at best.  This is another teen slasher film, where entitled teens have little or no supervision and considerable resources to waste.  Their issues seem to be about embarrassing one another and the loss of virginity, especially if that is forced.  After one such public embarrassment, the one wronged (Emmet) eggs on another to do something stupid while drunk.  This resulted in a rather grave injury, and immediate pariah status for the instigator.  Some time passes.


2. The setup that should never have happened is that three girls (Mandy, Marlin, and Chloe) and three guys (Jake, Bird, and Red) are alone on a ranch with only ranch hand, ex-Marine Garth around for some semblance of sanity.  Garth works for Red's father, and he knows better than to interfere too much.  There's beer, there is coke, there are the constant challenges to have sex.  According to the cliches of the genre, we're in the normal sort of killing field: teens far from much help, teens thinking about having sex, drinking, doing drugs, with someone whom they have wronged deeply lurking about.


3. Marlin dies first.  Jake goes looking for Marlin, and gets killed after finding her dead.  Bird catches up with Emmet, takes his gun away, then roughs him up a bit.  Emmet counter-attacks, and kills the stupid bully in an incredibly humiliating way.  The next morning, Garth, Mandy, Chloe, and Red are still alive.  None of them are aware of Emmet's presence.


4. Garth sees unmistakable signs that someone else is with them.  The others quickly agree to leave.  As they go out the door, Emmet takes a shot and wounds Garth in the chest.  Mandy stays with him.  Red and Chloe try a side route out that Red knows; they see the bodies of Jake and Marlin on the way.  They stop for a kiss; Emmet shoots Red.  Chloe abandons him; she runs away, and by happenstance, finds Bird's body.


5. Will anyone get out alive?  Will Emmet pay for all the murders?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary:  Yet another teen slasher film; nothing new.
2. Two stars of five.  Please, no sequel.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 3/10 Not that good, and the end credits were irritating.


2. Sound: 7/10 Had a few problems, but mostly OK.


3. Acting: 3/10 Bad.  Edwin Hodge, Melissa Price, Aaron Himelstein, Michael Welch, Luke Grimes, and Whitney Able were terrible.  Amber Heard and Anson Mount were better, but not enough to lift this lead balloon.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 Nothing new, nothing interesting.