Goddamn this is a good movie! I was sitting there watching what was going on, enjoying the first 10 minutes or so and trying to think why it all felt so familiar, so comforting (as much as a horror film can be comforting). It started to dawn on me that All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is kind of a throwback to the 'fun' slashers of the 90's. Things like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream and even Can't Hardly Wait (which I know isn’t a slasher) instantly started springing to mind.
I fondly remember watching those movies and realising very quickly that they were not realistic portrayals of life, nor were they designed to be. They were simply what they were: a bunch of beautiful people put into a situation that causes them to be methodically and slowly murdered over a 90 minute period of time. And there is something refreshing about a movie with such a simple goal to achieve, that you as the viewer are happy to buy into. Some of my problems with modern horror is either its attempt to be super realistic or its attempt to be some extravagant complex beast that you get lost in. Something simple and upfront is much easier to get involved in and appreciate it’s just a story.
All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a perfect example of being clear and concise. It uses the clichés perfectly without hiding from them, but it has enough of its own personality to be able to stand on its own two feet. It’s not hard to see where it’s all going but there are enough characters and options that you are not 100% sure what is going on until the very end, even if you think you know, and that’s the sign of a great movie.
I can see this as the benchmark for what Mike and I would like to achieve on our debut feature length movie. It’s the type of thing we always talk about but done as perfectly as it could be given the constraints of a debut feature horror flick. If I had made this film I can imagine sitting back in my chair after the final edit is done and feel a deep satisfying excitement come over me, which is exactly what happened to me as the viewer of this movie, and which is exactly the goal I would be going for making a horror film like this.
SCORE: 8/10
IMDB Info for All The Boys Love Mandy Lane
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