When artistic photos of serial killer's mutilated victims is
exposed by the press, a fashion photographer (Penn) is inspired to return to
his hometown where the mysterious killers are on their murder spree to copy
their "artistry" for his own ad campaign. As the killers start to
close in on the small town beauty named Colleen as their ultimate muse, the
photographer decides to use her as the centerpiece for his own campaign and their
paths will collide.
A bored young woman in a sleepy community called Spearfish
starts receiving photographs of brutally murdered young women. Are they real or
staged? The culprit is either a serial killer or some creep with a sick sense
of humour.
In Nick Simon's The Girl in the Photographs, Colleen's life isn't going anywhere. The small town check out girl with natural beauty is bored with her dead end job and annoyed by her apathetic boyfriend. This isn't the life she wanted. In the midst of her turmoil, a pair of deranged serial killers begins leaving her photos of their mutilated victims. Her chance to escape comes in the form of Peter Hemmings, a hipster celebrity photographer who has traveled back to his hometown of Spearfish, South Dakota, with a pack of models, intent on copying the killers' intense and unapologetic artistry. When he learns Colleen is the killers' muse, Peter resolves to make her his own and use her as the centerpiece of a photo campaign in Los Angeles. But before Colleen can leave her old life behind, she must contend with the desires of her murderous stalkers who have chosen her last night in town to execute their most provocative work to date.
Despite being well produced, shot and acted with lots of pretty faces, this film just doesn't succeed in being what could have been a more engaging horror flick had some serious editing and script adjustment been applied.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly, instead of Lee’s character being the standout of the film, it’s actually Kal Penn’s turn as the douchebag hipster Hemmings. It doesn’t take long for you to see the character is based on real-life douchebag hipster photographer Terry Richardson.
Almost everyone in the film acts like they’re borderline incompetent. Sheriff Porter’s role is irrelevant, if only there to squash the initial question of why Colleen didn’t go to the police with her photos and nothing else.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, this unsavory mix of gruesomely bloody mayhem and genre convention tweaking could easily pass as something produced by the most insufferable of these twits, a hipster Los Angeles photographer who delights in shooting transgressive scenes of fake violence.
"The Girl in the Photographs" is an unfortunate example of the expanse that can open between a movie's ambitions and its execution.
ReplyDeleteWhether the film actually develops its compelling premise is arguable, but the attempt is entertaining and admirably ambitious.
The Girl in the Photographs has its hooks, but the finished product fails to build on its inspired idea to create a a satisfying horror film.
ReplyDeleteIt feels like a product, shaped to the point of anonymity.
Cheap-looking and poorly acted; “Girl” has a hackneyed sleaziness that’s not limited to the barely clothed pudenda adorning the end credits. What starts out as a promising commentary on the objectifying nature of photography soon sinks into another rote massacre.
ReplyDeleteAs a final girl, Lee’s Colleen doesn’t bring a lot to the table either. She’s not particularly resourceful or sympathetic. There’s no urgency in her performance and you honestly don’t care whether she manages to stick it out until the end credits or not. Which it think it is fine, because I’m guessing most audience members won’t stick it out until the end credits, either.
ReplyDeleteThere are similarities between the ways the dead girls are posed with the pictures that Hemmings takes, not to mention he is originally from Spearfish. He is intrigued by what he believes is a tribute to his work so he decides to replicate the style of the pictures Colleen has been finding by taking his crew to Spearfish. Unfortunately the appearance of these outsiders provokes these two disturbing individuals and has unforeseen consequences for everybody involved.
ReplyDeleteAt times this film looks gorgeous with great Steadicam photography and some very confident shots and fantastic atmosphere throughout the film. Where the movie impresses especially is the brilliant contrasts of light and dark, you never lose track of what is happening because it’s just shot so damn well and are the sources of all of the films best scares and atmospheric moments. The film looks so good I am honestly surprised it’s not getting a wide release, it looks better than some Blumhouse productions.
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