First Things First…
I’ve heard really good things about this and its prequel, Pearl, which I’ll review soon. Apparently there’s also a sequel in the works, so I want to be ready to see it in the theater when it comes out.
6 Things I Like
6. Gator Bait
One of my favorite shots in the film is the aerial view of the gator slowly, silently closing the distance on Maxine as she nonchalantly breaststrokes back to the dock, oblivious to the danger.
Despite the suspense as it gets nearer, I was certain the gator wasn’t going to eat her then and there. But I was equally certain it would eat somebody before the movie ended.
Poor Bobby-Lynne.
5. Mid-coital Escape
One of the film’s most suspenseful scenes is when Pearl and Howard finally have sex while Maxine is hiding under the bed. It’s equal parts hilarious, nerve-wracking, and gross as she maneuvers herself to face the doorway so she can pull herself out using her elbows while trying not to get crushed as the mattress sags with every geriatric thrust.
4. What Sex Represents
“Take it from me… letting outdated traditions control your life will get you nowhere.”
Maxine
Following a day of filming their “dirty movie,” our protagonists have a surprisingly deep conversation about sex. It stems from their perception that Lorraine is a prude who’s judging them.
They’re wrong, which I’ll get to next. But here, they talk about what sex means to them.
For Maxine, it’s a way to push back against societal norms and expectations, especially from her ultra-conservative family… and it’s a path to fame.
For Bobby-Lynne, it’s a pleasure to enjoy shame-free while they’re young.
For RJ, it’s a way to make great art.
For Jackson, it’s the work he was meant to do.
And for Wayne—as long as the camera is rolling—it’s just business.
Of course, none of that is about love. That’s what Lorraine really wants to know—like, how can Maxine be in love with one man but sleep with another. And how can Wayne watch the woman he’s in love with sleep with another man.
Maxine says they do believe in love. But sex and love are two different things…
“And besides, it’s just sex. You can decide who you wanna love but not who you wanna screw. Attraction’s out of our control.”
Regardless of what you feel about their morals or ethics, there’s no reason for sex to be buttoned-up, shameful, or taboo. It can have all different kinds of meanings for all different kinds of people.
There’s no reason to think any of these characters are deviants for enjoying themselves. Sure, they’re imperfect. But they’re all likeable in their own way, which is different from a lot of horror movies.
It’s only the villains who hold their sexual escapades against them. We’re not asked to do the same.
3. RJ’s Predicament
Returning to the previous point, Lorraine doesn’t judge these strangers she’s just met and watched have sex all day.
Quite the opposite…
She’s enthralled. And she wants in.
This puts RJ in a tough spot. When Lorraine asked Wayne how he’s okay watching Maxine sleep with another man, RJ is the one who defends it by saying, “It’s not real life. It’s just a movie.”
Suddenly the tables are turned on him—not that those are Lorraine’s intentions—when she says…
“…if we really are makin’ a good dirty movie, then I don’t wanna just carry the equipment. I wanna be in it.”
It was easy for RJ to think the sex didn’t matter because it was in the name of art when it wasn’t his girlfriend. But Lorraine IS his girlfriend. Now the conundrum is real. And if he refuses to let her be in it because he can’t handle watching his girlfriend sleep with another man, he’s a hypocrite.
I like how they ultimately play this. He’s not a domineering boyfriend, and he’s convinced to go along with it. But he’s not as emotionally detached as Wayne, and it breaks him.
Even so, when he makes to leave the rest of them stranded there in the middle of the night, unable to finish filming, he spots Pearl looking lost and—to the detriment of his long-term survival—he tries to help her, even in the midst of his own crisis. So he remains a conflicted character who we can have conflicted feelings about.
2. Double Duty for Mia Goth
If I hadn’t known it going in, I’m not sure I would’ve realized Mia Goth also plays Pearl, along with Maxine. She’s brilliant in pulling off both parts, especially when they share the screen. I’m sure there’s some technical wizardry that makes this possible, but Goth deserves a ton of credit for bringing to life both a memorable final girl and a memorable villain side by side.
1. Love Story in Disguise
“Not everything in life turns out how you expect.”
Pearl
My favorite scene in the movie is Bobby-Lynne singing “Landslide” while we see Pearl’s sadness and desperation.
In fact, the whole movie is colored by an overpowering melancholy because of Pearl and Howard’s unlived lives.
Don’t get me wrong—they’re deplorable maniacs who slaughter these young folks. And these aren’t their first kills.
But there’s still something sympathetic about this elderly woman who just wants to make love, and her husband who clearly loves her and wants to satisfy her but believes he can’t physically do it anymore.
How do you not feel for Pearl when she puts on her nice dress and makeup, and tries to seduce Howard, only to look crestfallen when he denies her?
Or when Pearl sees a decrepit hag staring back at her in the mirror—not the beautiful young woman she once was—and she looks forlorn?
Pearl and Howard share such a sense of loss—of irretrievable youth and unfulfilled dreams. And Pearl still wants all the same things she’s always wanted—to be young and beautiful… to feel wanted and special… to have sex. She just takes things to the extreme when she can’t have them, but others can.
Think about the first kill of the evening…
She makes a pass at RJ, only for him to push her away and say he doesn’t want to see what she wants to show him. Then, she glances down for just an instant, again looking so sad, before she sticks him in the throat with a knife. Then as she brutally stabs him more than a dozen times, she does it while mounting him in a sexually provocative position.
Then there’s one of the most disturbing scenes in the movie, when Pearl gets into bed with Maxine and gently rubs her bloody hand all over Maxine’s skin as she nuzzles her neck and head.
In the end, she simply can’t handle all she’s lost, and she holds it against those who have it and enjoy it. Like when she says to Bobby-Lynne, “You don’t deserve to be able to just flaunt it in my face like you do.”
It’s amazing that these two murderers have lost their humanity to such an unreal degree in terms of their willingness to kill those they envy…
Yet they still feel very human in their love for each other and their shared loss.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Preacher’s Daughter
“I know the powers of Satan firsthand. Our very own daughter was taken by perverts and swindlers and let fall into a world of sin.”
Maxine’s father
We get that line from the televangelist at the beginning of the movie, only to see the same scene on the TV at the end and discover his daughter is Maxine.
Knowing this is who raised Maxine, it explains a lot about her views, and her desire for better in her life. It’s decent commentary about how, when you’re so puritanical and raise your kids to believe sex is bad, and to equate it with the devil, this is the kind of pushback you can expect.
It just feels like they’re going for an “oh shit!” moment here, but for me it was more of a shrug.
2 Things I Don’t Like
2. Just a Naked, Strung-up Corpse?
“Sheriff? You ought to come take a look at this.”
Officer
The framing device doesn’t work for me.
When the cops find this slaughterhouse at the beginning, it sets us up to know we’re about to witness a whole lot of violence. But it’s unnecessary.
This opening scene ends with one cop calling the sheriff into the basement and saying he needs to see something. There’s obviously something shocking there, which we’re left to wonder about.
We later learn it’s a naked corpse hanging from chains. And it IS shocking…
But the sheriff also finds a dead body under a sheet as soon as he gets out of his car. And it’s the first of many. Between Pearl’s decapitated corpse, Lorraine’s blown-apart face looking like Two Face, and Wayne with his eyeballs pulled out of his skull—this big revelation we’re made to anticipate doesn’t stand out as more shocking than the rest.
1. Lorraine’s Gambit
I don’t buy Lorraine’s behavior after Maxine rescues her from the cellar. I know she’s been badly traumatized emotionally. And her hand has been mangled, so she’s in physical pain, too. But I still think she would’ve wanted to stick with her rescuer. Instead, she starts screaming at Maxine, blaming her for everything that’s happening, and runs off on her own, only to immediately get her face blown off by a shotgun.
I guess if Maxine was always going to be the final girl, Lorraine had to get taken out. But after she came to life earlier in the movie, I didn’t like this ending for her.
Tim Matassa
