Only time I’ve ever watched this until literally today was back when it first released. Attended a birthday party held for a friend of mine at the time where his parents rented out a theater for us and he got to choose whatever movie to attend.
He chose this. That kid fucking sucked. Glad I’m not friends with him anymore, hope he’s living a terrible fucking life.
Genuinely one of the worst cases of wasted potential within the horrorsphere. Its core elements are solid as shit - mental health issues/childhood traumas/gothic fairy tales/small town legends/mob mentality anxieties, etc. - and the idea of a haunted tooth fairy flick sounds inspired as hell but DAMN does this thing blow. About as bog standard and dull as your basic early aughts PG-13 supernatural horror flick of the time comes and goes. Bargain bin shit; put it right next to…
I identify with Luz Noceda so fucking much.
Everything about Luz and the troubles she faces are so deeply resonating for me. Struggling with her self-worth, struggling with her neurodivergence and how she applies it, discovering her bisexuality as she grows older, desperately trying to reclaim her identity in the wake of losing a parent, trying to make sense of a world that seems determined to put her down for simply having ADHD; for daring to be bold and different…
Hot damn, this fucking rips. 1980’s campground slasher iconography filtered through the blunt, nasty lens of Van Sant and Malick. Shot, blocked, and framed with a sensory distance that turns the brutal antics into just another mundane piece of daily life. Just your everyday occurrence for the garden variety Jason/Cropsy/Madman Marz-style of backwoods killer while also answering just what the hell do those guys get up to when the camera cuts away from them in a conventional narrative. Gorgeously shot with lush, deliberate earthly visuals. Hall-of-fame kill in this one, man.
