Candidate #7
THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS
(September 2015)
"I'll tell you what it is, kids.
“It’s that every f*cker
in the country thinks they’re a photographer now, okay? And everyone can share
an image, and it’s awful. It’s awful because it makes everything just like
watery piss.
“Then you have this guy
who creates an image that you actually can’t f*ck with, that you actually can’t
ignore…”
Serial
killers are like zombies and vampires; you need to look really long and really
hard to find films about them that are actually worth your time and your
attention.
Nick
Simon’s The Girl in the Photographs
is definitely worth your time, not just because it’s an excellent (and at
times, frankly brutal) serial killer thriller, but it’s also one of the last
things the late, great, and sorely missed Wes Craven worked on. (At the very
top of the end credits roll, the dedication, “For Wes.”)
So
if you feel any allegiance at all to the late Mr. Craven, then the least you
can do is check out the film that he believed in enough to Executive Produce,
before he had to so abruptly leave us…
And
while that should be enough reason, if you find that you still need some more
motivation, then Kal Penn’s total douchebag fashion photog Peter Hemmings is
one of the definite draws of the film.
There’s
also Mitch Pileggi, effectively de-Skinner-izing himself as the ineffectual Sheriff
Porter, and Katharine Isabelle--late of the equally sorely missed Hannibal--in a brief role.
Plus,
the D.P is Dean Cundey! Halloween! The Thing! And if your cinematic tastes
lean more towards big-a$$ Hollywood productions, Jurassic Park! The Back to
the Future trilogy! Cundey also shot the brilliant Psycho II, which leads us to one other notable…
The
film’s screenplay is credited to Osgood Perkins, Rob Morast, and Simon.
So,
yeah. Psycho. Perkins.
Osgood
happens to be the son of Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins. (And he
actually played “Young Norman” in Psycho
II.) Osgood also happens to be making a name for himself as a director as
well, and I’ve been chomping at the bit to see his directorial debut, February (reportedly retitled The Blackcoat’s Daughter).
If
this film’s screenplay is anything to go by, then I’m even more pumped to see February-or-whatever-it’s-being-called-now.
So,
yes, The Girl in the Photographs.
If
you want a bit of brutality in your ¡Qué horror!
viewing…
“This guy knows I’m from
Spearfish. He’s doing this… this photography thing with his victims as… as… as
an homage, as a… as a nod, a nod to me, Spearfish’s most famous citizen and
only known living artist.
“Frankly, I’m flattered.”
(The Girl in the Photographs OS courtesy
of impawards.com.)
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