Erynn McLoughlin
Ever think a sweet, innocent girl could ever become a killer? To give you an inside look on how Jonathan Levine transforms a young girl into a killer, take a look at this sneak peak.
Mandy Lane is a high school student who recently gained a new group of friends after her old best friend Emmett was accused of encouraging a classmate to jump off his roof during a party. That boy jumped to his death and viewers were actually able to see the events leading up to that particular moment. The boy was very drunk and him and Emmett weren't off to the best start that day. The boy followed Emmett onto the roof and was persuaded into jumping off because Emmett told him Mandy would catch him. The boy immediately died and when the people pulled him out of the water they looked up at Emmett in disgust as seen in the picture below. From that day forward Emmett was seen as an outcast and someone Mandy never wanted to have any friendship with again.
Mandy Lane was seen as the "hot girl" who turned guys eyes toward her as she walked past.She, unlike one of her friends, wasn't the stuck up kind of girl but the more innocent one and guys knew that. The innocence and the factor she never had sex really turned guys on and wanted Mandy even more. She was very confident about herself unlike her old friend Emmett who starred at himself in the mirror self consciously. This was a huge factor that played out throughout the movie because it was shown that between the killers, Mandy was the more dominant one. She was seen as the leader.
After a joke that was taken too far and upset Jake, he ran off. Marlyn really liked Jake so a few minutes later she went to go look for him. When she found him they instantly started kissing which lead to sexual activities. Then the moment Marlyn was finished pleasuring Jake and he wouldn't do the same for her, he left leaving Marlyn alone in the barn. It was very dark outside and shadows were appearing left and right while she was out in the barn. Then a gun appears and the killer shoves it down Marlyn's mouth. The camera view is a huge factor into how the scene unfolds. The camera made us watch the chosen weapon (a gun) being pushed further and further into her mouth. The force eventually broke her jaw and she instantly died. Due to the camera's view, us viewers saw the whole graphic thing. Just a couple minutes after Marlyn performed sexual encounters, she was instantly killed which was another common theme in the movie.
Jake finally wanted to go look for Marlyn and after a while of driving around he came to a lakeside where he saw her. When he got close to her and saw she was dead, he was instantly pushed with a gun into the lake. Once he came up for air he saw a gun pointed at him. He was eventually shot dead by the killer which was then seen to be Emmett. This showed a constant killer and that there was no shift.
The minute you see the psycho-sexual killer come out was when one of the boys came in contact with Emmett and Emmett took a knife and slashed it across the boys face. The boy wasn't dead yet and was trying to crawl away but Emmett was harassing him with sayings such as, "Where am I. Can't you see me"? Then the camera view focused into his face where you couldn't see his eyes and all you could see was the blood dripping down from where his eyes would be. The camera focused in so it could have viewers start to have a sense of feeling what the victim was going through as well as what the killer saw.
Overall, some things that never changed throughout the movie was the gender of victims. There were both male and female victims who were both brutally killed. Also the camera view never failed to zoom into the victims face as they were dying. Weapons were always used in the killings. Two times knives were used but other than that, the shotgun was the number one choice of weapon for the killer. The terrible place was also almost always the same. It was always a dark place with many shadows and the person was always alone.
When you thought you knew who the only killer was a plot twist happened which overturned any expectations. Emmett was chasing Chloe back to the house when Mandy went outside and told Chloe to run to her. When Chloe ran into Mandy's arms, she stabbed her with a knife, killing her immediately. This left Mandy as the final girl but now also the second killer. At this very moment the killer changed especially when she eventually ended up killing her partner, Emmett.
You did a great job with your use of visuals! The video was a great way for em to figure out the story line, along with your description, because I have not seen this movie. You made a really good point when you mentioned how the camera forced it's audience to watch the gun being shoved into Marlyn's mouth. Even after she had just performed some type of sexual act, the gun inside her mouth could be compared to it as well. Great descriptions and points!
ReplyDeleteI really think you did a great job giving a description of what happened in the movie! I was always curious as to what this one was about. I think you used really good visuals to put emphasis on what you were saying. You made some really good points involving the Carol Clover article, especially where you talked about how After Marlyn and Jake engaged in sexual acts, she was punished for it by getting the gun pushed into her mouth. All in all good job!
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