VOD Review: The Neon Demon (2016)

"Nicolas Winding Refn is back on the right track."

(aka Evil Little Girls.)

Release Date: August 30.

Country: USA

Rating: R

Written by: Nicolas Winding Refn, Mary Laws, and Polly Stenham.

Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn.

Starring: Elle Fanning, Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote, Abbey Lee, Keanu Reeves, and Christina Hendricks.



I really love Nicolas Winding Refn as a filmmaker. Drive is easily one of my favorite movies of the last 10 years; Valhalla Rising is a mesmerizing, haunting piece of work; and Bronson was just flat-out cool. Only God Forgives felt way too overindulgent and pretentious to me, as if Refn bought into his being hailed as a unique, visionary artist way too much. To me, he's a director like Terrence Malick in that he makes the kind of slow, atmospheric movies that he wants to, and he doesn't care if anyone likes them or not. He's got something to say, and he's going to say it exactly how he wants to.



That's both good and bad to me, as his movies are unique, visually stunning, and they most definitely push boundaries. They can also alienate viewers with their oddity, and above all else, the way that he uses sex and violence to get his point across. So, good and bad.



The Neon Demon is his most accessible film since Drive. It's also his most controversial, and depending on your taste in art, maybe even his best.



Nah, that's still Drive. 

Jesse is 16-years-old and gorgeous, and even though she's sweet, young, and naive, she moves to L.A. to pursue her dream of being a model. She signs with an agency who doesn't care that she's a parentless minor, and it's not long before she starts drawing the eye of everyone in the industry's hottest players, and lands a job. A job in which her naked body is painted up in gold by some skeezy photographer. 

SURE SHE'S ONLY 16, BUT IT'S ART.

Jesse makes quick friends with Ruby; the makeup artist with a heart of gold, who also happens to be a rapey pedophile who really, really wants to sex her up.  Ruby tries her best to help Jesse navigate the shark-infested waters of the modeling world, and to keep her safe from the likes of Gigi and Sarah, two fellow models who hate the fresh new face on the scene, and want to destroy her.

THIS BITCH RIGHT HERE...

As Jesse gets more and more popular, and her ego grows to match her profile, things become extremely dire for her; everyone either wants a piece of her, or wants to break her down. I won't say anything else about the plot here to avoid spoiling it for you, but suffice it to say that it's a model-eat-model world out there, and fresh young ingenues lie Jesse really don't stand a chance. Unless they're dangerous themselves...

DON'T ACCEPT THOSE FLOWERS!

The Neon Demon is a meditation of feminine beauty. Or maybe it's about how women can be so obsessive over their looks. Or maybe it's about empty, shallow people who have nothing to offer the world but their beauty, and how there are always people out there who are happy to exploit that beauty. It's also the story of a beautiful young girl who is hated by her peers, because she makes them feel less wanted. And cannibalism. Possibly witches.



It's basically about fucked up people.



This movie is not going to be for everybody, and if someone said to me "This movie was a piece of shit and I hated it!" I would completely understand. It's sleazy, disturbing, and at times it feels like little more than an excuse for Winding Refn to jerk himself off, both artistically, and literally. There's a subtle beauty to the film though, as Refn and crew don't waste one single shot, and they certainly take their time setting the tone with each scene. Subject matter aside, it's a truly gorgeous film to behold.

DEFINITELY GOT A SUSPIRIA VIBE FROM THIS ONE AT TIMES.

As far as the subject matter goes, it's definitely an examination of the psyches of gorgeous models, and those who surround them. The girls are messed up enough with their shallow, vapid, empty world views, and it's interesting to see how they chew up and spit out everyone around them in pursuit of fame and adoration. The people around them are just as debased; some want to exploit their beauty, and some want to possess it. Some want to rape it. It's a creepy world out there for beautiful girls, even if sometimes they are their own worst enemy.



We started this movie thinking that it was about Elle Fanning's character. She's sweet and naive, and we just knew that she was in trouble. Then after a while, it felt like it was all about Jena Malone, and her predatory motives and disturbing habits. Then we were pretty sure that it had been about Bella Heathcote and Abbey Lee's characters all along. The movie shifts gears, sometimes unexpectedly, and at the very least, that kept things fresh and unpredictable.



The cast all did a great job in this one, as the usually likable young lades who played the leads all managed to make us despise them equally. If there's one standout to us though, it's got to be Jena Malone. Her character arc surprised us, and she managed to skeeve us out in a way that we haven't been in a long time. She really committed to her role, and it shows.

ALSO, THIS BITCH RIGHT HERE...

As with most of Winding Refn's movies, The Neon Demon is an exercise in style over substance. There's plenty of substance to be had here too, but it took a backseat to the stylish visuals at many times throughout the movie.

AND THIS BITCH RIGHT HERE TOO... THEY'RE ALL CRAZY!

Jena Malone, WTF are you doing?!? I asked that question out loud twice during this one.

SCREAM RAPE AND THEN RUN, GIRL!

Cannibalism, scissor violence, knife violence, attempted rape, flowing vagina blood, and that whole eyeball thing... this movie has plenty of gore and violence throughout, even if some of it is implied, rather than shown.

I'VE NEVER SEEN RED SOAP BEFORE. NEAT.

Abbey Lee and Bella Heathcote take a shower together; Elle Fanning is sexually-charged; Jena Malone does her best to seduce, and almost rape, a 16-year-old girl; and then there's that other Jena Malone scene... This movie oozes sexuality and dysfunction, and some of it is downright horrific. 

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT FIRST DATE MOVIE.

The Neon Demon is a very artsy film, so that means that there's going to be some great dialogue, as well as some lines that feel pretentious as hell. In context with the scenes that they come from though, these are the lines that stood out to us.

• "I need to get her out of me!"


• "I'm a ghost."


• "Room 214, it must be seen."


• "She was right. I am dangerous."

SHE JUST LOOKS EVIL.

The Neon Demon is an interesting movie that we could have easily hated, but somehow got us to really like it. Whether you will like it or not really depends on how you feel about Arthouse films; this is definitely a Horror movie, but it's also a very nuanced and visually-charged movie.



Rent accordingly. 



B+



The Neon Demon is available now on VOD, and will hit Blu-ray & DVD on September 27th.

The Neon Demon showcases some gorgeous women, even if they are all up to some pretty horrendous things. They've even got their own Horror Hottie post which you can check out right over HERE.

Blu-ray Review:: Session 9 (2001)

"One of the best Haunted House movies of all-time."

(aka The Weak and the Wounded)

Release Date: August 10th, 2001.

Country: USA

Rating: R

Written by: Brad Anderson and Stephen Gevedon.

Directed by: Brad Anderson.

Starring: Peter Mullan, David Caruso, Josh Lucas, Stephen Gevedon, Brendan Sexton III, and Larry Fessenden.



One of the best pure Horror movies of the new millennium (or that we've ever seen, period), Session 9 is a quiet, eerie movie that will get under your skin and stay there. For days.



Now, the tough, jaded type of Horror fans who take pride in the fact that nothing can scare them, might be immune to the effects of this movie. Everyone else though, will most likely be freaked out after watching Session 9, especially if you watch it alone, in the dark, and late at night... which is how most Horror movies should always be watched anyhow.



The "What We Learned" section below is going to contain a pretty big spoiler for the movie, and if you haven't seen it yet, we implore you to skip that section completely, until you have. This is a great movie, and it deserves to be seen 100% Spoiler Free. Please don't ruin it for yourselves.



*This is a repost of a review that we did in 2015, updated for the Blu-ray release.

The plot for this one is pretty simple, and even a bit sparse: A Hazmat crew accepts a job removing asbestos from the abandoned Danvers State Mental Hospital, wherein strange things begin to happen. And by strange, we mean creepy.

YEAH, I'M NOT GOING DOWN THERE.

Crew boss Gordon needs this job to keep his company afloat, and with a new baby at home, he's under a lot of stress to pull this job off perfectly. Right hand man Phil is there to support Gordon, although he's not thrilled that another guy on the crew, Hank, stole his girlfriend from him, and is banging her on the reg, always happy to shove it in Phil's face. Mike is the vaguely dissatisfied ex-lawyer who is living well below his expectations, and Jeff is Gordon's goofy Nephew who is afraid of the dark, and paralyzingly so.

SO MUCH DYSFUNCTION!

When Mike finds an old box containing session tapes of a doctor interviewing his patient, Mary Hobbes (who killed her family and suffers from multiple-personality disorder), he is compelled to listen to them... which leads to everyone on the crew to begin mentally deteriorating in their own way.



...and that's all we're saying about the plot.

THOSE DAMN TAPES!

Session 9 is an absolute clinic on how to tell a terrifying story using little more than mood and atmosphere. This movie gets under your skin not only with its perfect, terrifying location, but with the subtle sense of wrongness that it establishes from the start. When we think of movies that have genuinely scare and unnerved us -and we're talking about in our adult lives here, not when we were kids, when everything scared us- Session 9 is one of the very first movies that comes to mind.



And years after the fact, when we do think about Session 9, we always hear that damn piano music in our heads.



From the start of the movie, you get the feeling that something wrong, and maybe even evil, is afoot here. Mike is virtually lead to the box that contains the session tapes, and once he begins to listen to them, and become obsessed with the disturbing interviews with Mary Hobbes, everything starts going horribly wrong for he and his crew. Are the happenings supernatural, or purely psychological? That's been intentionally left for the viewer to decide for themselves, and you can argue the case for one over the other all you like, but the honest answer is that it's both.

THE THREE SIDES OF MARY HOBBES.

The true star of this movie is the historic Danvers State Hospital. The birthplace of the frontal lobotomy, it's the perfect setting for a Horror movie, and in fact, it's been a part of Horror lore since way back when it was referenced in H.P. Lovecraft's work. It's since been demolished (which is a shame), but the fact that they were able to shoot Session 9 there will keep it alive in our nightmares forever. Oh, and the grounds that it was built on was originally called Salem Village; you know, where the Salem Witch Trials took place. CREEPY.



The human cast of the movie was pretty damned impressive in this one too. Peter Mullan is one of the best actors working today, who most people probably don't even know about. His work in Session 9, as well as Red Riding and Top of the Lake, is enough to make him one of our faves. Love him or hate him, David Caruso does his best David Caruso here, which is cool with us. Everyone else played their parts well enough.

"HELLO, DOC."

Who would honestly take a job at a creepy-ass place like that? Even if it's not haunted, the odds that there's a Serial Killer or maniac living there are pretty strong, so either way, you're probably going to die there.

THAT SUIT IS NOT GOING TO HELP YOU SURVIVE!

What ever happened to David Caruso? His career started off so strong, and them he kind of faded away, eventually ending up starring in that lame, tame CSI bullshit. He could have been one of the greats.

NO, FUCK YOU, DAVID!

There's a little bit of gore here and there, especially towards the end, but it's a mostly bloodless affair overall.

LOOK, THERE'S SOME BLOOD.

Nope.

This new 1080p transfer of Session 9 is fantastic, and it's likely as good as the movie will ever look. Session 9 was one of the first movies every shot using a 24p camera (you can read about that HERE), which means that it's always going to have that early "Shot on HD" feel to it, but to our eyes, this new transfer registered as nothing but crisp, clear, and gorgeous. The audio is sharp too, although we're not sure why Scream Factory opted to offer only a 2.0 track, completely forgoing a 5.1 mix.



The Special Features include a Commentary Track with Brad Anderson and Michael Gevedon that is absolutely worth a listen; and a nearly hour-long Doc where the cast and crew recall every phase of the movie's production, which was equally as compelling.

• NEW Return To Danvers: The Secrets Of SESSION 9 Featuring Interviews With Director/Co-writer Brad Anderson, Actor/Co-writer Stephen Gevedon, Actors Josh Lucas, Brendan Sexton III, Larry Fessenden, Composers The Climax Golden Twins And Director Of Photography Uta Briesewitz.


• NEW Horror's Hallowed Grounds � Revisiting The Locations of The Film.


• Audio Commentary With Brad Anderson And Stephen Gevedon.


• Deleted Scenes And Alternate Ending With Optional Commentary By Director Brad Anderson.


• Story To Screen Featurette.


• The Haunted Palace Featurette.


• Theatrical Trailer.

Overall, this is an excellent disc which does this excellent movie great justice.

NO DAVID CARUSO INTERVIEWS THOUGH, WHICH SUCKS.

 ***Don't read this section until after you've watched the movie. Watch it with no preconceived notions in your head, then come back and read this.***



Is Session 9 about someone having a mental breakdown, or is there more of a Supernatural element at play here? While Brad Anderson and Stephen Gevedon seemed to have left the ending as ambiguous as possible, and people will argue that it's all about a mental breakdown and nothing more, there's no way that "Simon" isn't an external entity of some kind.



The scene at the beginning of the movie were Gordon sees the chair, we see his face slowly covered by a darkness, and then we hear "Simon's" voice say "Hello, Gordon." Now, he hears the voice before the box with the session tapes is even found and opened (and it's sealed up pretty tightly, in an out of the way location), so there's no way that Gordon heard the tapes or knew about "Simon" before his breakdown, so it can't be a byproduct of his losing his mind.



And as far as that box that holds the Session Tapes goes, be sure to watch that scene carefully; Mike is basically lead to that box by "something," and it's only after its opened that everyone starts freaking out in their own special ways.



So Gordon does have a break from reality and totally loses his shit, but we truly believe that whatever "Simon" is helped to facilitate that break.



"Simon" lives in the weak and the wounded, after all, Doc.

YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE PLAYED THOSE TAPES.

One of the best scary movies that we've ever seen, Session 9 is a Must See for any self-respecting Horror fan. Whether it's a Psychological Thriller or a Haunted House flick is up to you to decide, but either way, this is one effective, bleak movie that will chill you to the bone, and linger in your mind long after you've finished watching.



Buy this new Scream Factory disc and make sure it's on your Halloween watch list come October.



A+



Session 9 is available now on Blu-ray, and DVD.

Since there's basically no female presence in Session 9, here are some more stills from the movie, for you to creep yourselves out over. Enjoy.