Well another Band camp gone Wrong with killer.
FearNet
Horror Movies
In what may very well come to be one of those films revered like Repo! The Genetic Opera or Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jerome Sable’s Stage Fright lights up the screen with over-the-top musical numbers and over-the-top slasher movie kills. It is the connective tissue between those kills and those songs and the rest of the film, however, that are somewhat challenging and make the whole thing a tough one to weigh out one way or the other.
Because at its best moments, Stage Fright is a total blast. The opening number of the film is a great example. We see busloads of campers headed for a summer theater camp who break into song and dance of the full-blown Broadway variety. They sing about being singled out in everyday life and how this camp and these people are their release, their safe place. The lyrics are flat-out brilliant, the choreography is fun and the whole thing is just a hoot and a half.
We soon learn (both from the opening scene of the movie and soon after the aforementioned musical number that follows it) that the camp cooks are the children of Kylie Swanson (Minnie Driver) who was brutally murdered on the opening night of the musical The Haunting Of The Opera ten years before. This scene starts the film and introduces the connection between her short-lived character and the camp’s director Roger McCall (played with gusto by Meat Loaf). Her children are taken in by Roger which places them at the camp in present day.
Roger is a mess of a human being and seems to be clinging to the chance at the next great star to come out of his camp serve as his ticket back to Broadway and out of near financial ruin. Roger is earnest but less than trustworthy and you wonder almost immediately how these kids ended up under his care. This might be a memory problem on my part but I thought there might be a chance the kids were his, but, it might’ve been that they were Kylie’s and that she and Roger were seeing each other when he was producing her play. Either way, it seems a bit funny in the more literal understanding of child custody.
Regardless, both actors are pretty solid, with Douglas Smith playing the aloof brother Buddy and the effortlessly talented Allie MacDonald playing his sister Camilla. They work off each other very well and once Camilla becomes focused on trying to audition and be cast in the camp’s ‘revival’ of her mother’s fateful play, the dynamic between the two of them is strained and evolves in a well-handled way. Good actors, both these kids are.
Further, the whole ensemble of child-actors are pretty darn good, headed by the insufferably annoying Artie Getz (Brandon Uranowitz), a theatre geek turned director brought in to bring Roger’s vision of repeat glory to the stage. Artie reminded me of more than a couple big-headed, small-talent twerps I spent time with in the theatre programs in high school and college. The types that seem artsy and creative but are mostly just insecure bullies and braggarts just the same as those they fear from the sports programs. Kudos to the actor Brandon Uranowitz for capturing the essence of what his character really is.
Beyond him, there are great turns by actors Ephraim Ellis, Thomas Alderson, Melanie Leishman and many others tapping into the insecurity and brash-over-the-topness of what it means to be a ‘theatre kid’. You don’t get the sense that the film is picking on these kids as much as it is highlighting what might frustrate an outsider about them. The self-centeredness, the obsession with approval and the need to be the center of attention. However, when things start to go badly and the slasher film buried under all this musical theatre rears its head, you see these kids as nothing more than real people. Scared and uneven and struggling with identity and self-worth just like everyone else. It was a good choice to not completely demonize this subset of adolescent humanity but instead show the amusing and the human sides of it all.
So does all this add up to the next great horror musical? Kind of. The highs (like that opening musical number) are just wonderful and sharp and super fun. The slasher elements are done with style and flair and are (in more than one instance) a damned bloody mess. But the balance, at times, feels off. Not to make a pun, but the rhythm of the film sometimes feels about a beat slow from where it should be so when we get to that big slasher-reveal and culmination, the up and down nature of everything taken all together leaves said reveal and the climax not as scary or gut-punching as it should be.
If you want the human element to really resonate in a story like this, you really have to put humanity on trial. Because when it is all said and done, slashers work best when the perpetrator or perpetrators of the violence are revealed to be either completely irredeemable or just another victim of someone or something else. Humanity, or the lack thereof is the real culprit and in Stage Fright it just feels like that gets lost a little bit as we streak to the finish line.
All in all, this film is often fun and impressive, charming and smart. The violence is brutal and mean and funny often all at the same time. The cast is good and is energetic in their efforts. Is it worth the time? Absolutely. Is this the next great midnight movie for horror nerds and theatre geeks to bond over? Maybe not – but – time will tell.
At
first glance, "horror movie" and "musical" would seem like a terrible
mix. Musicals are often a celebration of human emotions whereas horror
films frequently try to evoke and provoke those unpleasant things that
terrify us all. But of course there is the cult classic granddaddy
called The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), which is not only a
horror movie and a musical, but also a maniacal love letter to
old-fashioned horror movies and musicals. (Brian De Palma's 1974 film The Phantom of the Paradise also deserves a mention in this category.)
From Rocky Horror on there has been a calm but steady
trickle of films that have little to no problem combining singing and
dancing with scary stories. Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Cannibal: The Musical (1997), Sweeney Todd (2007), and Repo! The Genetic Opera
(2009) still find new fans today because they're able to introduce
horror ideas to musical presentations with various types of comedy (of
course) to help sweeten the deal.
Those last two paragraphs are an elaborate way of saying that the amusing new indie flick Stage Fright is sort of like a cross between Glee and Sleepaway Camp,
and while it struggles with a few slow spots and occasionally offers
some tonally confused signals, there's certainly enough to please horror
buffs, musical geeks, or anyone who has tried to make an indie film or
stage musical.
Debut feature from writer/director (and composer) Jerome Sable (his 12-minute "The Legend of Beaver Dam" is pretty great), Stage Fright
is about a theater camp that is suddenly plagued by a masked murderer.
(Already you know if this movie is for you or not.) Our heroine is
Camilla Swanson, a lovely young lady whose mother was viciously murdered
(ten years earlier) just as her stage career was taking off. Probably
not a great idea for Camilla to work at a "theater camp," but of course
she manages to land the lead role in a revival of "The Haunting of the
Opera." Yes, the very same play her mother would have...
Let's just stick with "a theater camp is suddenly plagued by a
masked murderer." The story of Camilla, her dead mom and her unhappy
brother makes more sense in the movie. Suffice to say that Camilla is
still being looked over by failed producer Roger McCall, a guy who has
his own motives for re-staging the play. None of this stuff really
matters, because Stage Fright is not only a horror flick and a
musical but also a frequently broad comedy, but it's important to note
that the Roger McCall character is played by the legendary Meat Loaf,
and the man gets several chances to A) be funny and B) belt out some
brief songs. His presence alone might make Stage Fright worth seeing.
Fortunately Mr. Sable has a good eye for young talent, and Stage Fright
is at its best when it's focused on the kooky ensemble of "theater
kids" who attend the camp. (There's a little girl with a lisp who almost
steals the whole movie.) Come to think of it, virtually everything that
surrounds Camilla's central story is more amusing than Camilla's
central story. That's not a knock on the very talented Allie MacDonald,
who clearly has gifts in the singing, acting, and silliness departments,
but Stage Fright is, at its heart, a slasher flick. And really, who cares about the plot in a slasher flick?
Horror geeks need not worry. For a weird genre mash-up that's both
legitimately funny and graced by a handful of great original songs (yes,
it's that kind of musical!), Stage Fright is not dainty when
it comes to the kills. The movie is not very scary, which is fine, given
what the filmmakers are clearly shooting for, but it is occasionally
creepy and frequently quite gory.
But what's most appealing about Stage Fright is simply the
sincerity. This is a horror / musical that's also a comedy; not a
mean-spirited satire of horror films or musical theater. If you'd take
some cinematic delight in seeing a Glee-like ensemble stuck inside a summer camp slash-fest, Stage Fright
will work for you -- but if you're actually a huge fan of horror flicks
and musical theater in equal measure, this scrappy little indie just
might be your new favorite movie. (Doubly so if you love Meat Loaf.)
- See more at: http://www.fearnet.com/news/review/fearnet-movie-review-stage-fright-sxsw-2014#sthash.gIRMhNR2.dpuf
At
first glance, "horror movie" and "musical" would seem like a terrible
mix. Musicals are often a celebration of human emotions whereas horror
films frequently try to evoke and provoke those unpleasant things that
terrify us all. But of course there is the cult classic granddaddy
called The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), which is not only a
horror movie and a musical, but also a maniacal love letter to
old-fashioned horror movies and musicals. (Brian De Palma's 1974 film The Phantom of the Paradise also deserves a mention in this category.)
From Rocky Horror on there has been a calm but steady
trickle of films that have little to no problem combining singing and
dancing with scary stories. Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Cannibal: The Musical (1997), Sweeney Todd (2007), and Repo! The Genetic Opera
(2009) still find new fans today because they're able to introduce
horror ideas to musical presentations with various types of comedy (of
course) to help sweeten the deal.
Those last two paragraphs are an elaborate way of saying that the amusing new indie flick Stage Fright is sort of like a cross between Glee and Sleepaway Camp,
and while it struggles with a few slow spots and occasionally offers
some tonally confused signals, there's certainly enough to please horror
buffs, musical geeks, or anyone who has tried to make an indie film or
stage musical.
Debut feature from writer/director (and composer) Jerome Sable (his 12-minute "The Legend of Beaver Dam" is pretty great), Stage Fright
is about a theater camp that is suddenly plagued by a masked murderer.
(Already you know if this movie is for you or not.) Our heroine is
Camilla Swanson, a lovely young lady whose mother was viciously murdered
(ten years earlier) just as her stage career was taking off. Probably
not a great idea for Camilla to work at a "theater camp," but of course
she manages to land the lead role in a revival of "The Haunting of the
Opera." Yes, the very same play her mother would have...
Let's just stick with "a theater camp is suddenly plagued by a
masked murderer." The story of Camilla, her dead mom and her unhappy
brother makes more sense in the movie. Suffice to say that Camilla is
still being looked over by failed producer Roger McCall, a guy who has
his own motives for re-staging the play. None of this stuff really
matters, because Stage Fright is not only a horror flick and a
musical but also a frequently broad comedy, but it's important to note
that the Roger McCall character is played by the legendary Meat Loaf,
and the man gets several chances to A) be funny and B) belt out some
brief songs. His presence alone might make Stage Fright worth seeing.
Fortunately Mr. Sable has a good eye for young talent, and Stage Fright
is at its best when it's focused on the kooky ensemble of "theater
kids" who attend the camp. (There's a little girl with a lisp who almost
steals the whole movie.) Come to think of it, virtually everything that
surrounds Camilla's central story is more amusing than Camilla's
central story. That's not a knock on the very talented Allie MacDonald,
who clearly has gifts in the singing, acting, and silliness departments,
but Stage Fright is, at its heart, a slasher flick. And really, who cares about the plot in a slasher flick?
Horror geeks need not worry. For a weird genre mash-up that's both
legitimately funny and graced by a handful of great original songs (yes,
it's that kind of musical!), Stage Fright is not dainty when
it comes to the kills. The movie is not very scary, which is fine, given
what the filmmakers are clearly shooting for, but it is occasionally
creepy and frequently quite gory.
But what's most appealing about Stage Fright is simply the
sincerity. This is a horror / musical that's also a comedy; not a
mean-spirited satire of horror films or musical theater. If you'd take
some cinematic delight in seeing a Glee-like ensemble stuck inside a summer camp slash-fest, Stage Fright
will work for you -- but if you're actually a huge fan of horror flicks
and musical theater in equal measure, this scrappy little indie just
might be your new favorite movie. (Doubly so if you love Meat Loaf.)
At
first glance, "horror movie" and "musical" would seem like a terrible
mix. Musicals are often a celebration of human emotions whereas horror
films frequently try to evoke and provoke those unpleasant things that
terrify us all. But of course there is the cult classic granddaddy
called The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), which is not only a
horror movie and a musical, but also a maniacal love letter to
old-fashioned horror movies and musicals. (Brian De Palma's 1974 film The Phantom of the Paradise also deserves a mention in this category.)
From Rocky Horror on there has been a calm but steady
trickle of films that have little to no problem combining singing and
dancing with scary stories. Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Cannibal: The Musical (1997), Sweeney Todd (2007), and Repo! The Genetic Opera
(2009) still find new fans today because they're able to introduce
horror ideas to musical presentations with various types of comedy (of
course) to help sweeten the deal.
Those last two paragraphs are an elaborate way of saying that the amusing new indie flick Stage Fright is sort of like a cross between Glee and Sleepaway Camp,
and while it struggles with a few slow spots and occasionally offers
some tonally confused signals, there's certainly enough to please horror
buffs, musical geeks, or anyone who has tried to make an indie film or
stage musical.
Debut feature from writer/director (and composer) Jerome Sable (his 12-minute "The Legend of Beaver Dam" is pretty great), Stage Fright
is about a theater camp that is suddenly plagued by a masked murderer.
(Already you know if this movie is for you or not.) Our heroine is
Camilla Swanson, a lovely young lady whose mother was viciously murdered
(ten years earlier) just as her stage career was taking off. Probably
not a great idea for Camilla to work at a "theater camp," but of course
she manages to land the lead role in a revival of "The Haunting of the
Opera." Yes, the very same play her mother would have...
Let's just stick with "a theater camp is suddenly plagued by a
masked murderer." The story of Camilla, her dead mom and her unhappy
brother makes more sense in the movie. Suffice to say that Camilla is
still being looked over by failed producer Roger McCall, a guy who has
his own motives for re-staging the play. None of this stuff really
matters, because Stage Fright is not only a horror flick and a
musical but also a frequently broad comedy, but it's important to note
that the Roger McCall character is played by the legendary Meat Loaf,
and the man gets several chances to A) be funny and B) belt out some
brief songs. His presence alone might make Stage Fright worth seeing.
Fortunately Mr. Sable has a good eye for young talent, and Stage Fright
is at its best when it's focused on the kooky ensemble of "theater
kids" who attend the camp. (There's a little girl with a lisp who almost
steals the whole movie.) Come to think of it, virtually everything that
surrounds Camilla's central story is more amusing than Camilla's
central story. That's not a knock on the very talented Allie MacDonald,
who clearly has gifts in the singing, acting, and silliness departments,
but Stage Fright is, at its heart, a slasher flick. And really, who cares about the plot in a slasher flick?
Horror geeks need not worry. For a weird genre mash-up that's both
legitimately funny and graced by a handful of great original songs (yes,
it's that kind of musical!), Stage Fright is not dainty when
it comes to the kills. The movie is not very scary, which is fine, given
what the filmmakers are clearly shooting for, but it is occasionally
creepy and frequently quite gory.
But what's most appealing about Stage Fright is simply the
sincerity. This is a horror / musical that's also a comedy; not a
mean-spirited satire of horror films or musical theater. If you'd take
some cinematic delight in seeing a Glee-like ensemble stuck inside a summer camp slash-fest, Stage Fright
will work for you -- but if you're actually a huge fan of horror flicks
and musical theater in equal measure, this scrappy little indie just
might be your new favorite movie. (Doubly so if you love Meat Loaf.)
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