Cassandra

I was expecting more from this movie but all I got was a boring film. This movie has bad actors, slow moving script about a lady that keeps having the same dream about her mothers suicide when she was six. Through most of the movie this dream is the main focus and then she tries to find out who the little boy is that watches his mother kill herself and supposebly edges her into doing it. The answer to that is quite obvious during most of the movie. As I watched this movie I found myself saying "Common, just get to the little boy and get over it!!!" But when the movie was over I found that I had wasted my $1.50. Don't waist yours!!!! Avoid it!!

Cassandra is a young woman who lives with her wealthy photographer father and fashion designer mother. She finds out accidentally about her father's affair with a fashion model, but this is a minor problem that's facing her. She is now having unsettling nightmare visions. These visions are somewhat connected to her past and strangely the present. Her parents seem terribly uncomfortable about her obsession of what she is seeing and her discovery about their family's secret.

Pure visionary is brought to the screen in director Colin (Long Weekend) Eggleston's very moody and seriously spooky minor budget Australian thriller "Cassandra". I hadn't seen it in ages, but its still visually arresting and stylishly done with its ominous punch and novel techniques. There's patient handling all round and that creeps up in its torpid pacing, which unquestionably has some flagging spots. But this subtleness makes way for some forebodingly suspenseful set pieces that provide quick and concise jolts with grisly intension, but without the real need of showing us. For some that factor might be a huge downer, but how they fuse the violence with the disquieting material and chilling atmosphere payed dividends in the set-up. This was helped a lot by Ian Mason's unworldly hum-dinger of a music score that was effectively placed to achieve unbearable tension with cunning unease. Gary Wapshott's kinetic photography gracefully glides and professionally frames some beautifully striking locations. There was a true addiction to POV shots here, though they were neatly staged. The complicatedly progressive (but unoriginal) story by Colin Eggleston, Christopher Flitchett and John Ruane works upon the little things by trying to surprise the viewer with outlandish twists and wayward developments. It's flawed, as it does chop and change a bit and lose sight of its intriguing mystery to fall in the final third. With common slasher traits (red herrings get a real work out) and a predictable revelation that limps into a sudden climax that's plain dumbfounding. A slasher film at heart it is, but it's trying to be much more and it does come off (well sort of) in parts. Most of the performances are nicely judged and credible. Debut actress Tessa Humphries works the role of Cassandra terrifically and invokes a compelling turn. Shane Briant and Briony Behets are substantially good in their parts as the parents.

Substance might be little, but this effort is a surprisingly decent exercise and has some imagination in its editing and visuals flashes to share. Well worth the look.

Dad is having an affair. Mom and daughter do not get along. And then the daughter begins to have visions of someone in the family killing people. The first half is a fast paced, scary little thriller. However, it runs out of steam by the second half and has way too many twists and suffers from your usual movie cliches. Rated R; Nudity, Violence and Profanity.

This movie was pretty good, I must say. I was attracted to it mainly because of the cover of it but when I watched it, it was better than I had expected. Tessa Humphries played a pretty good part which was both realistic and actually thought out (unlike many other movies' characters). The main problem with this, however, was that the plot had so many twists that it lost me somewhere. That wasn't enough to keep me from enjoying the movie, however, and I hope that I see another like it. Since it lost me midway through, though, I have to rate this one a 6.

Meet Cassandra. She's just an ordinary big-haired 80s Aussie gal living a ho-hum life until one day she stumbles upon her photographer father making out with his model. Unfortunately, discovering this affair (and her mum's lackadaisical reaction to it) is the least of her troubles. More concerning is her horrific nightmares about a familiar woman shooting herself in the face at the urging of some creepy kid! With some investigating she learns that her family may be harboring more than a few dark secrets.

Colin Eggleston, who helmed the minor Aussie classic "Long Weekend" (1978), directs this 80s slasher that's obviously influenced by many of the popular American horror films from the 80s. The film does suffer (or maybe it's enhanced, depending on how you like your 80s horror) from a dated feel during some of the scenes--a photo shoot where the model dances to bad music and strikes poses quickly comes to mind. The performances aren't particularly great. The girl who plays Cassandra gives a deadpan delivery and her character isn't nearly as interesting as the others, which is sort of a big pitfall if the film is named after her. Briony Behets plays Cass's mum and goes into weird territory with the role--all wild smiles and crazed eyes during the scenes where the character should be scared. I like Behets as the lead in Long Weekend, but I know she bugged a lot of other viewers of that film. If you didn't like her there, you'll probably hate her in this one.

So what makes this movie worthwhile? Cass's dream, which features a creepy kid growling creepy things in a creepy voice, is an excellent and horrifying opening sequence that immediately grabs you and makes you want to stay with the film. The editing is fast and flashy, but this works in its favor and enhances the fright factor (unlike in many recent films, where it just makes you wish you had a Dramamine.) Even though it starts to feel like a typical derivative slasher, it eventually goes into some unexpected and twisted territory with regards to the subject matter, which I can't get into without spoiling. It doesn't dwell on these themes--they are simply there, and there's something unsettling about that. There are also several situations in the film (for example, one character's reaction to their stalker when they're being chased with a knife) that set it apart from your typical 80s horror fare. I found myself rewinding the tape and watching some scenes a couple times.

By the time the story came full circle, I was left pretty surprised by what I had seen. Sure, there are some flaws and a lot of it feels dated or doesn't make any sense, but overall it's a darn frightening slasher with some unique plot elements. I totally dug it, but keep in mind that I'm a bit of an Aussie horror fanatic.

For trivia buffs: the poem "Who Killed Cock Robin?", recited in the movie by the creepy dream kid, was sampled by the band My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult in their song "Do You Fear for Your Child?"