Ecos en la oscuridad

Before renting "All the boys love Mandy Lane", I saw its trailer in the YouTube to check it out. Good cameras, interesting story and there were some good reviews in IMDb. Well, maybe I was in for a surprise. You never know. So I took the risk and rented the film. But in the first moments of the film, I noticed that this one was not different at all - it was just another brick in the wall.

To begin with, apart from the differences of sex and looks there's nothing to really differentiate the characters in this film. Other films are able to provide simple characters (even if one-dimensional ones) with whom we can identify with. This film gives us a very superficial glimpse of the characters, their relationships, conflicts.. What we see in "All the boys love Mandy Lane" is just a bunch of stereotyped American teenagers like we've seen so many times before.

And how is Mandy Lane? Mandy Lane, as portrayed by Amber Heard, is just your typical high school girl. There are many girls like her - in any high school there are dozens of Mandy Lanes. Amber Heard has nothing really distinctive about her. She's pretty, that's all. Then, why do all the boys love Mandy Lane? This is a film, that's why.

That said, let's go to the film. As you well know, all the guys are mad about Mandy Lane. The boys (with the help of the girls) prepare a party. Mandy Lane is invited to this party. The party is to take place in an isolated ranch. No one had succeeded till now in scoring Mandy. The objective of this party is to ease things out. A girl in the group wants to make it with a guy, there are rivalries, frustrations, and last but not least, there's someone that loves Mandy so much that he/she is ready to kill for her. But make no mistake, anyone will guess from the beginning who the killer is, but prepare yourself for a wild twist that will put everything upside down.

If the script had managed to give us flesh and body characters and describe in more detail the relationship among the characters (their emotions, their conflicts...), this film could have been a memorable slasher teen flick. Had the film been done in the right way, there would be in it a growing sense of fear, of encirclement. Conflicts, fights, suspicion, and death advancing on and on.. outside just the empty fields... but the film is unable to build up the suspense.

"All the boys love Mandy Lane" is just a passable entertainment and nothing more. If you want to see a film with more substance try "High Tension" (Haute Tension), a very good french slasher flick.

Yeah, I'll admit it. My headline is lamer than this movie could ever be. Truth be told, "All The Boys Love Mandy Lane" isn't a complete catastrophe. In fact it starts off quite promising. The cinematography is nice, the music and sound effects are effective and the characters are introduced and played well by the actors and actresses. Unfortunately, as soon as they arrive at the country house where the all the "horror" ensues the movie loses direction and gets boring.

Most of the time "Mandy Lane" seems like a nostalgic hymn to the wild and careless life of young people. That's all nice and dandy for a while but as the movie drags on and you're neither scared nor thrilled you start wondering what the point is. It's almost as if director Jonathan Levine had wanted to remake "The Virgin Suicides" with a few lame killings thrown in instead of suicides.

After a fairly acceptable twist the movie drags on even longer. It just won't end until it finally does, leaving you baffled as to whoever thought this would make a good ending. If it's true what a friend told me, that this script had been rewritten 18 (!) times, then, Jesus Christ, I don't wanna know what the first draft looked like. The result is unfortunate, since direction and cinematography are quite good, as mentioned above. With a better script this movie might actually have become something special. However, as it is "Mandy Lane" is an anti-climatic rehash of 80s slasher flicks that have been done before and better.

A frustrating experience, because so many elements are just right. Amber Heard is absolutely perfect in the title role, with a well-balanced mix of class, innocence, beauty and a great sense of mystery, which is absolutely essential to this film. You always feel that there's more to her than meets the eye, and so the film does indeed succeed in holding your interest. Darren Genet's cinematography applies many subtle effects to create an atmosphere of wonder and suspense. A feeling which is strengthened by a soundtrack, consisting mostly of melancholic adaptations of sometimes almost unrecognizable classics.

As a psychological thriller this might have made a very effective movie, but unfortunately there is a pointless prologue which explains too much of what we are about to witness. 'Mandy Lane' gives the impression of an intelligent psychological drama, which the production company felt wouldn't be a commercial success, and was therefore turned into a rather mediocre - and minor - gorefest for the yahoo-crowd. This could have been - and probably should have been - one of this year's best films, but it's ruined by extreme violence and a rather silly finale.

"Mandy Lane" (Amber Heard) is the most beautiful and desired person at her high school and all of the guys lust after her. But while she is nice to everyone she only has one person she considers a friend and he is the social outcast named "Emmet" (Michael Welch). Then one day she surprisingly accepts an invitation to go to a pool party at the house of another student named "Dylan" (Adam Powell) with one provision-that Emmet is allowed to go too. Since Dylan is obsessed with Mandy he reluctantly agrees. Once there Dylan tries to get Mandy to take off her clothes and Emmet interferes. Dylan punches Emmet who then goes onto the roof to get away from the crowd. Eventually Dylan goes up to the roof to try to get Emmet down. Since Dylan is quite drunk Emmet convinces him that Mandy would be very impressed if he jumped from the roof into the pool. Dylan does and bangs his head on the concrete which kills him instantly. Everybody, including Mandy, rightfully blames Emmet. Because of this Mandy decides to start hanging out with some of the more popular students and eventually accepts a weekend invitation out in the country with 3 guys and 2 other girls. What Mandy doesn't know is that the intent of the vacation is to drink and have sex and she is the primary target of the guys. But things begin to take a turn for the worse once they get out there. Anyway, rather than reveal the rest of the story and possibly ruin the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a decent slasher film for the most part. Although some scenes were definitely slow it had more depth than most films of this type. It also had 3 very attractive actresses in Whitney Able (as "Chloe"), Melissa Price ("Marlin") and the aforementioned Amber Heard. The ending is also quite wicked. All things considered then I rate this movie as slightly above average.

This film is definitely unusual. Not a lot really happens, there is a massive amount of time spent getting to know the characters and most of the action is condensed into the last half hour. I am all up for characterisation but there really isn't an awful lot to the characters, and they partake on a whole load of mundane yet embarrassing behaviour. For instance in one scene the girls are talking, one whips down her trousers to sit on the toilet and her friend starts ribbing her about her pubic hair. The film carries on in this general manner, although not graphic or titillating or offensive this snap shot into the lives of over-sexed American teens is just kind of embarrassing to watch (especially with relatives). The camera hovers at breast height for the majority of the film especially when Mandy is running or jumping which is great!, but again makes you feel a bit guilty you are watching so avidly (maybe it is an English thing).

The film gets plus points for...

Good production but not overly glossy.

The gore has been kept down but the murders still make you wince.

Stays inside the classic 90 minute barrier.

Keeps you guessing, you will work out the ending ahead of time but not before mixing it up with lots of other theories.

Over all it is an okay film, takes a while to heat up then burns out fast. No notable moments of horror genius, but no really terrible movie blunders either.

A solid horror, just don't expect too much.