Famous for its circuitous route to a wide theater release (it made its film festival premiere in 2006 but didn't debut in theaters until 2013), 'Mandy Lane' became stale before it ever had a chance to be fresh.
It plays to the tropes of many classic horror films, such as, a mysterious killer stalking teens at a party, characters wandering off on their own only to be killed, characters dying after having sex, characters falling down while being chased, etc. The setting and gleaming shots lit by sunlight in the background are reminiscent of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.' While it's clear that these tropes of intentionally included, it's unclear what statement they are trying to make.
Are these moments of satirical self-awareness? Are they admiring homages? The film is either playing dumb, or perhaps it's just dumb.
I lean toward believing the latter because of how the filmmakers use Mandy Lane, who is, herself, a horror movie cliche-the American virgin, who is pursued but never caught by horny high school dudes or the killer.
She never becomes more than an idea. We hardly learn anything about her, about why all the boys love her, other than because she's attractive. I suppose that's enough for these teen boy doofuses.
Mandy's character remains partially formed, which might have worked fine if not for the reveal in the third act that doesn't wind up making any sense because there's zero exposition on the motivation. Nevertheless, Amber Heard is the quintessential surrogate for Mandy Lane. She looks the part and (mostly) acts it too.
The rest of the acting is atrocious. They actors certainly play exaggerated versions of dumb drunk high school kids, who are obsessed with sex and are startlingly mean to each other. This should be easy to pull off, but somehow none of it feels believable. The worst offenses occur when the characters transition between drunk/high to stone cold sober in seconds. One guy literally smokes weed for two hours straight and still manages to become instantly sober when needed.
There is also an abundance of continuity issues and logical flaws. The teens steal a keg from a dumpy gas station but drink bottles of beer throughout the night of partying. Plenty of other instances will become obvious when watching.
In addition to these other many flaws, the film's biggest issue is that it fails to ever be scary. Sure, its kills are gory and gruesome, but those moments are nothing but plainly gross. They're too straightforward to be scary. The killer plays a role in this boring, non-scary problem too-no one will remember this killer as the next Michael Myers.
Overall, this is a bland and generic teen horror film. It's suited for an audience that isn't playing close attention and won't question any of the many issues.
