The Neon Demon

2016
12
1h 57m

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

108K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

2,694

When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.

Play trailer1:34

16 Videos

99+ Photos

Psychological Horror Horror Thriller

An aspiring model, Jesse, is new to Los Angeles. However, her beauty and youth, which generate intense fascination and jealousy within the fashion industry, may prove themselves sinister.An aspiring model, Jesse, is new to Los Angeles. However, her beauty and youth, which generate intense fascination and jealousy within the fashion industry, may prove themselves sinister.An aspiring model, Jesse, is new to Los Angeles. However, her beauty and youth, which generate intense fascination and jealousy within the fashion industry, may prove themselves sinister.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

108K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

2,694

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 18 wins & 39 nominations total

Videos16

The Neon Demon: The Bathroom

Photos378

+ 372

User reviews555

6.1108.3K

Featured reviews

FrenchEddieFelson

For the amateurs of fresh flesh. Figuratively and literally.

The brilliant Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn has already offered us the sumptuous Drive (2011) as well as interesting movies like Le Guerrier silencieux (2009), Bronson (2008) or Bleeder (1999). In The Neon Demon (2016), Nicolas Winding Refn locks himself in a world dominated with an always ultra-neat and globally irreproachable aesthetics and characters who are deliberately cold and devoid of empathy. After the first 20/30 minutes, we understood the message and the film would have benefited from being a short film. Que nenni! The film languishes and barely conveys emotion, with a few surrealistic and bloody scenes. Thus, the last third of the film is a show as gore as annoying. As a synthesis: visually amazing but desperately boring.

Gordon-11

The first half was good but the second half was bizarre

This film tells the story of a sixteen years old girl who moves to Los Angeles to pursue her modeling dream. She knows that she's beautiful, and quickly establishes herself in the modeling world. Jealousy from other models quickly ensue, with undesirable results.

The beginning of "The Neon Demon" looks quite promising, as it retains the beautiful visuals that Nicholas Winding Refn is known for, but is upbeat because of the electronic music. The plot looks quite interesting as it tells the story of jealous, backstabbing models. Then, the story is interspersed between many visually stunning but purposeless scenes. The ending of the film becomes really bizarre, I got so lost and just could not believe what I was watching. I don't even know what the second half of the film is about, except that it wants to be very provocative. If the film could be consistently like the first half, I would actually have liked it.

7aaronadoty

A taut wire of constant predatory threat

There appear to be some who think this is a movie about the fashion industry. If so, it has about as much to say about fashion as "Suspira" has to say about ballet. Really, this film is about obsession, loneliness, fear and the crippling tension of being on constant guard against the attack of predators. Alone and vulnerable in Los Angeles, Jesse (Elle Fanning) is a skittish prey animal surrounded by the dangers of the urban jungle. As she navigates the threats around her, she transforms into a kind of predator herself. But she will soon discover that not all killers hunt alone.

7MJB784

Odd, but good

It was a colorful, but brutal story of a woman who wants to be a model and stage actress, but is constantly bullied by three women who are jealous of her beauty and wish to be her by any means necessary. I would've liked it more it the final 20 minutes wasn't so nasty. It was a gruesome finale, but it was mostly suspenseful and entertaining.

7fati88

Such a great cinematography

I can understand the harsh reviews, this movie isn't for everyone but it's such a GORGEOUS movie, every shot is so aesthetically pleasing and i like it so much, the story and the acting were fine too it's disturbing yes but absolutely not a waste of time

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The film was shot in chronological order, and the ending was created and improvised on-set, according to Elle Fanning.

Goofs
When Jesse locks her motel room door about halfway through the movie, the deadbolt goes from locked to unlocked and back to locked between shots.

Quotes
Jesse: I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't write... no real talent. But I'm pretty, and I can make money off pretty.

Alternate versions
The theatrical R-rated version and unrated version are different only in the second morgue scene as follows: (A) Female genital nudity is depicted 1 hour 29 minutes and 0 seconds into the film. In the R rated version (which played in US theaters), when Ruby was kissing the corpse (played by a female actress), the bottom of the frame showed the upper half of the vulva (inclusive of somewhat blurred labia, due to the camera focus on the kissing). In the "unrated" version (NOT the theatrical version or the director's narrative - which both emulate the R rated version seen in US theaters), that same moment depicts VERY clear labial exposure (as in medical clarity, yet artistically depicted). (B) Note that the unrated version also shows Ruby's hand brush along the genitalia as it sweeps up to the left breast (R rated version prolongs the cut-away to the Jessie fantasy shot), and also depicts Ruby bouncing on the corpse as she reaches orgasm (while the R rated version shows only the close up of her face). The foley work and soundtrack during the unrated morgue scene are subtly but noticeably different. In short, the unrated cut sounds a lot more "squishy" with ample "smacking" sounds. The uncut version appears to be available through iTunes only, despite being an Amazon production,which you can find here: https://itunes.apple.com/mt/movie/the-neon-demon/id1129719992 (That means if you want to watch it on a TV you'll need an AppleTV to play it).