with good reason

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is a film that's quietly been generating buzz for a few weeks now...but not Snakes on a Plane overhype buzz, and not "Omigod, Rob Zombie farted on the set of Halloween today...we'd totally better post another news item!" super-saturating buzz. It's been a sort of subtle thing, as if horror fans everywhere had the same thought after viewing the trailer: "Hey, this might actually be good. Wouldn't that be swell? Don't make any sudden noises or movements- you'll scare it away! Fingers crossed for Mandy Lane"

I caught a sneak peek advanced screening of the film yesterday and yeah, my ever-optimistic hopes were high. Nine times out of ten, this optimism proves unwarranted as I shuffle out of the theatre (or...you know, off the couch) slowly shaking my head, the highest compliments coming to mind for the crapfest I'd just witnessed being "I've seen worse", followed by "Well, maybe the next movie will be good". Imagine my surprise then, about 20 minutes into Mandy Lane when I found myself enjoying the damn thing. I almost had a coronary when it was over and I wasn't disappointed. It felt so...so...unnatural and naughty, liking a new horror movie like that.

Photo courtesy of The Weinstein Company, 2007. Photographer: Mike Osborne

Amber Heard stars as the titular Mandy Lane, a not-particularly remarkable girl who becomes the center of attention when, over one magical summer vacation, she "gets hot". Suddenly everyone in school is interested in Mandy: the boys want to get in her as-yet unsullied pants and all the girls want to be her friend; Mandy becomes popular by saying nary a word.

Red (Aaron Himelstein) invites Mandy and a small group of friends out to his family's ranch for a weekend of activity typical of the slasher subgenre: beer, drugs, and sex. During the course of the debauchery, each guy tries his best to get with Mandy...soon enough, the bodies begin to pile up. Who loves Mandy enough to kill to be alone with her? Will anyone survive the weekend? How much ritalin can a teenager snort in 24 hours?

Photo courtesy of The Weinstein Company, 2007. Photographer: Mike Osborne

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is remarkable in that it's a throwback to a classic '80s-era slasher film- right down to the perfect title placard, which would be at home on one of those oversized VHS boxes- but it has an absolutely contemporary sensibility. Director Jonathan Levine and writer Jacob Forman achieve this rare feat by...wait for it...treating their subject matter seriously. That's not to say Mandy Lane is a straight-faced affair, because it isn't. There's ample humor found throughout the film (actual funny humor, gasp), but the humor is organic to the script. It's not a post-Scream nauseatingly self-referential flick, and you never feel as if the filmmakers are winking at you and poking you in the ribs. Mandy Lane gets back to the roots of the slasher film and it's refreshing.

The cinematography is gorgeous: this is the dry, spare, sun-baked Texas of Tobe Hooper's Chain Saw. Though the killer is revealed fairly early in the proceedings, the ample tension in the film doesn't let up until the credits roll. The characters are well-drawn and likable. When the killings come, they're brutal and bloody- enough so to make me wince- but your mind fills in the disturbing blanks. All the pieces for this film simply fall into line: right down to the kickass soundtrack (The Go-Gos? Yes, please), Mandy Lane feels like a labor of love, and that's what makes it successful.

My only negative comment about All the Boys Love Mandy Lane has to do with the ending, which felt a bit...forced. I felt the film could have been more by being a little less, if you know what I mean. On the whole however, it's undoubtedly a high-water mark for the post-Scream slasher film. Check it out when it's released nationwide on July 20. Hmm. It seems the release date has been changed but a new date hasn't been established yet. I'll update this when I know something.

Photo courtesy of The Weinstein Company, 2007. Photographer: Mike Osborne