EXCISION (2012)
24/3/2016
FILM GUTTER  So, now the time has come for the third of our movies as chosen by you in our March Madness vote, and I must admit it was one I was really pleased to see come up. Excision was a feature I saw pretty soon after its release in 2012, and remembered really fondly. Honestly I was pretty surprised to see it was so popular in the voting – sneaking home in fourth place – so let's get into it, shall we? So, now the time has come for the third of our movies as chosen by you in our March Madness vote, and I must admit it was one I was really pleased to see come up. Excision was a feature I saw pretty soon after its release in 2012, and remembered really fondly. Honestly I was pretty surprised to see it was so popular in the voting – sneaking home in fourth place – so let's get into it, shall we? Excision was one of those movies I had barely heard of before a first viewing, more than anything being drawn in by the cover, which looked really interesting. Thankfully I can report this one more than stands up to a second viewing – Richard Bates Jr's feature, based on the 2008 short film, still feels as fresh and sharp as it did on first emerging four years ago. The movie follows teenage misfit Pauline, brilliant played by a very much out-of-stereotype AnnaLynne McCord, and opens with one of many disturbed fantasies on her part. These messed-up, gory and heavily sexualised dream sequence recur throughout the movie and offer a twsited counterpoint to the subtler strangenesses going on in her life. Pauline has ambitions of becoming a surgeon, but is practically an outcast at school and has a very strained relationship with her Christian, pinned-down mother (ironically played by ex-porn star Traci Lords, who also excels in her role) that crackles with tension a number of times. Her father is a quiet presence, after nothing but a quiet life, and she has also has a very ill younger sister, Grace, who suffers with cystic fibrosis and continues to take a turn for the worse as the movie progresses. Excision is a very psychological horror movie – there are no real scares to be had. It's effectively a taut, twisted drama that follows Pauline as she descends further and further into her delusions. The daydreams she has grow ever more uncomfortable to behold, and the path of action she sets her mind on becomes apparent pretty early into the movie. But that's not a factor that holds it back in any way – this is pure car crash cinema, reminiscent of something like The Woman in its presentation of a family set of a course of self-destruction. It can only go wrong – the question is purely how wrong, and what shape that concluding implosion will take. And it is one hell of a closing scene – it gave me a serious emotional wrench to watch. It's also a movie that is laden with grim touches of humour, particular in Pauline's engagement with her schoolmates and teachers (including an on-form Malcolm McDowell). Even the tension between Pauline and her mother is laced with scenes that are so bizarre as to become amusing – the thought (and sight) of an awkward, psychologically damaned teenage girl going to cotillion is really something to see. But there remains a very serious point to Excision – at heart. It's a tale of just how much mental illness can hurt not only the person going through it, but also all those people around them. While there are moments that you can't help but side with Pauline, there's also very much a sense that our lead is a pretty perturbed character. Her mother is unwilling to accept Pauline as she is, trying to change her into something far more fitting her image of the perfect daughter – something Grace comes unerringly close to – and her father seems too apathetic or perhaps ground-down to take any action. Without friends or family to talk to, what begins as a wild though soon becomes a horrific reality that could oh so easily have been avoided. The finale is the epitome of this. So, what else is there to say about Excision? Well, it's a movie I genuinely can't say a bad word about. The visual style is really unusual and interesting, the performances are fantastic, the script is well-written, it has an offbeat style that is eminently watchable and, for me, is one of the best horror movies to emerge in the last five years. If you haven't dropped in for a look, check it out – it's one of very few movies I've reviewed here I might suggest non-horror fans take a crack at as well. If you can stomach Pauline's bizarre fantasy sequences, this is a richly rewarding movie. Unsurprisingly, this one lands top marks of 10/10. Purchase a copy here  Come on in, the water's revolting...
Film Gutter Volume 1 is the full collection of 2015 reviews and interviews from Ginger Nuts of Horror's popular Film Gutter series, looking at some of the most bizarre, grotesque and disturbing horror features ever made. With over 50 movie reviews plus interviews with directors and actors including Tom Six, Dieter Laser, Matthew A Brown Jimmy Weber and Phil Stevens. Film Gutter Volume 1 also takes in a host of exclusive content, including the much-requested 'most disturbing movies' list! PURCHASE A COPY HERE |
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