← Back to Reviews
in
Starry Eyes (2014)
Dir. Kevin Kolsch, Dennis Widmyer
Minor spoilers below.
Like its main character, Starry Eyes is extremely ambitious. Is it as ambitious to a fault, though?
Alex Essoe delivers a heartbreaking performance as Sarah and carries this film as an aspiring actress that burns to be famous living in LA with a group of other aspiring creatives. Though unlike her friends, Sarah actually has a will and a drive to get to the top. She walks the walk. As opposed to the others who just spend their time talking about what they want to do while never really acting on anything.
With great character precision and a feeling of overall desperation, this is a horror film to be watched ASAP. As disturbing as it is interesting, I find Sarah's descent into a dark underworld controlling Hollywood to be extremely unnerving and creepy as all hell. A clear homage to the scary flicks of yesteryear (including its vintage title card), I'm reminded of the old drive-in double features of the 70's where this would've not only fit right in but would've probably had top billing.
Unfortunately though, like many of those back in the day, the story does fall off the tracks and go down a path that it didn't really have to resulting in a bit of a lesser film. There's so much potential here and I feel a more subtle execution of ideas and themes could've taken Starry Eyes to the next level. With silly decisions and cliche character and story elements, I'm left feeling less enthusiastic about this one than I really want to be as I love the first half of the film and want to be on its side. A more solid focus and grounded logic and this would've been my favorite horror movie of 2014.
FINAL VERDICT: Definitely worth a watch. Love its ambition. Love Alex Essoe's performance. But prepare to be disappointed when all is revealed and done so in an unsatisfying, deflating way.
Dir. Kevin Kolsch, Dennis Widmyer
Minor spoilers below.
Like its main character, Starry Eyes is extremely ambitious. Is it as ambitious to a fault, though?
Alex Essoe delivers a heartbreaking performance as Sarah and carries this film as an aspiring actress that burns to be famous living in LA with a group of other aspiring creatives. Though unlike her friends, Sarah actually has a will and a drive to get to the top. She walks the walk. As opposed to the others who just spend their time talking about what they want to do while never really acting on anything.
With great character precision and a feeling of overall desperation, this is a horror film to be watched ASAP. As disturbing as it is interesting, I find Sarah's descent into a dark underworld controlling Hollywood to be extremely unnerving and creepy as all hell. A clear homage to the scary flicks of yesteryear (including its vintage title card), I'm reminded of the old drive-in double features of the 70's where this would've not only fit right in but would've probably had top billing.
Unfortunately though, like many of those back in the day, the story does fall off the tracks and go down a path that it didn't really have to resulting in a bit of a lesser film. There's so much potential here and I feel a more subtle execution of ideas and themes could've taken Starry Eyes to the next level. With silly decisions and cliche character and story elements, I'm left feeling less enthusiastic about this one than I really want to be as I love the first half of the film and want to be on its side. A more solid focus and grounded logic and this would've been my favorite horror movie of 2014.
FINAL VERDICT: Definitely worth a watch. Love its ambition. Love Alex Essoe's performance. But prepare to be disappointed when all is revealed and done so in an unsatisfying, deflating way.