Ok, wow. I had this recommended by a few horror-loving friends, and I would say that it lived up to its legacy. It's definitely low-budget and definitely mostly consists of rather amateurish elements, BUT what it achieves in concept and most importantly performance by its lead actress AnnaLynne McCord is what earns it the title of new-school genre classic.
It takes a lot to disturb me when it comes to film and television but this film is truly disturbing, and it's not just by way of heavy gore or anything of the sort - it's psychologically effective. This is primarily achieved through the arc of the film's lead character, Pauline. Through the early parts of the film you feel kind of fond of the character, like aw she's just an angsty teen with really weird mannerisms and taste in stuff! Then, you get a little further in, and you start to get more concerned, and then that concern starts to turn to fear. She is truly, truly a terrifying character - the actress's performance is scary good.
The film feels a bit like a dark comedy in some of its early bits, featuring fun small roles by cult legends such as Traci Lords, Malcolm McDowell, and even John Waters, but the awkward laughs pretty quickly take a back seat as the tension creeps its way into your psyche. The cool thing about the movie is it doesn't really have much of a plot at all, but in the end, it properly functions without one.
There are only a couple of movies that come to mind that I could compare this to, but I can't, because that would be too much of a spoiler regarding what happens in the end, hahaha. I will say that Starry Eyes is one decent comparison, only in the sense that they are from the same era, both require a comfortability with a certain level of amateurishness due to budget constraints, but both manage to conjure something equally effective, only that movie is WAY gorier than this one. I'll just say that if you like disturbing movies, or horror, and you haven't seen this, you 100% should.
SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH PAULINE!
It takes a lot to disturb me when it comes to film and television but this film is truly disturbing, and it's not just by way of heavy gore or anything of the sort - it's psychologically effective. This is primarily achieved through the arc of the film's lead character, Pauline. Through the early parts of the film you feel kind of fond of the character, like aw she's just an angsty teen with really weird mannerisms and taste in stuff! Then, you get a little further in, and you start to get more concerned, and then that concern starts to turn to fear. She is truly, truly a terrifying character - the actress's performance is scary good.
The film feels a bit like a dark comedy in some of its early bits, featuring fun small roles by cult legends such as Traci Lords, Malcolm McDowell, and even John Waters, but the awkward laughs pretty quickly take a back seat as the tension creeps its way into your psyche. The cool thing about the movie is it doesn't really have much of a plot at all, but in the end, it properly functions without one.
There are only a couple of movies that come to mind that I could compare this to, but I can't, because that would be too much of a spoiler regarding what happens in the end, hahaha. I will say that Starry Eyes is one decent comparison, only in the sense that they are from the same era, both require a comfortability with a certain level of amateurishness due to budget constraints, but both manage to conjure something equally effective, only that movie is WAY gorier than this one. I'll just say that if you like disturbing movies, or horror, and you haven't seen this, you 100% should.
SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH PAULINE!