HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2019: Tragedy Girls (2017)

Our Sponsor

Today’s sponsor is one of my dear Domicile of Dread Patreons, a woman who I didn’t know may very be my long-lost sister until I engaged in a writing a Twitter story comprised completely of English Beat lyrics, Angie Bulkeley.

Angie chose for me 2017‘s Tragedy Girls. This was the first time I heard about this film, so I have been consciously avoiding learning anything about this film so I will come to it super-fresh.  At this point (I’m writing this paragraph just before watching it), I know nothing except that there’s a film, it’s called Tragedy Girls, and both Angie and her husband love the Hell out of it.

So let’s find out what this thing is....

The title refers to Sadie (Brianna Hildebrand) and Mckayla (Alexandra Shipp, who is luuuuurvely), two high school seniors who run an online True Crime Blog...and, it’s pretty much said upfront, aspiring serial killers.  Desiring to become horror legends, they catch budding serial slasher Lowell (Kevin Durand) with the intention of learning under him.  Lowell is understandably reluctant, being more interested in beheading the girls and doing something unspeakable to their heads in front of their parents, so the girls just keep him in an abandoned factory and go off on their elaborate plan to commit violent murders, blame Lowell for it, and get launched into their desired career as ghoulish social media influencers...

I get the impression I was supposed to like this more than I liked it.  Don’t get me wrong; I liked it, but I felt that the movie wanted me to love it with the same culty fervor as the film it’s obviously inspired by, Heathers.  Much like Heathers, it’s going for a very macabre sense of humor and banks on the skills and charms of its central performers to carry us through the nastiness we encounter.  Director/Co-Writer Tyler MacIntyre was 100% right in banking on those central performances--it’s the cheerful sociopathy of the girls that give the film its unique flavor and I totally bought their cracked relationships--but I think there’s so much other, well, stuff stuffed
into its ninety-eight minutes that detracts from that strength. 

Throughout this watch, my attention was constantly drawn towards characters and plot threads that MacIntyre seems to set up as Highly Significant only for it not to matter much.  The biggest of these failures is in the way the film teases that two people will become our girls’ adversaries--their home room teacher Mrs. Kent (Nicky Whalen) and Sadie’s friend Jordan (Dennis Quaid’s son Jack), who seems to derail the teens’ plan by becoming her boyfriend....but both don’t amount to anything.  At least Jordan has something essential to contribute to the plot by giving us some complications and leading us down a False Assumption Corridor (and prompting a last act revelation that I pretty much figured out back in Act One); Mrs. Kent’s boyfriend (film producer Craig Robinson) is killed, she has a mini-speech about the ‘dark side of social media,’ appears to reach out to Sadie--and then gets her throat slit without any payoff.

The film climaxes at the prom--I wondered if Angie chose this partially because of our shared love of Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night II and is, well, sorta muddy.  I was never quite sure if the complications that led to the third act were real or fabricated by the girls, and if they were orchestrating everything the whole time.  Both possibilities don’t enhance the story much.

And the other thing that prohibited me from falling head over heels in love with this film?  It never just accepts what I accepted early on in the film--namely, that Sadie and McKayla are Murder Husbands.  Shipp and Hillebrand’s chemistry is palatable, and after establishing what they establish in the last act, you can look back on some of their interactions as romantic.  Yes, that would have maybe made certain portions of the audience uncomfortable and other portions outraged, but it seems to be the logical outcome/revelation regarding what we’ve learned of them.  MacIntyre’s reluctance to go one way or the other left me with a sour taste in my mouth (besides the acid reflux I was experiencing, which had nothing to do with the movie).

The film is cheerfully gruesome--Hell, we are talking about a set piece involving a head rotating on a  spindle in a wood shop--and looks great.  And even though it sounds like I’m down on it, I did appreciate it, especially the central performances.  But its sloppiness kept preventing me from liking it the way it wanted me to.  This is only MacIntyre's second feature, so I do believe there is going to be some growth from his as a storyteller.  I do recommend this film...but I advise you to come in with low expectations to get a maximum enjoyment out of the experience.

Tomorrow’s sponsor is another of my Beloved Patreons, Sean Foster.  Sean has chosen a favorite of mine from the same portion of the Golden Age of British Horror, 1973‘s Theater of Blood.  Expect me to revel in the awesomeness of Vincent Price....and express my belief that this can be considered a sequel to The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

If you’d like to join Angie and other Patreons, there’s three slots open for this year’s Halloween Horrorfest.  Anyone who joins the Patreon at the $3 or more slot not only gets bits of writing and exclusive podcasts (like the upcoming Pacific Rim Rialto and maybe a little surprise at the end of this month), but can sponsor one of those slots and choose the film I have to watch and report on!