All The Boys Love Mandy Lane

There are movies that you have certain expectations about, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane was one of those movies, I never had high expectations, what I anticipated was a typical trash horror movie in a vein similar to the Elm Street’s and the like of the 1980’s; there were aspects I was fully expecting but for the main part it came as a bit of a surprise.

 

The title of the movie is a true aspect of the movie, indeed Mandy Lane (Amber Heard) is loved by all the boys, there is something uncharted and innocent about her; and in honestly do they really love her or just want to be the first one to get her into bed. As the movie begins a show of this “love” goes tragically wrong when an admirer of Mandy jumps off the roof of his house into a pool in an attempt to impress her. A weekend away for a small gathering however takes the obsession with Mandy Lane to new levels, as the number of attendees starts to decrease potentially due to the love of Mandy Lane.

 

Mandy Lane is if nothing else interestingly shot, this is not necessarily in a good way, it’s a systematic decapitation of the movie in fact. Things start looking great with a glossy sheen, then we are drifted through what appear to be out of order scenes, slow motion shots that are almost painful to watch, and incredibly drawn out black out shots used normally to separate scenes, I say normally because here these fade outs do not separate scenes often appearing smack bang in the centre of a scene.

 

The movie is a master-class in teen titillation aiming to appeal to every aspect of the target audience, treading into known territory as well as the unknown. All of our teens are sexually active, except of course Mandy Lane who appears to be as pure as the driven snow, bless her! So having seen all of our cast in their underwear at various times during the movie’s opening twenty minutes, things quickly progress to the next level, oral sex in an outhouse being the first if you’ll excuse the pun “meal on the table” pleasure for one, upset for the other. While some of the group have not only gone missing, but been seriously devoured another one of our cast heads off to the bathroom for a little pubic trimming, thankfully indicated too but not seen. Where predictability is most profound is in the age old adage that if you have sex you die, sex and death go hand in hand and nobody lives more than a couple of minutes after a sexual encounter.

 

So I have stood firm and picked at the bones of the movie, but I need to point out it’s not all bad; there is a nice double twist near the end of the movie as well as some of the most stunning photography I have ever seen in an American horror movie. The movie takes its time to get to its heart, which is a good thing because the element of surprise is cleverly executed here. What All The Boys Love Mandy Lane does well is delivers such a surprising side story that you are drawn into a false sense and forgive the many faults of the movie, almost dismissing them aside. I can clearly see the faults, but these things are all down to personal choice, and what one loves the other hates.

 

The biggest trouble with this movie is that it requires a lot of thought, not on the story but on the aspects of putting the story together, a rewarding aspect is placed right next to something that fails miserably. A prime example being a well structured siege scene, followed by the clever escape of two of the characters; but before you know it these two characters steal a moment to pause seconds away from absolute safety to steal a kiss, this is of course a mistake that costs life. What is really annoying about this is that it’s so incredibly bad, it makes no sense, why would you run for a considerable distance with a killer behind you and then pause for a kiss when safety is not yet guaranteed. It’s this basis that drags the movie back into the incredibly clichéd world of American 80’s horror, and it’s disappointing because you think at various times that you have found a different product.

 

What I really loved about the movie was the soundtrack seamlessly moving songs of the present with songs of the past, the most poignant being “Sealed With A Kiss” that takes the movie through its final scenes. Each track is a winner, and I kind of wish there was a soundtrack album to back the movie up.

 

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a deceitful piece of filmmaking, making you think it’s more than the sum of its parts, but when you think again there is very little to it. While I enjoyed some aspects of it, others left me appalled, however in the bigger scheme of things it fares better than most of this year’s “horror” movies which has to be worth something.