J*A*S*M

Ti West once again convincingly fetishizes the horror subgenre of yesteryear, unfortunately this time I have a bit of a problem with it, because this particular slice of horror (80s trash set in the streets of a big city) is not one of my favorites. I guess subjectively I would have much preferred if MaXXXine had a more prominent role for the giallo elements that it is partly based on. I can tolerate a sleazy thriller with a charmingly demented satanic panic twist, but it won't become my favourite. And even though it's pleasantly refreshing in specific moments, uncompromising and, for all its stupidity, nicely contrived, the various motifs fit together meaningfully.

Maybe something interesting could be made out of the mythological motif, but as it stands, it's unfortunately completely moronic. There's a moment where two characters argue about whether it's the lost husband or a monstrous shapeshifter banging on their door, with the character who wants to open the door responding to the well-meaning advice to first ask the banging subject some question that only the husband knows the answer to with a – no kidding – confused "Why?". This is just one of many times I raised my eyebrows in surprise, thinking that I must be missing some level of humour that the film is riding on. Because no one would seriously write that, would they? The second favourite moment occurs when the characters find a plethora of documentation that could quite obviously give them a clue as to what is really going on and how to get out of there, and one of them boredly turns around and utters something along the lines of "well, we don't have to see this".

Conceptually good ( I can appreciate the very unsatisfying ending in this respect), but unfortunately it's not much fun to watch. The gore is okay, but it's not enough. I was expecting more, even though I read in the reviews before the screening that there wasn't enough of it. :D Visually the film looks nice, you can easily pull off nice images fully evoking the atmosphere of 80's slashers, but in motion it's a very uninspired and emotionless film most of the time. When it comes to some of the dialogue, it sounds like the characters are reading it out of a piece of paper.