Starry Eyes

Starry Eyes (2014)

Runtime: 98 minutes

Directed by: Kevin Kolsch/Dennis Widmyer

Starring: Alex Essoe, Amanda Fuller, Noah Segan, Fabianne Therese, Shane Coffey

From: Several different companies

I have finally started to catch up on recent horror films, and I hope to continue this for the next few days. I picked this one as it has gotten a lot of publicity. Unfortunately...

Look, despite what people may think I do not actively seek or want many of the “modern” films I see to be disappointments or make me mad. That's not want I want and yet it has happened often as of late. I was hoping this wouldn't be the case with this highly regarded horror film. Alas...

Basically, the main idea here is that Hollywood and the movie-making industry is pretty terrible and an awful place for young actresses... which I do think is true from all I've heard and seen. The way it's presented here, however... a young lady named Sarah works at a Hooters-esque place and she goes to auditions but she's never hired. Finally, she gets hired for what looks like a big gig, but then weird things start happening.

I'll list the positives: the old school score was cool, there were some memorable moments and Alex Essoe as Sarah did a swell job with what was a difficult role. Regrettably, I did not enjoy watching this overall. The story was not enjoyable to watch and once you discover what the whole plot is, you discover it makes little sense. I just grew more and more frustrated as the plot progresses, especially after there's a big shift in the final act and the style totally changes. The fact that some moments were lifted from earlier and better films didn't help either.

Also, this is just me and my tastes but the friends of Sarah are by and large pretty terrible people, and not just because they are hipsters but that's a big reason why! It adds to the unpleasantness. As I have said more than once or twice before, I am glad that others love it but I am just unable to. Even with the retro-sounding score and opening/closing credits, I need more than that to be enthralled with a motion picture.