Excision Review


Movie: Excision
By: Maniac E
Date: October 26, 2012

Heal the sickness

Once in a while you read about a movie and see a trailer and you know your in for a wild ride. Excision is one of those rides, it is one of those movies where you can't really put it in a square and say it is this genre. A crash mix of surreal and extreme, with large heaps of insane snappy wit thrown in for spice.

Excision follows Pauline (McCord), a troubled young teen who daydreams of becoming a surgeon. And by daydreams, I mean she has candy-colored scalpel-and-blood-filled fantasies that'd make Argento blush. Pauline's home life isn't the greatest, what with her controlling mother Phyllis (Lords), emasculated father Bob (Bart), and unwell sister Grace (Winter), who's afflicted with Cystic Fibrosis. Her time at school isn't much better, as she's typically looked down upon, sneered at, and even bullied. One can understand why Pauline feels the need to escape reality through her dreams. She is a curious character though, in that she seems to instigate some of the problems that hold her down. She is quick to say something awkward in any situation, and can be downright rude to her peers before being attacked herself. She is also openly defiant to her parents from time to time, keeping a constant friction between she and her mother. Ultimately, though, Pauline's hidden need for love and affection will ensure that her real life and dream life will eventually collide, in a climax that is as devastating as it is inevitable.

Excision

Let me first say this movie was cleverly made everything about it fits together and I applaud the creators of the movie for this. The creators used beautiful photography, (some) great acting, and some truly distressing imagery to make your head think. Where the movie falls short is the script department which was really horrible. The dialogues just feel empty and not worth the time. The pass of the movie just falls flat on its face thanks to the bad writing, scenes skip from one to another without any real build up.

Excision

Since Pauline has such elaborate (and shamelessly eye-grabbing) gore fantasies, and since she talks so much about her active interest in being a surgeon, you just know someone will get sliced open by the film's end. This means you'll spend a good deal of the film's running time waiting for the inevitable. Indeed, even though it's only 81 minutes, much of Excision feels like it's stalling. Like it lured you in with promises of murder and gore, and is now reneging with this flick about psychology and the usual Hollywood messages of suburban hell.

Excision

Excision is twisted, ballsy, nasty, kind of gross, and more than a little bit disturbing. When it's not trading in discomfort and insanity, it's ramping up its camp levels. It doesn't bother delving into any real psychology, opting for a more stylized and recognizable horror thriller. And while much of the film seems like a splatter film only intended to shock, its ending clearly accentuates the tragedy of its clearly insane main character. It was good to see how they handled the gore aspects it looked really good and with the daydreaming scenes it's just a great setting.

Excision

All in all the movie is worth the watch but thanks to the bad script it could never be high on anyone's list of movies. Which is a shame since it had great potential but just like most new horror movies it just falls short and just gives a very good looking movie. The message behind the movie is strong but again just falls short due to the script, let's just hope mr Bates learns from this and show us another movie soon.


3/5




Movie

Excision

Title

Excision

Director

Richard Bates Jr

Country

USA

Year

2012

Cast

AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords and Ariel Winter