It's been slow going because I keep finding new movies to watch before I even make it to my list. To date I've watched over 100 horror films and TV shows since March, and here I am with only a couple reviews during that time...
Yikes! Sorry folks!
Excision has been on my list for a good several years, but it wasn't until recently that I finally got around to watching it. If I recall correctly it was a drizzly weekend afternoon and I was cross-stitching something inappropriate - seemed a good time to watch a gory, menacing, "comedy" about a troubled young woman.
Now, I didn't want to write a review for this film just because it's a truly disturbing film that I don't think is getting the recognition is deserves. I wanted to write up a review because I watched The Tommyknockers recently - more accurately, re-watched it. I haven't seen it since it was released and it's about as slow and weird as I remembered.
But there was one person in that TV mini series that really struck me. A quick look on IMDB brought me to Traci Lords, and lo and behold, there was Excision in her filmography. The memory of her character in Excision came flooding back to me.
I was today-years-old when I learned of Lords' "sketchy" past and I'm not going to dwell on it. Sex films, trouble with the law, out casting - I would find it all very fascinating if I was hearing it from her - in fact, I'd grab a couple pitchers of beer and say "Gurrl, dish." That's not the case right now and besides, I want to focus on her role as mother on Excision to someone who takes 'dirty, smelly teenager' to a whole new level.
In short, Lords gut punches you with a superb, memorable performance as Phyllis: the nerve-wracking mother of the deeply disturbing (and also superb and memorable) Pauline (AnnaLynne McCord).
Also, this is a very, very, very gross film.
In fact, everyone is gross in this film - to their own degrees. From the smarmy William (John Waters) to the angelic Grace (Ariel Winter). This film feels moldy, rotting, putrid - leaving you feeling doubly disgusting by the end.
But gaddam, Phyllis and Pauline are really, really gross in their own spectacular ways.
GROSS
The very short synopsis: A suburban family of four are trekking out their dark days through mediocrity, budding sexuality, crippling illness, and a total lack of healthy communication. Things get wildly out of hand when the tension snaps.
Lords was so memorable in her performance of Excision that I spent much of the remaining 2 1/2 hours of The Tommyknockers reading about her - and of course paying attention when her menacing postmaster of rural Maine character was on screen.
In all, this film and the performers feel like they all just walked out of a smokey bog in the middle of the night - for no other purpose but to punch you in the gut or face, and leave you with a stench in the back of your throat and a heart ache you'll never forget.
Pairs with casseroles that have been in the freezer too long, warm beer, and stained pillowcase-less pillows. I watched this film on Amazon Prime. Use the Find It! Watch it! links on Horror Habit's side bar to locate where else you can find this teenage nightmare.
