Beautiful Creatures

ROMANCE, SCI-FI/FANTASY

Dark Secret Will Come To Light

8.5 out of 10 | MOVIE - DVD

---

Rated: PG-13 Violence, scary images and some sexual material.
Release Date: February 14, 2013
Runtime: 2 hours 3 minutes

---

Director: Richard LaGravenese
Writers: Richard LaGravenese, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl
Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emmy Rossum, Thomas Mann, Zoey Deutch, Kyle Gallner

---

Watch Trailer

SYNOPSIS:  Ethan longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.

REVIEW: Richard LaGravenes, screenwriter of Water for Elephants and The Horse Whisperer, and director of P.S. I Love You, directs and writes the adaptation from the supernatural young adult romantic best-selling novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. 

Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich, Tetro) is a banned book bookworm who is also perky and popular. He loves Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse-Five', William . Burroughs' 'Naked Lunch', and Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. He dreams of leaving the small-minded and backwater Gatlin, South Carolina, to discover himself and the world before he decides on who he is. During the start of his junior year of high school, a new girl comes to town and to school. Lena Ravenwood Duchannes (Alice Englert, Ginger and Rosa) comes to school as an instant outcast, coming from a long line of rumored satanists and devil worshippers. The other girls make jokes at Lena expense and shun her, but Ethan finds her a kindred spirit and does not take part in his classmates' verbal abuse. When a chance encounter on a deserted road takes Ethan and Lena to her Uncle Macon Ravenwood's (Jeremy Irons, The Words) plantation doorstep, Ethan finds himself more intrigued and enchanted by Lena with every moment. The pair gets closer because of Ethan's gregarious nature, and in spite of Lena's misgivings, prompting her to reveal to Ethan of the fact that she is a caster - a witch with powers beyond that of mere mortals. What's more is that she tells Ethan that she has until her sixteenth birthday until she is confronted with the inevitable Claiming that will decide whether she will become a dark caster or a light caster. While Lena is desperate to stay in the light, her mother Sarafine (Emma Thompson, Brave) Disguised as the town conservative christian Mrs. Lincoln, Sarafine and Lena's cousin, dark caster siren Ridley (Emmy Rossum, Shameless) who was previously lost to the dark, plot an elaborate scheme to ensure that young caster Lena is taken by the dark. Can Ethan's love for her saver from the dark or will he only ensure that she succumbs to it?

The adaptation of the first book in the best-selling series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Beautiful creatures will appeal to fans of The Twilight Saga and other young adult supernatural infused stories. For me, Beautiful Creatures is altogether different than what I expected - for the better. Set in the southern swamplands of Gatlin, South Carolina, lore for Richard LaGravenese uses the story's southern charm to enrich an already spicy story. The people of Gatlin openly cast aspersions to those who they deem as outcasts. Where Edward, Bella, and Jacob seemed to hide in plain sight with no one none the wiser, the setting of the South uses it's lore to make the idea of witchcraft and devilry center stage among those in the community. Appealing to tweens and young adults, this supernatural love story is refreshing and fun.

One of the decidedly different aspects of this film is that it seems a little more intelligent than what we have come to be used to. Sharp and witty, the dialogue is a great asset to the film. Sure kids may not talk that way but Ethan's use of the language is both gripping and fun.

Where I was never a big fan of Kristen Stewart as Bella, I thoroughly enjoyed Alice's Lena. Jeremy Irons brings great Southern hospitality and charm as Lena's uncle and protector, Using an accent similar to what he used in Die Hard with a Vengeance, just with a little less Texan drawl. Emma Thompson's Sarafine excels as the demure Christian housewife and community leader possessed by one of the most evil and powerful dark casters alive. Rossum's cousin Ridley just wants to dark cast and have some devilish fun, as well as being a bubbling henchman to Sarafine's schemes. And Viola Davis as Ethan's housekeeper Amma may know more than what she is letting on as she struggles to walk the razors edge of helping versus hindering.

The costumes, set design, and special effects suit the film well, used in just the right amount to enhance the story of a young witch and her first true love. From the foreboding exteriors of the Green Briar plantation, to the hyper-modern interiors of Macon's home, from the spell casting of Lena and Sarafine's, to a spinning dining room, from civil war re-enacters to Lena's party goers for her claiming party, LaGravenese and his team make great use to visualize the source materials.

Beautiful Creatures is a fine example of a young adult supernatural romance that works on all levels. From perfect casting, to wonderful set design, to quaint and effective use of the South, Beautiful Creatures breathes fresh life into a genre already filled with werewolves, vampires, and zombies - oh my!

---

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Not Your Father's Nightmare

[Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara]

I need to pose a question. Why is it a necessity to vocalize every obvious plot point at a horror film? Don't get me wrong, I love the hoots of appreciation when a teenager get killed in an especially enjoyable way. I just can't understand when someone behind me, all the while kicking my seat, has to point out that the mother is lying to her daughter and hiding a crucial bit of information. These actors are not going to get an Academy Award for powerful performances... come on!

SYNOPSIS: A group of teenagers realize that the death of their friend is far more than a suicide when they realize that they are all dreaming of the same bogeyman with a gloved hand of blades, Freddy Krueger.

The real point of discussion for the new "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is whether it can hold up to Wes Craven's original. There has been obvious comparisons between Robert Englund and Jackie Earle Haley, the differences in Krueger's practical make-up, and the similarities and differences in the script and execution. 25 years may have past between Craven's original film and Samuel Bayer's reboot, but only 7 years have past since the last "Nightmare" and Bayer has to work against a mythology of 8 previous Krueger films.

I watched the new film on Saturday, then followed it with the original that afternoon on DVD. Let get to the Tale of the Tape!

Freddy Krueger - Robert Englund brought a witchy hook nose and sarcasm to a horror villain and made Krueger an industry icon. Jackie Earle Haley brings a more realistic burned-up bogeyman with more malice. Englund's Krueger was a caricature from the beginning, Haley's Krueger more malevolence and focused.

Winner: Jackie Earle Haley

Execution (not that way!): Wes Craven wrote and directed a film that revitalized the genre in the early 80s. Bayer takes a script from Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer and gives the reboot a new millennium sensibility. The plot is a little darker than the original, the dream sequences slicker, the origin story better executed and tighter, the use of "micro naps" as a plot device more inspired. The cast selection for the 2010 version is more appropriate to the market, definitely not cheesy like the original. The new version does use a couple of ideas from its predecessor - Freddy through the wallpaper, the blades on the pipes, teen girl dragged through the school hall in a body bag - but shakes up the rest.

Winner: 2010

Execution (yes, that way!): Both have a glove of blades coming up in the bubble bath. Both have the girl flying up around the ceiling that ends with 4 slices through the belly. In the latter, Bayer amps up the ceiling crashing tenfold. The boiler dream scenes in the reboot are grittier and more decayed, especially with previous victims strung up like slabs of beef. The original has Freddy slicing off his own fingers, cutting open his belly to show he's made of maggots and goo, and coming up with great one-liners to go with his kills. The reboot has Freddy more driven and methodical, his one-liners simply a product of his twisted mentality. In terms of originality, you simply need to view the first kill in the diner and a steak knife (Clue!, anyone?) to find the clear "cut" winner.

Winner: 2010

Growing up with the "Elm Street" franchise, I loved Freddy Krueger and his antics. As the original series wore on though, it eventually became a perpetuating parody of itself. As much as I respect what the original brought back to the genre, the new "Nightmare..." breathes new life into a dying man, even though he lives only in our dreams.

Worth: Matinee and DVD