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Neon Demon, The
Stars: Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Bella Heathcoate, Desmond Harrington, Karl Glusman
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
In creating this uniquely dislikable shocker, Refn's direction is undoubtedly effective in drawing passable performances from his luckless cast, creating a potent growing atmosphere of unease and repulsiveness and ultimately delivering a sleazy shockfilm that makes Saw and its ilk seem blunt by comparison.
16-year-old Elle Fanning arrives in Los Angeles aiming to become a top model and finds herself a top agent in Christina Hendricks.
Fanning apparently has everything needed to make it to the top – and so when she falls in with a group of fellow models who want what she has and are willing to do anything to get it, she is pitched into a mounting nightmare of nastiness…
Mind you, should your cinematic tastes run to lesbianism and, unforgettably, necrophilia, which is all too explicitly depicted as taking place on top of the corpse of a girl who has already undergone the indignity of a post-mortem, you will find yourself catered for.
Ultimately all-pervasive schlock surpasses mere shock from start to finish.
Alan Frank
USA 2016. UK Distributor: Icon. Colour.
112 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 18.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 3, Violence/Horror 3, Drugs 2, Swearing 3.
Review date: 28 Oct 2016