Starry Eyes was a film I didn’t really know much about until a couple friends online mentioned that it was pretty good, so after hearing that it’s up on Netflix to watch, I immediately sought it out. Boy, am I glad I did, because Starry Eyes is a damn good yarn, with a soundtrack that is phenomenal. It’s all about the quest for success and the limits we’ll go to obtain it, but of course, don’t forget to throw in some supernatural horror, gnarly gore and a performance by Alexandra Essoe that is to die for. Let’s read our lines after the jump…
PLOT SUMMARY
A hopeful young starlet uncovers the ominous origins of the Hollywood elite and enters into a deadly agreement in exchange for fame and fortune.
MOVIE
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. If you’ve ever seen the movie Contracted, you might be saying to yourself, wow this movie is very similar. Yes, there are some familiar beats, but in my opinion they are entirely two different movies and in Starry Eyes case, it doesn’t shit the bed in the final act. Instead, it cranks things up tenfold and throws in some fantastic gore (that dumbbell vs head scene is stomach turning in a good way) and serves up an ending that has you grinning, albeit a confused grin. Also, I would be stupid not to mention how utterly fantastic the score is for this movie. Performed by Jonathan Snipes, the synthesizer heavy beats have the ’80s written all over it. If you don’t believe me, give this tune a listen.
There are a few things that bothered me though. I’m not entirely sure how the change really happened. I understand what she did to the weird old producer, but who is he really and how does his you know what have such weird power? Also, there is a point in the movie where she must prove herself worthy of this ‘change’ that she has going on and it involves murder… I guess. It’s not really explained why she must commit murder, but at least it does serve up all the gory goodness we want. Still, some back story on what is going on and what the point of it all would’ve been nice. Instead we are left hanging at the end, with no explanation as to what she has become. However, these are super small nitpicks for a damn good movie.
VERDICT
Alexandra Essoe has stepped into the role and gave us one killer performance. Top it off with some awesome gore, a beautiful score and an ending, albeit an uninformative ending, that creepily tries to explain the origins of starlets, Starry Eyes is a damn good movie worth checking out.
RATING
