Excision

John Chard 5/16/2024 3:22:07PM 8.4

The last cut is the deepest! AnnaLynne McCord stars as Pauline, a disturbed high school misfit who has delusions of becoming a surgeon. Dominated by her over bearing mother, Pauline battles with her sanity and unhealthy obsessions. Superb, a teen based horror that’s pungent with everything from necrophilia, growing pains, peer pressure, sexual anxiety, parental strife, mental illness and horror – real horror. Writer/director Richard Bates Junior does a brilliant job of filling an 80 minute movie with so many thematic smarts but never once over egging his bloody pudding. He gets excellent performances out of McCord and Traci Lords (as Pauline’s mother), whilst the blending of surreal imagery via Pauline’s dreams and the real world awkwardness – with some dry humour in the mix too – produces a picture that is in equal parts oddball and emotionally shattering. When Dead Ringers collides with Ginger Snaps, Excision will stay with you for days afterwards. 9/10