Audience Member
Don't ask me why, but it seems like a lot of this year's slasher month films are coming from the Land Down Under, where women glow and men plunder. Cassandra is from director Colin Eggleston, who also made Long Weekend and Fantasm Comes Again.
Our titular character keeps dreaming that her brother is a killer and her parents keep telling her that everything is normal, as it's not as said brother has escaped the asylum and has started killing everything he can*.
Also — her dad is a photographer and her mother is a fashion model, so there's that too. And to pile on the crazy, dad's having an affair and Cassandra has a psychic link with that aforementioned killer who keeps leaving "Who killed cock robin?" in blood at his murder scenes.
This is a film that isn't just content with stealing from Carpenter's Halloween but also The Eyes of Laura Mars.
This movie starts with a truly audacious dream sequence and has some real stalk and slash moments of suspense, but the true villain would be keeping secrets. If you go in expecting a straight-up slash, you'll be disappointed. But if you want something a bit more cerebral, this unheralded Australian entry is worth the download.
*Spoiler: They're also Australian for VC Andrews.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I don't know what I expected, but I certainly expected a little better from the director of Long Weekend. This movie is dull and boring. There's little mystery as to who the killer is, there are no twists along the way either, and there are few too many kills (most of which happen off screen). The suspense is replaced by long, long stretches of dialogue that nobody cares about. While this movie is supposed to be a mystery, the only reason things seem confusing is because characters only tell half the truth. Which would be fine in some movies, but here it's like characters refuse to talk just so the viewer is left confused, not the protagonist. It has a decent final five minutes with fire, but it really wasn't anything to write home about.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I sought out this film only because it was produced, and its score co-composed, by the Australian musician and music producer Trevor Lucas, who was married to the singer/songwriter Sandy Denny. It's basically your average horror whodunit in which our title heroine gradually discovers her family's twisted past as she attempts to identify the murderer. There are flashbacks, POV shots, and assorted eerie devices, but the movie is wholly unremarkable, including the music. It's an okay film, but I wouldn't suggest you go out of your way to find it.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The editing is the most noteworthy aspect of the film as it is surprisingly effective - several sequences are cut in a very elliptical fashion with time and place becoming blurred as sporadic images of a voyeuristic eye are interjected amongst them . Unfortunately, that is the only thing noteworthy within this derivative thriller that plays out like a knock-off of "The Eyes of Laura Mars" - complete with psychic link to killer, fashion photography, fashion models, roaming POV camera shots, a woman in peril, and giallo-esque murder sequences (which are admittedly effective due to the editing within those sequences).
See "The Eyes of Laura Mars" instead, which even isn't that good a film in its own right but sure is better than this one.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
Full Review
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