Excision - Not a horror movie, but horrific nonetheless

'Excision' is a film that you will either love or hate.  There doesn't seem to be an in between.  It'll never be a huge hit as it's probably quite hard to market.  It's not a horror movie, nor is it a thriller, comedy, or teen drama, yet it encompasses all of those genres and probably a few more.

It's about a high school girl, Pauline, who is a bit of a loner and slowly descending into a dangerous world of make believe.  It's not a happy-go-lucky tale.  What she needs, is someone to look out for her and take an interest.  Sadly, her mother is a little preoccupied with her own life and her dad just does what he's told by her mum, leaving her to her own devices.

There is a strong horror element in the film, but it's psychological horror, drawn from her fantasies as she slowly descends deeper into her psychosis.  Plus there's a lot of blood and much of the 'horror' can be drawn from what happens when a young girl becomes a woman and 'the change' starts to occur - if you know what I mean.

There aren't many films that are like this, or if there are, I haven't heard of them, therefore it's quite difficult to liken this film to any other.  It's definitely more of a psychological horror than something with big monsters or serial killers running around.  Being a man I can't really identify with these sorts of aspects of 'becoming a woman,' so I'll leave it up to the ladies to say how much of this is exaggerated for horrific effect.

If you're in the mood for something which is a very grisly affair, mixed with pretty much every other genre, give this a go.  It's an indie film and it always will be, but everyone gives a good enough performance to elevate it to a cult film.  As a big 'Twin Peaks' fan I was delighted to see Ray Wise turn up about half way through - it was just a pity he wasn't in it for as long as he could have been.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one