Starry Eyes - Nice idea

‘Starry Eyes’ could almost be considered a ‘satire’ on today’s ‘celebrity-obsessed’ culture.  It could be… if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s blatantly marketed as a ‘horror.’ And it is pretty horrific.  Even if much of the horror is derived from one young girl’s desperation to make it to stardom in Hollywood and the lengths she’ll go to.

Bored of waitressing in a seedy café (primarily frequented by men – if you know what I mean), Sarah feels she gets the break she’s been waiting for when a well-to-do producer offers to make her the star of an upcoming movie.  Naturally, this is too good to be true and there’s more than a few catches attached to such an enticing offer.  And that’s where the ‘fun’ really starts.
Without going into too much detail regarding the ‘catches’ there is a strong supernatural (and also horror) element to them.  The film charts her downfall as she wrestles with the desperation to be famous and get the life she desires and the new downside she’s facing from the deal that she’s struck.

Like I said in my title, it’s a ‘nice idea’ and it’s well done for the most part.  If you’ve ever watched anything by David Lynch or David Cronenberg you may spot a few parallels in style here and there as it deals with the dark side of Hollywood and fame.  But it is a bit slow.  I like to think that I appreciate dark, brooding movies (especially as I’m a huge fan of the afford-mentioned Davids).  However, I did find myself wanting something to happen.  Once you know what the film is about you can sort of see what’s going to happen a mile off and write the rest yourself.  That isn’t to say that there aren’t some nice touches (and even quite violent gore later on in the movie).  There’s even some quite black humour thrown in with the satire.

However, I can’t help think that this would have worked better as some sort of ‘half hour short.’ It does tend to go on for long periods of time.  Granted, these are designed to ‘build tension’ etc, but it just seemed like it was going on for too long.

‘Starry Eyes’ does work as what it is, but the way it’s done just won’t appeal to the masses.  I enjoyed it as I like the overall satire effect, plus there was just about enough gore and black humour in it to make it watchable.  However, I’m just not too sure I’d ever be bothered to watch it again.  The nice touches just don’t come quickly enough to maintain my enjoyment.  It’s a nice idea and there are more than a few nice touches.  Pity it just couldn’t have maintained those elements all the way through to avoid my mind wandering.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights