Back in the early 90’s, BOXING HELENA was an interesting failure, a fascinating curio that met with such critical bile that its creator, Jennifer Chambers Lynch remained in the shadow of her father and didn’t make another film for 15 years. The comeback flick, SURVEILLANCE – executive produced by David Lynch – is a whole lot more satisfying : a deceptively slow-burning, increasingly unsettling and subversive take on familiar serial killer movie themes.
Lynch Jr. opts less for the introspective weirdness of BOXING HELENA and more, at least initially, for a variation on the set-up of her father’s TWIN PEAKS : it’s a serial killer story involving peculiar FBI agents in a small town peopled by oddballs and potentially psychotic losers. Eventually, this seemingly familiar set-up is subverted, though from the outset, it’s clear that we’re not in for a conventional thriller. There’s something strange about agents Bill Pullman (with an oddly creepy close-cropped haircut) and Julia Ormond as they investigate murders in a modest desert town. Through a non-linear, flashback-laden structure, we learn of how the killings intertwined the lives of separate witnesses : including a little girl, a junkie and a pair of dumbass, bored officers.
In one of several nice touches, the latter characters initially come off as harmless douche bags, but a lengthy sequence midway reveals them to be a far more disturbing presence than is initially apparent. Against the oddly disquieting sun-kissed daylight desert backdrop, Chambers Lynch builds a sinister mood via clever use of the widescreen frame, eccentric character beats and a streak of dark wit – all of which (along with the prominence of coffee) arguably echo facets of her father’s iconic oeuvre. Like David, this Lynch is similarly fond of punctuating the narrative with shocking, visceral moments : here, the movie ventures into horror territory for a bloody road accident, an exploding face gag and an impressively twisted climax.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Said climax involves a fashionable plot twist that upsets expectations by revealing perennial nice guy Pullman (also erring on the dark side for Lynch Sr.’s LOST HIGHWAY) as a twitchy, perverse nut-job and hitherto prim English rose Ormond as his equally unbalanced lover (“I knew she was way to fuckable to be F.B.I…”). Their weird, sadomasochistic climactic threesome – Pullman cums as Ormond makes out with and then throttles a woman with a belt – is among American cinema’s most perverse moments of 2008.
END OF SPOILERS
This Canadian shot movie boasts a characteristically bizarre end credits track from David Lynch entitled “Speed Roaster”.
– Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
