All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

I'd actually seen this one before.  Filmed in 2006, but tangled up in distribution hell in the U.S. until 2013, I was lucky enough to come across this in a video store in 2009 while living in England. I was incredibly excited to get my hands on it back then, as it had already developed a reputation as a bit of a rare treasure among horror film fans. I remember walking away from my first viewing satisfied, but admittedly could only vaguely recall the film's events by the time I noticed it was on Netflix streaming recently and decided to give it another go.

Amber Heard is superb as the beautiful, virginal Mandy Lane, whom all of the boys want a shot with. Formerly unpopular, Mandy apparently blossomed over the summer before her junior year of high school. Having attracted the attention of the popular crowd, by the end of the year Mandy seems to have distanced herself from her nerdy former best friend after his prank resulted in the death of one of her admirers months before. Following this bit of set up, the main story begins with Mandy joining her new "cool" friends on a weekend trip to one boy's family ranch.

The lighting and cinematography in the film are notable. Mandy is often haloed by rays of sunlight, adding to her angelic aura. Heard's acting is also in peak form. Her facial expression's are usually inscrutable. She seems sweet, certainly kinder and more innocent than those around her, but her emotions are as hard for us to read as they are for her companions. Does she actually have feelings for any of the guys attempting to impress her? What does she really think of the debauchery surrounding her? Heard plays Mandy's cards close to her chest. The few times she does let her face become readable, it's brief but telling. For instance, when she first lays eyes on the ranch's handyman, Garth (Anson Mount), it's clear she is taken with him, and afterwards, she subtly lights up whenever they encounter each other.

When the kills start racking up, they're brutal but not always particularly bloody (at least as far as modern slashers go). However, while I found most of the characters generally unlikable, they also seemed to me more human than your average teen body count movie victims, which definitely makes the deaths tougher to watch, even when they're not particularly gory. At times you might even find yourself feeling pity for characters you previously disliked.

Mandy Lane is ultimately an above-average slasher. It's well made, mostly well acted, and packs a punch sorely missing from a lot of modern horror. It may have been a long wait for this one, but I don't think many people will be disappointed. Highly recommended.