Excision trailer
Genre: Drama, Horror
Starring: AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Ariel Winter, Malcolm McDowell
Director: Richard Bates Jr.
IMDB Rating: 6.1/10
My Rating: 6.7/10
Runtime: 1hr 33mins
Synopsis: Described as 'a disturbed and delusional high school student with aspirations of a career in medicine goes to extremes to earn the approval of her controlling mother' it sounded like a fairly standard premise and a story we've seen many times before in films. However, Excision is possibly one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen, making A Clockwork Orange (nod to Mr.McDowell) seem like Ice Age 2. The film instantly opens with a very grotesque scene of the brilliant AnnaLynne McCord who plays main character Pauline in a dream sequence in which see sits opposite a double of herself who is profusely vomiting blood, set in a bizarrely sanitised and bright, tiled room. The film dips in and out of these dreams, each equally disturbing but visually powerful nonetheless.
There is plenty of dark humour and the dysfunction of the family worsens as the film proceeds, although Pauline does maintain a good relationship with her younger sister, Grace, throughout. As Pauline's behaviour becomes more erratic her conservative, straight-laced mother, also played excellently by Traci Lords, goes to greater, and more humiliating measures to reign her daughter in, but to no avail, resulting in the harrowing conclusion of the film. Excision is a must see for fans of films with psychotic main characters (I don't know what that says about them!), but it is definitely not for the squeamish or those easily shocked. Great performances from the main characters and intriguing visuals make it worth the watch for everyone else.
There is plenty of dark humour and the dysfunction of the family worsens as the film proceeds, although Pauline does maintain a good relationship with her younger sister, Grace, throughout. As Pauline's behaviour becomes more erratic her conservative, straight-laced mother, also played excellently by Traci Lords, goes to greater, and more humiliating measures to reign her daughter in, but to no avail, resulting in the harrowing conclusion of the film. Excision is a must see for fans of films with psychotic main characters (I don't know what that says about them!), but it is definitely not for the squeamish or those easily shocked. Great performances from the main characters and intriguing visuals make it worth the watch for everyone else.
