Director: Richard Bates Jr.
Cast: AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Roger Bart, Ariel Winter, Jeremy Sumpter, John Williams, Malcolm McDowell, Marlee Matlin, Matthew Gray Gubler, Ray Wise
Running time: 82 minutes
Certificate: 18
Synopsis: A troubled teenager who seems to come from the perfect background is disturbingly obsessed with the macabre. As she attempts to understand the world of high school, religion, and her homelife, she finds herself researching into medicine in the hopes of understanding and possibly curing her sister’s Cystic Fibrosis.
EXCISION is is the debut feature film from director Richard Bates Jr. The film is based on his own short, of the same name, that travelled film festivals and made quite the impression. He’s given it an extended running time, but is it a decent film or just a stretched out idea that should have remained in its original format?
It’s hard not to approach films without any preconceptions whatsoever, especially when dealing with horror. Just the word ‘horror’ declares “I am going to scare you!” and if it doesn’t it could be regarded as a failure. With all the promotional images for the film circling the web as well, I was convinced I was in for a gorefest, slasher film that would push the boundaries of taste and not much more. In this case those preconceptions helped me enjoy the film even more, because I couldn’t have been more wrong. EXCISION is far from the film I imagined it to be. It’s a brutal coming of age tale that mixes absurdist and awkward humour, with a frightening sense of frustration that our protagonist feels, along with elements of drama and sickening mental images.
The first thing that caught me off guard was just how bright the entire film is. This isn’t some brooding tale that uses the darkness to hide away in. In fact, like our main character Pauline (McCord), the lighting sheds light on exposes the madness of the world around her. Pauline is definitely a weird little creature, but she is also in many ways a product of her environment. She asks questions without consideration of how others might feel “Can you catch an STD from a dead person?” This happens early on and as such we find it difficult to read her just yet. The science Teacher (Gubler) passes this off as a lame attempt at attention seeking, while classmates sit around disgusted. We wonder if she’s asking because this is something she has really considered doing. The truth is, there is no correct way to respond to Pauline, and she is probably just testing the waters herself.
Pauline’s ideas conflict with that of her strict upbringing and it is her mother’s reactions to her personality that have made Pauline more curious and more shocking. The film is punctuated by Pauline’s discussions with God, in which Pauline prays against a pitch black background which really brings her to the forefront of things. Her monologues in these scenes are both funny and understandable. In fact, Bates’ screenplay and McCord’s performance do a miraculous job in making Pauline such a likable character. The world she lives in is so cruel and thoughtless can we really blame her for her actions? Is taking a dead bird home to dissect really worse than picking on someone for their looks?
The bright settings mentioned earlier give this a much gentler tone in some parts, and often plays out like a TV soap opera. But when Pauline’s disturbing visions come in to play it makes them all the more shocking. Bates Jr. certainly knows how to play with tone and genre. The family dinner scenes are set up to represent the complete family unit, and this could at times be one of those teenage comedies where the outcast is turned into prom queen. Bates Jr. has other ideas though. The delusions Pauline suffers aren’t completely terrifying, just more unsettling. Severed heads are raised with all the calmness found in a perfume commercial, which is a tad freaky if you ask me.
EXCISION is one of those (morbidly) delightful films where you honestly have no idea what it is trying to do or where it is going until it finally gets there. The journey is as enjoyable to the viewer as it must be disturbing for the characters. Seeing a number of common techniques and plot points from other genres played out in what is a well performed, beautifully shot, oddity of a film with a number of chuckles, makes for an original film that will hopefully not be the last from director Richard Bates Jr. My only gripe is that I wanted more, but would rather be left wanting more than dying of boredom.
EXCISION is being shown at Festivals around the UK starting 27th October. It will receive a cinematic release in select cinemas nationwide from 2nd November, and a DVD and Blu-ray release will follow on 12th November. You can pre-order the DVD here and the Blu-ray here.
