IN FOR A PENNY IN FOR A POUND

2 days ago
4 min read

PENNY LANE IS DEAD (15)

Director: Mia Kate Russell

Screenplay: Mia Kate Russell

Starring: Sophia Wright-Mendlesohn, Tahlee Fereday, Alexandra Jensen

Running time: 90 minutes

Shudder

Review: RJ Bland

There are films that have made some parts of the world feel inherently more dangerous than others. Of course, these perceived threats are usually wildly exaggerated. A generation of people have been scared of the ocean thanks to Jaws (1975). Yet, more people are killed by champagne corks every year than sharks. Seriously, look it up. But people aren't having panic attacks at New Year's are they? Away from the sea, there are a few other locations that seem potentially hostile. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) has made rural Texas state feel rather inhospitable whilst there are more than a couple of genre movies that make the London underground feel menacing (well, even more than it actually is!). And then there's Australia. Yep, a country 32 times the size of Old Blighty. It's the sheer size of it perhaps and the vast empty interior that leaves some people feeling decidedly scared. There are sharks off the coast (The Reef), huge crocodiles in the rivers (Rogue), venomous spiders (Sting), mystical geology (Picnic at Hanging Rock) and serial killers (Wolf Creek) to contend with after all. And with the release of Penny Lane is Dead, you can now add uninvited houseguests to the list. It might sound like the least of your worries, but it really isn't...

It's a sweltering hot summer in the mid 1980s and best friends Penny Lane (Bailey Spalding), Toni (Tahlee Fereday) and Amy (Alexandra Jensen) have a secluded beach house all to themselves. They're there to celebrate the end of school. Penny is heading to college to study law and although her girlfriend Toni hasn't been able to secure a college place, Penny has asked her to live with her when she moves away. Both are suitably excited. The two have only recently started dating though and Amy, who still carries around a cuddly toy for comfort, has no idea they're even a couple. Anyway, they're all set for a fun night when Penny's cousin, Kat shows up. She's clearly not welcome. She's acerbic and brash but she's bought cupcakes with her at least! But beware, because these aren't any ordinary cupcakes. Firstly, the icing on these bad boys has been made with icing sugar and Kat's spittle (eww). Secondly, she's decorated them with words like 'fat' and 'slut'. And lastly – and more importantly – she's laced the one she gives to Penny with drugs. Penny soon passes out and it's clear that Kat wants to play a cruel prank on her. A disgusted Toni tries to kick her out and an emotional Kat is forced to call her boyfriend to pick her up. Problem is, her boyfriend is a skeezy ex-con. And when he comes to pick her up, he's brought a few friends with him...

You'll often hear the phrase 'a game of two halves' in football. In fact, you'll sometimes hear the 'two halves' analogy used in film criticism too. Hell, I think we used it just last week. One half is notably better/worse than the other. Or at least, a very different viewing experience. Penny Lane is Dead also has a clear division in quality. But rather than coming at the midpoint, it occurs about two minutes before the end of the film. 88 minutes are very good. And 2 minutes are crap. Now, you might think that the fact the good outweighs the bad so heavily would completely negate it. But you'd be wrong. Because the ending grates so much that it unfortunately sours much of what came before it. It's a real shame because, for the most part, Penny Lane is Dead is an impressively gnarly, old-school exploitation flick that's both affecting and brutal. It's a style and tone of filmmaking that we don't see too much of nowadays. But to return to famous sporting analogies, there's another that applies here: 'It's not how you start, it's how you finish'. And Penny Lane trips over the final hurdle and falls flat on her face.

But let's talk about the good stuff, of which there is plenty. Now, the 1980s setting feels a little pointless in the grand scheme of things. It might simply be there to eliminate the potential for mobile phone use, or perhaps it's an attempt to tap into the nostalgia fetish that we're all currently buying into. But the fact remains that this feels a bit like a grindhouse film you'd expect to see at a drive-in in the late '70s/early '80s. It starts out as a punchy little young-adult drama/romance/comedy mash-up, but soon morphs into something altogether quite different. Once the villains turn up, the vulnerability of the young women at the heart of this story comes into focus. A steady sense of dread builds, always toying with the potential for explosive violence, and once it comes, the film turns nasty. A manic haze soon descends, and it becomes clear that there's no turning back for the characters at play. It's a fight to the death.

The performances deserve a mention too. They're all pretty solid across the board, but Tahlee Fereday (Toni), Alexandra Jensen (Amy) and Sophia Wright-Mendlesohn are especially good. The male characters are more caricatured and, at times, feel like they're from a slightly different movie, but their apparent goofiness somehow makes things feel even more unsettling. Writer/director Mia Kate Russell deserves credit for a satisfyingly unpredictable script that leaves you feeling constantly on edge.

The final act goes full throttle as the characters become even more desperate and unhinged. People are stabbed, shot and kitchen implements deployed. All of this feels par for the course in a movie like this. It's the denouement where Penny Lane jumps the shark. There are moments of dark comedy peppered throughout the film, but these are in no way a justification for an ending that's truly baffling in terms of tone. It's a film where people have been murdered and sexually assaulted, and it's tough to watch, as it should be. But the last couple of minutes of the film are a disservice to what came before and leave a really bad taste in the mouth.