Here be Spoilers, so yeah, you’ve been warned.
So, I’ve been sitting here for a while trying to think of what to say about Starry Eyes. There’s a lot that comes immediately to mind. I could go on for quite some time about how it has a ton of thematic and visual references to Rosemary’s Baby with a little bit of Eyes Wide Shut thrown in for taste, but I don’t want to be the kind of guy who tries to “wow” you with his knowledge of other movies. Plus, that would probably make for a pretty boring article. It would also be possible for me to talk about something like the soundtrack, which I really dug. There’s been this weird movement in horror films recently to have cool retro/electronica based scores, like in It Follows and The Guest, but outside of being able to say that it’s a fun and interesting style, I don’t know what else I can add. I could probably talk for a few hundred words about everything I liked about this movie. That would be that, and I could go to bed early.
The problem I’m having is, that despite all the elements of Starry Eyes that I did like, the movie as a whole fell flat to me and just never summed up it’s parts. Let’s rewind a bit, ok? Sarah (Alexandra Essoe) is an aspiring actress, who hangs around with some of the absolute douchiest people this side of an Entourage episode. She gets an audition for a role in a horror movie, but bombs and goes to the bathroom to have a bit of a freak out session, ripping out a bit of her own hair in the process. The casting director (Maria Olsen, who I know I recognize despite what IMDb tells me) happens to see this, and gives her a call-back. This culminates in her meeting the producer, who makes a move on her which she initially rejects. Soon afterward, she relents and gives him, shall we say, a “sexual favor” in exchange for the part. This is where stuff gets weird.
She begins to rot away, losing hold of her looks, health, and sanity. The producer says that this is necessary to be “reborn” and that she must do whatever is necessary. She goes over to the house where her friends all live, and proceeds to just murder the shit out of them. Like, just, so much murder. Then a bunch of guys in robes and masks show up, along with some old, rich people, and they have a ceremony with a glow-stick pentagram and a new Sarah bursts forth from the old one’s body. Like I said: weird.
This weirdness is where the movie lost me. This is doubly odd because I generally love weirdness in movies. The problem to me is, that Starry Eyes doesn’t seem to have a real point.. I’m not sure how the death of her friends leads to her doing what is necessary to become a great actress. Are they holding her back? Sure, they all kind of suck, but does that justify anything? Even the murder scene itself left me wanting. After all, when someone gets their head bashed in with a free weight and I’m underwhelmed, there has to be a bit of a problem.
What this all comes down to is a movie that I just don’t understand, not only in terms of how the world of the film works and the mechanics of the plot, but also in how I really feel about it and relate to it. As I said earlier, there are a lot of individual elements that really appealed to me and this is a genre that I have a lot of affection for. I’ve seen films that are much, much worse than this, but that I’ve enjoyed so much more. I wish I could pinpoint exactly what it is that doesn’t work, but nothing is coming to me. I realize that this probably makes for an unsatisfying ending to an article. I truly don’t know what’s up with this. All I can say is, give it a whirl. Watch it for yourself and form your own opinion. Let me know what that might be. I know that I’m going to go back and give this another shot, if only because not many movies have left me so confused and at odds with myself. I guess that’s something that Starry Eyes can hang its hat on.
