I love horror movies about as much as I hate modern country music. Passionately.
So this intersectionality intrigued me. Sequin-blazed, eardrum-piercing twang Nashville twisted tale of the dangers of fame and ambition utilizing a considerably terrifying presence of Katey Sagal to the max. Ok, sure, bring it. But then again, outside of doing its best to exploit the “woman unhinged” scenario, this movie (yet another one is a long series of Blumhouse for Prime disappointments) just doesn’t offer that much. First off, it stands to mention, there’s nothing supernatural at work here. All the thrills and scares are man…well, womanmade. That woman is a has-been country star, once upon a time a part of a popular country sister act, and since then unseen, unheard of, shut-in. You know, all the more to add to her cult-like status with the fans. Among these fans are Leigh and Jordan. A country duo trying to get places. One’s pretty, one’s pretty talented. An uneven dynamic that they’ve been able to make work so far, but they are stuck at the small potatoes level. They need something special to go further. And what’s more special than a duet with their favorite star? One no one has heard from in years. What a story that would make. So, the girls bake a pie and set off to say Hi. And then the nightmare unspools. Psychological manipulation, drunken mayhem, fighting, and yes, singing (the cast can sing and twang) ensues. It sounds campy, right? It is. Or it might have been but the movie’s writer/director inexplicably chose not to lean into that instead opting for a high-strung hysterical dramatics that don’t quite land anywhere all the way. An extreme version of a Lifetime movie, maybe? This movie is a Katey Sagal show all the way and Sagal (the real star of the production) is perfect here. There’s something naturally terrifying about her imposing frame, her crudely sculpted features, the somewhat unnatural way in which she’s aging wherein her tapping fingers (utilized heavily in the movie) belong to mitts far older and wrinklier than some of her face. When you combine that with her character (a woman who has soaked in bitterness, resentment, regret, anger, and solitude for decades), you get a strikingly disturbed individual with more issues than NatGeo and an appetite for chaos. She’s eager to offer guidance that may seem instructional but is in fact a twisted revenge scenario. It’s personal. And it isn’t. It’s Dutch sister against the world. And oh yeah, it’s the South. People have guns and are not afraid to use them. But Sagal’s efforts aside, the movie falls flat no matter how feminist it wants to be. I mean, it is all ladies, both the stars and creative team. The couple of men cast members are largely irrelevant foil. The movie seems like it wants to say something but then it just lets out a wail and stops. Ending up with all the poignancy, originality, and complexity of a modern country song. Which is to say none.
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