GORE IN THE STORE
REVIEWS BY FANS FOR FANS
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

The Hole
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Messengers 2

 

Directed by Reginald Harkema. Starring Kristen Hager, Gregory Smith, Ryan Robbins. Canada. Crime. 85 minutes.

Leslie, is a good girl, home-coming princess and darling of 60s America, until she meets Charles Manson. Perry is a good boy, engineer, son of a conservative patriot who is scared of being drafted to Vietnam. Their lives cross when Perry serves on the jury in the trial to determine if Leslie should die for her crimes.

This film is divided into two halves, skilfully woven together. The first part deals with Leslie (Hager), and her desire to experience something more than her sterile, run-of-the-mill life. This leads her to follow her boyfriend into the late 60s world of hippy-dom, replete with drugs, guitars, flowers and free love. Down this path she meets a range of waifs and strays, before eventually being introduced to Charles Manson (Robbins). Seduced by the hypnotic petty criminal, she soon joins ‘The Family’ leading inextricably to the infamous Tate/LaBianca murders.

The second part of the film follows Perry (Smith) an equally buttoned-up young man. He is less of a dreamer than Leslie, but still struggles with his over-bearing, über-conservative father and the prospect of being sent to Vietnam. Perry is a juror at Leslie’s trial (for the murder of Rosemary LaBianca) and soon becomes infatuated with the beautiful young woman. Faced with the freedom he hears about at the trial, he struggles to deal with the fact that his own life is so stifling. His patriotic father insists he must fight for his country, whilst his Christian fiancée withholds the sex that drives all young men’s minds, until they are married.

The film, whilst not a horror movie, does carefully balance the opposing forces of Perry’s life and the shenanigans of the Manson Family. He is subtly torn, because he recognises the evil present in Leslie and her comrades, but struggles with the lack of freedom afforded him as a law-abiding citizen. Unfortunately, the film falls down because it favours glossing over the brutality of the crimes, for artsy montages of period events. While these are handled well, they make for a bit of a yawn-fest.

The only extra on my disc was a trailer, so few comments to add here.

David G Bennett

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