Thanks to the original Poltergeist film, nobody wants to build on ancient burial sites
anymore. Unfortunately, Chrissie Swanson’s high school was prefabbed in the
1960s or 1970s, when they were not so particular about defiling sacred ground.
As a result, a legend of a curse hangs over the student body, inevitably given
credence to many by the annual untimely death of a senior during the week
before graduation. Swanson is not superstitious, but a psycho-stalker gives her
very real and immediate cause for concern in Derick Martini’s The Curse of Downers Grove (trailer here), co-adapted by Bret
Easton Ellis, which opens this Friday in select theaters.
It is sad enough living in a burg called
Downers Grove. With a name like that, suicide and depression should be even
bigger problems than curses. Swanson is too level-headed for any of that. She
is a defiant unbeliever, despite her periodic visions of irate Native
Americans. Inexplicably, her single mom choses the notorious curse week to gallivant
off with her beau for a romantic getaway. Sure, she is entitled to lead her own
life, but if you live in Downers Grove, some things ought to be pretty high on
your worry list.
Of course, this gives Swanson’s obnoxious younger
brother and her trampy BFF Tracy an opportunity to throw a blow-out bash. However,
Swanson is in no mood to party after the local college’s star quarterback tries
to pull a Cosby on her at a frat mixer. Swanson manages to fight him off, but gauges
an eye out in the process. Evidently, this will not help his NFL prospects much.
As a result, the now one-eyed Chuck lurches into full blown psychosis. The
Swanson siblings, Tracy, and Bobby, Chrissie’s sensitive auto mechanic crush,
will have to hunker down and try to whether the storm.
In some ways, Downers Grove is sort of like a throwback to Kevin Williamson’s
glory years, but Elis and Martini deserve surprising credit for not
over-writing it. They never over-reach trying to sound hip and ironic. Frankly,
the film is pretty grounded, all things considered. Although it is nowhere near
as effective as David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, but both films portray the young characters’ relationships with similarly
realistic complications and ambiguities.
Lead actress Bella Heathcote is not exactly
Maika Monroe either, but she is still refreshingly down-to-earth and forceful. Neither
a shrinking violet nor a scream queen, she shows some real screen presence and
backbone. As Chuck, Kevin Zeggers goes nuts pretty effectively. On the other
hand, Lucas Till feels out of place playing Bobby, as if he were afraid he
might get some grease on his clothes.
