If
mean girls watched more horror movies, it would do more to curtail bullying
than all the collective PSAs and after-school specials ever produced. A passing
familiarity with Carrie might make them
think twice about hassling the girl who transferred midway through the term,
after the “incident” at their old school. At least, Alena is trading up from
plebeian public school to a tony boarding school. That actually makes it harder
for the rather intense day-student to fit in with her well-heeled peers in
Daniel di Grado’s Alena (trailer here), which releases
today on DVD from the Kimstim Collection/Icarus Films.
Unlike
Filippa, the campus queen bee, Alena is definitely not blonde. She makes a good
faith effort to make friends, but Filippa and her flunkies are having none of
that. However, Alena has at least one defender: Josefin, her BFF at her
previous school. Unfortunately, Josefin is rather a bad influence, for several
reasons. She has a quick temper and co-dependent tendencies. She also happens
to be dead.
When
Alena’s talent for lacrosse comes to light, she starts to be a threat to
Filippa’s clique. However, the team captain really starts to resent Alena when the
newcomer develops a sexually ambiguous friendship with Fabienne, the only girl
rich and cool enough to disregard Filippa and her posse. Seething with her own
sexually confused jealousy, Filippa plots Alena’s downfall, but Josefin has
plans of her own.
Adapted
from a Swedish graphic novel, the current feature version of Alena was expanded from di Grado’s
one-hour television special. Frankly, you can’t see any padding. The general
arc will be immediately familiar to most horror fans, but di Grado keeps the
tension and sexual angst cranked to impressive levels. He and co-screenwriters
Kerstein Gezelius and Alexander Onofri also maintain a fair degree of
uncertainty regarding Josefin’s true nature: supernatural or psychological.
Amalia
Holm’s sensitive yet creepy performance as Alena also keeps us from jumping to
snap conclusions. She holds our sympathies while making us uncomfortable. She
also develops some suitably hesitant but potent chemistry with Fabienne, played
by the charismatic Felice Jankell, who seems like the surest bet in the
ensemble to attain Hollywood crossover success.
