Delayed Reaction: Kristy

Premise: A college student on an empty campus gets hunted by some strangers in an internet murder cult.

I assume that I curate my Netflix "My List" more than most people. I keep a copy of it in a spreadsheet and note target movies and reasons for being on my list. I use My List almost exclusively to make my next viewing selection. (Side note: I don't get you people who waste a half-hour sorting through Netflix options. It's really not that hard to find something to watch.) So, it confuses me when I don't remember how a movie got in my list. Looking for a horror movie to watch on Sunday afternoon, I see Kristy pop up in my list. It's not from a horror director or writer I like. There isn't a star who I'm obsessed with. It wasn't recommended by a friend or podcast. For some reason, the mystery of its inclusion was enough to get me to watch it.

This is an aggressively forgettable movie. It's a mix of a number of horror ideas. There's the final girl (Haley Bennett). The idea of internet murder communities goes back a while. I think that's what feardotcom is about*. The 2010s are lousy with the premise. V/H/S. The Den. Cam. The Invitation. More broadly, this is a movie like The Strangers or The Purge about random people deciding to terrorize an innocent. There's really nothing about Kristy that stands out as unique.

*I'm pretty sure that's the first time that movie has been referenced by anyone in a decade.

Haley Bennett is a decent final girl. She can pass for a college student if tell yourself she's a senior and she took a gap year. I've never been able to figure out who Ashley Greene is. This was a swing and a miss though. Her hoodie and lip ring look reminded me a lot of Mary Kate Olsen in Beastly or Vanessa Hudgens in Gimme Shelter. Certain faces just can't look convincingly weathered without overdoing it.

In simplistic terms though, this is a pretty bad movie. The premise is pretty thin. It doesn't do a great job of building tension and crafting scares. All subtlety is lost on this movie. For example, I could be mistaken, but I think the beginning of the movie wants you to learn something about Heisenberg. It's hard to take the dialogue seriously. The final line - "Justine is dead. My name is Kristy" - is literally her defining herself by her attackers.

Kristy is very watchable though. As background entertainment on a Sunday afternoon while I was checking my phone, it was fine. Had I built a Friday horror night around it, I would've been annoyed.

Verdict: Strongly Don't Recommend