Premise: An aspiring actress debases herself to star in a movie and, I think, makes a pact with Satan or something.
Given the nature of the backlog I need to keep for this blog (for my own sanity), I'm always quite a bit behind on posting about horror movies. Like everyone else, I like to spend a lot of October watching them, but that means I don't start posting about the horror movies until well after that. So, instead, I'm going to make September my horror movie month and see how that goes. I've got a big list and I plan to hit these hard.
Starry Eyes is an interesting movie in that it's a response to a movement that hadn't happened yet. You see, it's a #MeToo movie but from 2014. What bothered me about a lot of those #MeToo scandals is that they weren't surprises. I live in Louisville, KY and don't frequent Variety and Hollywood Reporter as much as you'd think, and I was still very aware of the stories about Weinstein, Spacey, Brian Singer, and Louis C.K before they "went public". The only surprising thing about any of this was that people decided to finally care about it. That's why it was so odd that casting couch jokes were cool in 2013 but not 2017. They were always a thing. Did people really think they had gone away until the Weinstein story came out?
Anyway, Starry Eyes is completely built on that idea and lengths people will go for stardom. I'd call it a metaphor, but it's pretty direct about it. This production company is literally full of Satanists (or, Astraeus, whoever that is). The lead woman makes a deal with them, pays in blood, and believes that she's a star. It's fair to accuse this movie of playing to the back of the room*. It's very much a movie about what it's like to live in Los Angeles, waiting for your big break. The horror in the movie is about the dehumanizing nature of auditions and the ways one compromises themselves for opportunities. It's the kind of idea that appeals the most to people trying to get their dream projects off the ground rather than general audiences. I suspect the filmmakers would get more of a thrill from hearing someone else in Los Angeles say "I know that feeling" than someone in Virginia say "that part scared me".
*Comedians stand in the back of the room when watching another stand-up's set. When a comedian is telling jokes that other comedians appreciate more than general audience, he's performing for the back of the room. It's a great way to earn respect and no money.
This movie wastes a lot of time, and when the horror actually begins, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Over an hour in, except for a couple weird audition scenes, I was still waiting for the movie to reveal itself. It was almost indistinguishable from any other movie about how much it sucks trying to make it in Hollywood. After she does submit herself to the producer, I'm not really sure what the point of it was. And what's with her symptoms? And why does she have to kill her friends? Is she just delusional or is there something to it? I really don't know. It's not much of a metaphor for needing to leave toxic or useless people behind for stardom. It's not really about opportunism, since she's not beating anyone out. The rebirth scene doesn't make much sense. I could see if it was about the production company using her up until there was nothing left. Turning her into a monster is a lot less clear. Also, most of the horror was the gross out or violent kind. That isn't what I prefer in horror, so maybe this just wasn't for me.
All that said, the movie is pretty well made on a technical level. Alexandra Essoe gives a strong leading performance for a movie devoid of familiar actors. This is especially impressive given that a lot of it was made from Kickstarter funding. I love how resourceful horror movie filmmakers are. Starry Eyes suffers more from an unclear vision than being bad.
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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