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TV Movie Review: “Lizzie Borden Took an Ax” Features a Spine-Chilling Performance by Christina Ricci

“Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.”

We’ve all heard the infamous skipping rhyme many times that was based on the true story of the girl who allegedly killed both her parents gruesomely with an ax. Well now, Lifetime has taken the bleak tale and turned it into one of their highly anticipated TV movies.

Starring Christina Ricci in one of her most disturbing roles yet.  She gives an unforgettable performance in an otherwise tedious film.  For those of you who don’t know the story of Lizzie Borden, she was an American woman who was tried and acquitted in 1892 for the axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts.  There were other theories that surfaced trying to explain who might have killed Lizzie’s parents.  But with no one else being as strong or as likely of a suspect, the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden still remain a mystery.  Heavy speculations about the crimes still continue today.  However, it is clear that director Nick Gomez has made up his mind about who the murderer is.

The story itself is an interesting one.  But when told through a made for television movie, it can be pretty boring.  Lifetime tends to do a good job with respecting the known facts of any true story they turn into film.  This is great for accuracy, but not always engaging enough for audiences.  Luckily, “Lizzie Borden Took an Ax” is less than half an hour long.  But even the short running time doesn’t make this film any more exciting.

The film starts off well.  We get thrown into to the murders fairly quickly, but not before we get a good amount of character development from the Borden family.  It is once the murders have happened that this film starts to go down hill.  Trying to hook the audience back in with as many random bloody axing shots, the film still has trouble trying to stay entertaining.  By this point, the audience knows all the facts and the end results.  It just becomes a matter of how the movie will handle the ending.  The last 35 minutes is a repetitive mess.  The film throws in various shots of unexplained scenes with never before scene characters.  In an effort to explain other possible scenarios, this sequence becomes confusing and a bit of tease.  Some of those shots would have been fun to watch had they fully played out, even if they were just theoretical.

What I can not complain about is the haunting performance Ricci gives as an unhinged, Lizzie Borden.  Ricci, no surprise, shines in this film.  From her creepy head tilts, to her untrusting wide eyes, she nailed this potentially dreadful role.  As long as she is on the screen, you will be kept amused until the unexpected and satisfying ending.  With all the information the filmmakers knew, they handled the end scene in the best way I could imagine; tasteful, realistic, and eerie.  No matter how you feel getting through “Lizzie Borden Took an Ax,” you will be content with the acting and conclusion.

“Lizzie Borden Took an Ax” premieres on Lifetime January 25th at 8PM ET/PT.

Originally posted on RedCarpetCrash.com

Movie Review: “We Are What We Are” is a Horror Mystery that brings new meaning to Family Dinner

After watching the trailer for the new horror film, We Are What We Are, I assumed I would be in for a mix of dark humor with a heavy amount of gore and disturbing images.  I thought that there was no way this movie could be taken too seriously.  But audiences should be delighted in the fact that director, Jim Mickle (Stake Land, TransAmerica), actually gives us a well-told story with a very serious and somber tone.  We Are What We Are carries an unsettling feeling throughout the entire film without having to rely on an excessive amount of blood.

Set in a secluded small town outside of the Catskill Mountains, the film focuses on the Parkers, a reclusive but seemingly normal family.  The story opens with a horrible accident in a huge rainstorm, causing the mother to have a tragic death.  As if things weren’t bad enough, her death happens around the same time the family is just about to go through a religious ritual that has been performed by the eldest woman of the house for centuries.  Still grieving over his wife’s death, the overbearing father played by Bill Sage forces his not-so-willing daughters Iris (Ambyr Childer) and Rose (Julia Garner) to take on the responsibilities of providing meat for their family; and not the kind you can buy at the market.  As the family deals with their own transitions, they are unaware that their horrifying secret is in danger of being revealed.

We Are What We Are is a remake of a 2010 Mexican film that had somewhat of a following among horror fans. I have yet to see the original film.  But from what I have read, co-writers Jim Mickle and Nick Damici have used the same premise and just changed it up a bit. The main change is the gender of the characters has been switched around.  It was the father that died and the mother forces her son to carry on the awful tradition.  Either way, I am now curious to watch the original just for the comparison.

Overall the entire cast gives surprisingly convincing performances.  Ambyr Childers and Julia Garner carry this film.  Being able to sympathize for their characters is what makes the movie so interesting.  Often times when we see a horror flick, we have to endure villains that have no remorse for their actions, and you are just waiting for them to get their karma in the end. Your heart breaks for these girls as you watch their struggle.  The whole time you are second guessing whether or not you should be feeling this way.  You never truly know what these girls are thinking.  On the other hand, there is no questioning what Bill Sage’s character is thinking.  He does an amazing job as the controlling father who stands firmly by his “religious beliefs.”

The best part of this movie is the fact that you are never completely sure what is going on.  You have an idea at times, but you do not know the whole story.  And in all honesty the less you know about the details in the plot, the better.   It’s the constant mystery that adds to the creepiness of the film.  This a smart and serious story that may have some horror fans disappointed because of the lack of blood shed.  Don’t get me wrong, there is still enough blood and graphic scenes that you will wish you didn’t see; just not so much that you lose sight of the originality and intelligence of the film.

Currently playing in select theaters!

We Are What We Are 2013 HD Trailer

Originally posted on RedCarpetCrash.com