​FILMS

stalkher

2015 review number 126:

StalkHer: (Thriller/Comedy): 35 out of 100: At the screening I attended, John Jarratt, the star and co-director of the film asked the audience to spread the word if we enjoyed it or pretend to enjoy it even if we didn't like it. I can't bring myself down to that level. I'll simply spread the word that StalkHer is an unpleasant experience featuring unlikeable characters, a script filled with vulgar language where the characters continuously abuse each other and a story more suited to the stage. There was an enthusiastic round of applause at the end of the film so perhaps I was missing something. I didn't stay for the Q & A with John Jarratt and Kaarin Fairfax for I might have said something to them that I would regret in front of an enthusiastic audience...something like, "How could you make a film that embarrasses our industry?"

 

Jack (John Jarratt) works in the pharmacy of the hospital where Emily (Kaarin Fairfax) is a nurse. He is obsessed with her to the point where he breaks into her home so he can take her by force. He discovers that Emily has a hidden past in that she is the transgressor with men who 'drool' over her. Over the course of the evening, they engage in mind games where emotional and physical abuse might lead to injury, or even worse, death!

 

This is a despicable film. It's terrible how the characters treat each other so you feel no sympathy for them at all. I usually don't mind expletives but the way they are used in this movie is disgusting. The four letter 'c' word is used in such a detrimental way that it's symbolic of how unlikeable the characters are. A couple of examples of the way it's used - "You're a greedy c..." and "You're an obstinate c..."

 

The script is supposed to highlight the struggles between Jack and Emily but what we're left with is quite a few colloquialisms such as, "Some women are as useful as tits on a bull." The constant abuse of each other just becomes mind-numbingly boring after a while. He is just a misogynistic pig while she is an uncompromising black widow. To try to add variety to these abuse scenes, Jarratt and Fairfax, who also act as the co-directors, incorporate dream sequences but even this technique is deployed once too often.

 

Most of the movie is shot in the house where Jack and Emily exchange unpleasantries. There are also several flashbacks to when they make eye contact in the hospital. It's been billed as a thriller but there was little tension in the development of the story. It's also depicted as a comedy, and although members of the audience did laugh, I found the humour to be more abusive than anything else.

 

The soundtrack is definitely one of the highlights for it features Australian songs which suit the mood of the piece. At least the songs weren't insulting like the rest of the movie was.

 

This might have worked better in the theatre where the confines of space would project the tension between the characters. Even in a stage production, you still wouldn't be able to forgive the nastiness of the characters and the diabolical tripe that spews out of their filthy and vulgar mouths.

 

Starring John Jarratt and Kaarin Fairfax

(90 minutes)

Parental advice: Coarse language, sexual references, violence and adult themes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A3GPHLu4MQ (Movie trailer)

(Reviewed on Monday 24th August, 2015)

 

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