Film Review: Penny Dreadful
Although I really enjoyed PENNY DREADFUL there is one thing that just bugs me.
Director Richard Bandes’ film has a very unique and interesting idea (which he co-wrote with Dianne Doniol-Valcroze and Arthur Flam) in that Dr. Orianna Volkes (Mimi Rogers) is trying to help her patient Penny Deerborn (Rachel Miner) overcome her fear of cars, which is the result of a car accident that she was in that subsequently killed her parents. Volkes takes Penny on a road trip to the site of where the accident took place only the trip there is just as stressful as the fear itself to Penny. During the trip Volkes almost runs down a Hitchhiker (Liz Davies) and decides to give the hitchhiker a lift to nearby camping grounds. The trip becomes even more terrifying as the two women find themselves stranded upon releasing the hitchhiker at the camp.
Volkes is killed and Penny finds herself lodged in the car with no escape with not only Volkes dead body but her fear of being in cars as well. What follows is a psychological game between Penny, the hitchhiker, and her fear because there is no telling when her fear may get the better of her.
Miner is perfect as Penny as we see many shades of her psychosis throughout the film. Rogers in her limited role makes for a sophisticated doctor and an interesting corpse that haunts Penny throughout. My only fault lies in the fact that film believes it needs a kill every ten minutes and therefore has several meaningless killings that pad the running time and add nothing to the story. This padding turns what is an otherwise tense personal journey for Penny down to slasher film territory and the ending is a total disappointment. If the film had allowed itself to stay on point it could’ve easily have been an innovative and psychological experience like SESSION 9 or THE MACHINIST.
Cinematography by Joplin Wu is an added bonus as he really adds to the tension of the otherwise single location of the film and original music by Steve Gurevitch adds immensely to the suspense of the film. Flawed but otherwise a very good film.
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