EXCISION

Pauline is a teenager. She lives in a completely normal American town and attends ordinary classmates, like most of her peers. She has a mother with whom she has established a conflictual relationship, a charismatic father completely submissive to his wife, and a sister she loves, affected by cystic fibrosis. She aspires to become a surgeon, but her dream is tormented by thoughts of omnipotence, sexual domination in a world made of blood and corpses. The mother wants to insert her into society against her will while her sister's health conditions worsen day by day. A girl dressed in white observes something fascinatingly. The image widens and we see that she is looking at a copy of herself that is bleeding from the eyes, ears, mouth. More blood comes out and the more the observing girl gets excited. A red jet sprays from the mouth of the bleeding version to end up on the other, who has an orgasm, in a surreal and blinding pop atmosphere. It doesn't end here. It's just the first scene of the movie. Always the same girl, even more sensual and excited, approaches a body without a visible part of the head, covered in blood post-autopsy, lying on a morgue table. The girl, dressed in only (a few) bandages, begins to lick it and then lie on top of it. What are we seeing? A pornographic movie for the sick? No, gentlemen, we are in front of Pauline's perverse imagination, an ugly teenager who hides within herself problems that go far beyond the standard of her peers. Let's forget about acne, menstruation, raging hormones, and adolescent bullying because the director Richard Bates Jr., in his debut feature film, takes up a previous short film and slaps us in the face with the new rules of attraction. Everything revolves around the figure of Pauline, played by the talented Annalynne McCord (masterfully transformed into an awkward, ugly teenager, but in reality very beautiful), perfect for the role, who spends her days as a disturbed teenager planning the loss of her virginity, arguing with her mother who suffers from seeing her eldest daughter rejected by society, taking care of her terminally ill sister, and having long conversations with God, despite admitting his non-existence. And then there are her fantasies, necrophilic and surgical, that invade her dreams, moments of high gore cinema illuminated by an unreal and very colorful photography, where naturally the vermilion of the blood dominates. The supporting cast speaks clearly about the idea the director had of his film, of what he wanted to convey to us. We have the oppressive mother, perhaps too obtuse and exaggerated, but who nurtures a strong feeling of love/hate towards Pauline, played by the ex-porn star Traci Lords. We have an ambiguous reverend who helps Pauline free herself from the demons of adolescence, played by the king of trash directors, John Waters ("Pink Flamingos"). Then there is the girl's teacher, Malcolm McDowell, for whom it is unnecessary to make any kind of introductions. A group of actors who, better than anyone, have contributed to the creation of a genre of films as discussed as loved as exploitation cinema and of which "Excision" is a clear homage with perversions and blood galore. However, there is a but. If the whole film takes the direction of dark comedy with a strong tendency towards disgust, the ending changes tone and what until now was a bad taste film for adult horror lovers, turns into a family tragedy of biblical proportions and it is here that the film unfortunately loses part of its innovative energy charge. Let it be clear that it is not a bad ending, on the contrary, it will be difficult to remain impassive in the face of so much madness, only it is not in line with the rest of the film, with the result of seeming out of place. Said this, prepare yourselves because it will be a strong spectacle, a good punch in the stomach, even for the seasoned splatter eater. In conclusion, it can be asserted that "Excision" remains a film to be seen. A beautiful exercise in style for a director to keep an eye on. The title is a term used in surgery and which means the complete removal of a part of the body such as an organ, a tumor, a bone.