Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Blu-ray Movie Review

Do all the Horror fans love Amber Heard?

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 4, 2013

Untouched, pure. Since the dawn of Junior year men have tried to possess her and, to date, all have failed.

When a movie's tagline says "It's the kind of party where everyone gets wasted," certain expectations are set into motion. Images of teenagers, drunkenness, drugs, flirting, sex, mayhem, murder, and plenty of blood are conjured up by those simple little words, but so too is a terribly hopeless dread of déjà vu, a sinking feeling of "here we go again" for another ride on the bloody, battered, and worn-out Teen Horror merry-go-round that spins audiences around the same old tripe for the low cost of an inflated movie ticket or a budget Blu-ray release. To be sure, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane plops viewers on that ride, delivering a heaping helping of genre cliché but, to its credit, it cuts the spinning trip of cinema death short and ventures into territory where a hint of novelty and a whiff of fresh air may be enjoyed in the final act. This isn't cutting-edge Horror, but it does, at least, try for something different when it realizes it has worn out its welcome from piling on general genre rubbish to very much suspecting audiences.

Love. Me.

Nine months after a "tragedy" in which a drunken high schooler leaped to his death to impress local hottie Mandy Lane (Amber Heard) at the behest of her bullied best friend Emmet (Michael Welch), Mandy and a group of friends travel to a secluded country home for a weekend getaway. Though several of the guys arrive with pretty girls, they're all obsessed with the virgin Mandy, the school's most beautiful girl and the one they all hope to bed in due time. She's aware of the attraction but seems unfazed by the constant attention, prodding, and lustful staring. As the night drags on, however, the teenagers begin to die, one by one, at the hands of a masked killer with a secret agenda and purpose.

On first glance, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane would appear to be little more than a mindless Slasher with its roots in the late 1970s/early 1980s fare that ushered in a decade's worth of repetitive teen slayings in cinemas and an onslaught of low-budget video throwaways that even today still hold firm on the weekly release calendar. Director Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies) trudges through a gloomy, borderline nonsensical Horror ride replete with singleminded characters imbibing plenty of booze and angling for a taste of the opposite sex. There's the usual "travel to a secluded place," "away from civilization" schtick to help make the killings a little more reasonable and believable. Generators come in need of repair (conveniently leading a character to death), phone lines go dead (more deaths inevitably result), and so on and so forth. The middle stretch is particularly dull as characters are offed in, admittedly, somewhat creative fashion under the cover of darkness. Despite a very real sense of throwback genre polish to the film, it's enough to make Horror fans give up not so much in disgust but certainly in despair, lamenting another wasted opportunity for something beyond the Horror norm.

The final act serves as a saving grace. The film's nighttime nightmare gives way to bright, sunny daylight for the final round of mayhem. Where most Horror films use the cover of night to shroud the identity of the killer and create a more claustrophobic, inescapable, fundamentally frightening environment, the presence of daylight actually brings about a heightened sense of terror, a feeling of inescapability even under optimal conditions. Then there's the movie's major twisty reveal, and a fairly welcome one at that. The film effectively masks its true intentions and produces a satisfying conclusion to an otherwise dull film. On the whole, however, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane doesn't go far enough. It's gritty but not to the violent and operatic conveyance of sheer hopelessness and fundamental fear produced in something like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It falls into genre cliché but doesn't master it like Halloween or Scream. The ending is effective but too little, too late to rescue a decent, but ultimately forgettable, Slasher experience.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane arrives on Blu-ray with a good-looking, vintage-styled transfer. It's a bit grainy, not excessive, but even and rather gritty. Details aren't necessarily sharp, but they're well defined within the film's fairly bleak, slightly washed-out and bronzed appearance. Facial textures are nicely revealed, as are bales of hay, clothing lines, and accents in and around the country home. There are some softer shots, but again the overall appearance is one of a classic, gritty, Horror film. Colors, then, are hardly vibrant. Skin tones take on a slightly bronzed tint, and items like pink lingerie don't stand out as particularly lively, but not necessarily dull. There are a couple of random pops and speckles, but the image never contends with any compression artifacts. Overall, a very nice presentation from Anchor Bay.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane features a balanced and enjoyable DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The film opens with a big scream and some slightly rattly bass. Dialogue in the early goings comes across as a touch muddled and unbalanced but tightens up through most of the rest of the film. Music spreads nicely across the front and drifts into the rears for a rich, full, satisfying listen. Musical clarity also rates highly. The track delivers good touches of environmental ambience here and there, notably inside a girls' locker room and in country nighttime exteriors. Action sound effects enjoy plenty of power, including big, thunderous gunshots and screechy, loud fireworks. Other than a couple of minor issues with its dialogue, the track rates highly in all areas.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane contains only one supplement, an audio commentary track with Director Jonathan Levine. He discusses the film seven years after he's last seen it. He speaks on everything from the creation of the opening titles to various things that don't satisfy him after the fact. The track covers a large swath of interesting information, some in the way of technical specifics and other anecdotes from the shoot. Also discussed is the energy on the set, the performances, music, the picture's style, and plenty more traditional commentary subjects.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane certainly won't win any awards for originality, despite a welcome retreat from convention in its final act. Sadly, a fine twist ending and a finale awash in daylight rather than covered by the shroud of darkness cannot offset a rather bland two-act setup that's straight out of Teen Slasher 101. It's certainly better than many of its kind, but Slasher fans shouldn't expect the next great genre film. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of All the Boys Love Mandy Lane features solid video, fine audio, and a commentary track. Definitely worth a rental and perhaps a purchase at an aggressive bargain price.