Lovely Molly Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Lovely Molly Blu-ray Movie Review

Isn't She Lovely? (Actually, No)

Reviewed by Michael Reuben August 27, 2012

Thirteen years ago, director Eduardo Sánchez released—or, depending on one's point of view, inflicted—The Blair Witch Project on an unsuspecting world. Ever since then, the "found" video film has become a staple of modern horror. The allure of its low budget aesthetic and easy adaptability to shock effects has proved irresistible to studios and independent filmmakers alike. Imitations have ranged from Quarantine to Apollo 18 to the apparently interminable Paranormal series (currently about to release its fourth installment).

Like many filmmakers who debut with an unexpectedly giant smash, Sánchez's subsequent career has struggled since Blair Witch, and it doesn't help that marketing departments keep trumpeting the association with every subsequent film. Any viewer who has been repeatedly told that Lovely Molly originates with the makers of Blair Witch can't help but groan when the new film opens with an image of a tearful woman addressing a video camera, in what almost anyone familiar with Sánchez's first work will assume is a deliberate hommage (though he swears it isn't). As it turns out, though, Lovely Molly isn't another "found" video creation, although video footage is interspersed throughout the film, some of it (like the opening shot) created by the title character in a desperate effort to document what is happening to her.

Despite its contemporary form, Lovely Molly is a classic tale of what may be a haunting. The working title was "The Possession", which Sánchez never liked and was only too happy to discard after he learned that another project was using it. He has described the film as a low-rent variant of The Shining, although you'll have to listen to the commentary track to hear his original phrase, which was both more evocative and more offensive. As in Stanley Kubrick's masterwork, the story is about someone who takes up residence in a building with a history and is gradually transformed by it. The key difference is that the building here is one the resident knows all too well, because she grew up in it.

Molly (Gretchen Lodge) lives in the small, unnamed town where she was raised with her older sister, Hannah (Alexandra Holden). In video footage, we witness Molly's marriage to Tim Reynolds (Johnny Lewis), a local boy who works as a trucker. From the wedding toasts, it becomes clear that Molly and Hannah (who is already married) are orphans.

Tim and Molly move into the house where the sisters used to live with their parents. It's a large, rundown structure on the outskirts of town, and Tim has an elaborate security system installed for Molly's protection during the long hauls that keep him away from home. One night the couple is awakened by the alarm warning that the back door has been opened. They also hear footsteps in the house. When a police officer named Samuels (Ken Arnold) arrives, he can find no sign of forced entry, although the door is indeed open. He suggests they be sure the doors are fully latched and locked. He also tells Molly, with a meaningful look, that he was the officer who responded on the night her father died.

From this point forward, the film charts Molly's steady descent into madness, demonic possession or a combination of the two. Her house is clearly alive with troubled memories, but it may also be inhabited (or visited) by a dark spirit that only Molly can see, though it has something to do with horses (shades of Equus?). It gradually emerges that Molly has a history of substance abuse, but whether this caused her psychic tribulations or was an (unsuccessful) attempt to hide from them remains uncertain. Nor is it clear how much of what Molly experiences is truly supernatural or merely a psychological projection, because Sánchez is effective in telling the story from her point of view, just as Polanski did with his disturbed heroine in Repulsion.

Most of Lovely Molly is composed of "normal footage", but Sánchez can't resist the allure of the video camera, although he uses these inserts sparingly and effectively (and, for those who found Blair Witch vertigo-inducing, be reassured that the video segments here are relatively steady). The inserts where Molly attempts to document what's happening around her are straightforward, but others are more unsettling. When a video camera begins spying on, and then quite obviously stalking, Molly's neighbor and her two children—a date superimposed by the camera makes it clear that these scenes aren't flashbacks—the question naturally arises whether the photographer is Molly or someone else, perhaps the same person (or entity) responsible for the disturbances afflicting Molly. The question becomes even more pressing as Molly herself begins behaving like another person both at work, where she's part of the cleaning crew at a shopping mall, and when the pastor (Field Blauvelt) of her local church tries to offer her counseling.

As Sánchez demonstrated in Blair Witch, he prefers leaving the audience guessing, but Lovely Molly does end with a conclusion of sorts. What distinguishes the film, however, is the lead performance by Gretchen Lodge in her first feature. Lodge, who appears to have no fears as an actress (including performing lengthy scenes without clothing), effectively conveys Molly's sadness, terror, anger and a host of other extreme emotions that it would be unfair to viewers to describe in a review. Thrillers and horror films are most effective when the performers in them are believable in expressing their characters' experience of the extreme states induced by such stories. Lovely Molly rests entirely on Lodge's shoulders, and she delivers.

Lovely Molly Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Lovely Molly is another in the ever-growing library of Red One films. (The cinematographer was John W. Rutland, a recent AFI graduate, who is currently working with Sánchez on his next film.) The non-video camera portions of the film reflect the usual virtues of Red One footage, namely, clean, sharp, detailed imagery, with an absence of video noise. For a few flashback sequences constituting memories, contrast has been deliberately exaggerated to establish an alternative look to present-day events, but otherwise contrast and black levels are appropriately set. The film's color palette is dull and flat with a heavy emphasis on brown and other earth tones, consistent with the weathered condition of the house where Molly and Tim live and the depressed state of Molly's life.

The video camera sequences were shot with consumer grade equipment and have less resolution and more noise, which is how they're supposed to look. In an ironic touch, the video sequences are frequently more colorful than the "normal" footage, albeit in a flushed and unnatural manner.

Lovely Molly Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track for Lovely Molly is a carefully edited affair that takes full advantage of the 5.1 system to create tension and discomfort. Creaks, groans and unidentifiable sounds of "presence" rise and fall, sometime softly, sometimes loudly, from the rear speakers. Rather than resort to overused "gotcha!" effects to create artificial scares, director Sánchez and his mixers worked to create a sonic personality for each room in Molly's house, all of them unsettling in some unidentifiable way. The strategy, assuming the track is played at reference level, is to make the listener ready to jump, even when not much happens, and it frequently works because the track is so effective at immersing the viewer in the house's environment. Bass extension is deep, voices are clear, and the musical score by the group known as Tortoise blends seamlessly into the sound mix.

Lovely Molly Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Director/Co-Writer Eduardo Sánchez and Co-Writer Jamie Nash: It quickly becomes apparent that Nash was not involved during production, as he assumes the role of questioner, prompting Sánchez with inquiries about how certain shots were done, which were added later, how the actors approached difficult scenes (e.g., the aggressive sex scene between Molly and Tim), and Sánchez's view on the ultimate explanation for the events of the film. This a lively and unpretentious commentary by filmmakers who have no illusions that they're making anything other than a popular entertainment.



• Featurettes (HD, 1080i; 1.78:1): These are a series of mock documentaries presented as "behind-the-scenes" exposés with overly intense narration and the suggestion that dark secrets will be revealed. Each one provides background on a different aspect of the film's story almost (but not quite) as if it were true. Additional backstory is provided, but the film's central mysteries remain unsolved.
• Path to Madness (7:02)
• Haunted Past (7:24)
• Demonic Forces (7:23)
• Is It Real (6:38)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 1080p; 1.78:1; 2:03): Effective and not too spoiler-ish.


• Additional Trailers: At startup the disc plays trailers (in 1080p) for The Double, Beneath the Darkness and Monster Brawl . These can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Lovely Molly Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I wouldn't want to oversell Lovely Molly, but in a vast wasteland of thrillers that don't thrill, creepfests that aren't creepy and screenwriters who think their inability to write a coherent story makes their output mysterious, the film is a refreshing change. It also features a compelling central performance by an actress from whom I hope to see more. The Blu-ray is technically proficient and recommended.