What I'm Watching: Crush
Many moons ago (HA!) I posted my thoughts on Teen Wolf season one. I really ought to post my new thoughts on the show, given season two, and seeing season one a few more times since then.
But instead, I am going to talk about a movie starring the female lead of TW, Crystal Reed! Who was *easily* the highlight of Teen Wolf's first season for me.
Crush is the story of Bess, who has (That's right!) a crush on her schoolmate, Scott. Scott also has a friend who has yet another crush on him, but she's a bit more open about it than Bess is. Bess is your typical quiet, shy, loner girl, who doesn't know how to interact with people half the time, let alone guys. I can kinda identify with her, really.
There's also another guy who has a crush on Bess that is just as unrequited as all the other love in this movie.
Things quickly take a turn for Basic Instinct territory for the teenager demographic though, when Jules starts to be targeted by some other girl crushing on Scott.
HMMMM, who could it be??
Surprisingly, the movie doesn't go the obvious route. In fact, Bess is a little too obvious, so it becomes a question of whom it is messing with Scott and everyone else. It's good to have the twist to the plot, but at the same time, it comes just a LITTLE out of nowhere with a character who could have used a little more build up before the reveal. Once the true antagonist is revealed, Bess sadly falls by the wayside for FAR too long in the movie.
The creepy obsessed stalker genre of film is a tried and true cliche, and this movie doesn't really do anything THAT new with it, but it does hit all the right notes. It's surprising that there aren't more movies like this, especially with the advent of technologies that make it so, so much easier. It's usually the adults that are the stalkers, but there should be more teen stalker movies. Their bodies are all messed up, hormones are everywhere, and our brains are still developing, so getting a little crazy makes sense.
It's also a nice twist that the girl they are setting up to be the stalker, KNOWS she's bad at this, she knows she gets obsessive, she knows she's awkward and all those bad things. It's a nice thing to have her be incredibly self-aware.
Crystal Reed is easily the best actress in this, giving a performance that is all the more powerful if you're familiar with her other work. I am SO used to seeing her being confident and kicking ass on Teen Wolf, that to see her playing the part of this shy, quiet girl, the absolute opposite, and she does it SO well with the way she speaks, the way she carries herself...this girl is already quite a talent, and she should have a long, amazing career ahead of her.
The rest of the cast is pretty solid too, but they all do what they do, and do it well enough. Crystal just knocks it out of the park, perfectly. Another good thing is that almost everyone in this movie exhibits a bit of that stalker mentality, good and bad. We all have those moments, we all check out the Facebook page of the person we like. It all depends on where we draw the line, where we stop, and how far we take things. They could have explored those ideas a little more.
Crush ends up being a decent enough movie that doesn't quite try hard enough to be original, but it's fun, it's at least trying to carve out a new niche, and has at least one great performance worth watching, even with a few flaws.
And for the hardcore horror fans? Leigh Whannell from the Saw films puts in a small role.
