Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered

Paul Thomas4.5

Hysteria Film Festival This won best film and director at Hysteria. It's really pretty incredible and so masterfully and deliberately directed.The "audition" scene is so great. One of the best scenes of the year

Adam Hursey4.0

Panic Fest 2024Film #3There have been many films in the last few years that focus on influencers, doing whatever to takes to become famous. Some of these films work for me better than others. And for a moment, I thought this film was going to be another one of those films.Fortunately, it is not. It’s much more interesting than those films.Instead of focusing on an influencer, we follow a young (well maybe not young as she is about to turn 25) actress named Stacy. Her career is just not taking off. It does not help that she is watching her friend beginning to succeed. When a serial killer begins targeting young women, Stacy begins to wonder if getting murdered is her only chance for the fame she craves.Warning: if you experience second hand cringe (like me) from watching movies where people place themselves in very cringy situations, this film may or may not be the one for you. Personally, I generally like films that make me squirm. I know some people just cannot watch this kind of stuff.Clocking in at 68 minutes, the film does not overstay its welcome. The situations Stacey place herself in do not end up as I might have expected, creating a fresh take on some old tropes. A nice little film for sure. I’ll be eager to see what this filmmaker (Nick Funess) does next, which is usually the point of these genre film festivals. Giving people an opportunity to shine and hopefully launch into their next project. I hope he has better luck than Stacy.

jryn73.0

Watched Online As Part Of Panic Fest 2024.Link to streaming catalog: https://watch.eventive.org/panicfestOne of these years I’ll get to Kansas City for the in person Panic Fest. This would have been a good one - some of the Blair Witch Project gang were there for an anniversary screening, and Heather Langenkamp for Nightmare on Elm Street, and many soon to release movies like Hostile Dimensions, Sting, Azrael, Boy Kills World, and the soon to be on Shudder Infested (Vermines). But the streaming selections are always interesting and usually have a few gems (but are also getting more expensive!). Young Blondes, Stalked And Murdered is my first selection this year, and that title is very much what’s going on in the background of this one. The film follows two LA actresses and acquaintances - Josie (Elle Chapman) who is doing ok for herself and maybe getting a career started, and Stacy (Samantha Carroll), who very much isn’t. After a series of bad auditions and reads, Stacy gets a small part thrown her way by Josie when the latter can’t make it. But everyone Stacy talks to is whispering about blonde actresses around town being killed by a man pretending to be a director who then stalks them and kills them, posting the murder videos on YouTube. The increasingly lonely and desperate Stacy seems all too interested in making herself a target, trying for any kind of success…Director/writer Nick Funess does a good job of first letting us get glimpses into Stacy and then building tension as she goes off the rails. Carroll is really good in the part as well. Clocking in at just over an hour, it doesn’t take long to get the dread and tension going either, and ends just when it needs to. One to look out for on the festival circuit and if it comes to YouTube or some other streaming outlet.