Heavenly Creatures

I fail to understand why this movie was so highly rated. It's a chick flick and a poor one to boot. The character development was interesting, at first. After the first 1/2 hour my husband fell asleep. I kept on watching hoping the story to pick up and make a point. Neither once happened. Judge for yourself or better yet, skip this one all together.

Sweet Jesus did this film bore me. Actually, that is probably not the right term. It aggravated me. So much. I don't know how I mustered up the strength to finish watching it. The film gets better towards the ending though, so if you're brave enough to suffer through the first half, you'll be rewarded by a good murder scene at the end. The acting? I liked the two fathers (and their wives, a little less). The two girls made me mad a lot of the time. I found myself yelling at the screen and slapping my hands to my forehead too often. This happened especially when they would scream (which is endless in this movie) and cry, or make hurt faces. The only reason I gave this a four is because I enjoyed some of Jackson's shots. I should have filmed myself watching the movie, as my comments and facial expressions probably would have been much, much more entertaining. I recommend this movie wholeheartedly if you're in the mood to bitch to a screen for an hour and a half.

More than any of Peter Jackson's movies, 'Heavenly Creatures' is reliant on an audience's connection with the characters. The movie was based on 'Daughters Of Heaven', an acclaimed 1991 stage play which in turn was a representation of the infamous Parker-Hulme murder, committed in Christchurch, 1954. Enacted with just bare sets, startling lighting effects and a talented cast, the play was an eerie, unsettling experience, heartbreaking and horrifying as the two girls' friendship and private musings spiraled into paranoia and murder. Rather than offering us a pared-down, chilling depiction of a shared and gathering madness, Jackson instead elects to smother the screen in a hideously garish CGI 'fantasy world', destroying completely the play's genuinely creepy 'just two people on a stage' effect. What's more, it was this movie which first showed that while he could do broad splatter-comedy, Jackson had real problems with engaging our emotions in a serious, dramatic production. None of the characters ring true; the adults are oddly cartoonish and the girls are merely talkative and almost distant. Peter Jackson just can't make us care about the characters, and that's possibly because he doesn't. 'Heavenly Creatures' is flat, dull and pedestrian; a botched adaption of good material and a tragic waste.

*Possible Spoilers Ahead!* If you're looking for a real "ding-dong" demented, teen, lesbian love-story movie (with a truly laughable murder, thrown in for good measure), then Heavenly Creatures (HC) is your one-way ticket to the 5th dimension of sheer, grate-on-your-nerves wackiness. I really don't know where to begin expressing my total disappointment over this utterly preposterous, unbelievably irksome and decidedly over-rated Chick Flick from 1994. But, I'll tell you one thing for certain, I found that I could not relate, in any way, shape, or form, with what went on between these 2 flaky teens, even if I tried. And, what's even worse, the life-sized, clay figures that inevitably dominated Pauline & Juliet's freaked-out fantasy-world looked so absolutely dumb that I found I couldn't take this sort of nuttiness in the least bit serious. And I couldn't imagine anyone who could. Had I been able to take something of a genuine liking towards the Parker/Hulme characters, then, yes, that would have made a whole world of difference when it came to my appreciation (or lack of) for HC. But, between poor-girl Parker's dead-serious impersonation of "Droopy" and rich-girl Hulme's flighty take on "Olive Oyl", I found these 2 (who were forever hand-in-hand and (unconvincingly) gushing over each other) to be about as irritating a pair of lovers (be they gay or straight) that I've had to endure in any movie in a mighty long time. As well - Neither actress Melanie Lynskey nor Kate Winslet even came close in their character portrayals to convincing me that they were both supposed to be the age of 14 years. Anyways - When it finally came down to Pauline & Juliet actually getting around to committing their nasty, little murder (which, of course, was a helluva lot more bloody than it was believable), I had grown so frickin' sick & tired of HC's non-stop nonsense that I couldn't have cared less about it, one way, or the other. (Ho-Hum!) P.S. The one scene in HC that really killed me was when Juliet came barging into her parents' bedroom only to encounter her mom being shagged (rather listlessly) by a close, family friend. With this moment, obviously, being very tense and uncomfortable, all that Juliet could think of was to verbally threaten her mother with blackmail and demand that she pay her 100 pounds to keep silent and not tell dear, old dad about it. Yeah. I know that this scene doesn't sound like much, but, hey, just like the rest of this film, it was handled very insensitively and, in return, it came across as being totally laughable instead of as it was intended - Dead serious.

I saw this movie on a whim. I had no idea what it was about. Earlier in 1994 I had taken a chance on a movie called "Momma's Boys" with Jamie Lee Curtis, and it was absolutely horrible. But this time the whim paid off. The movie is edited and directed with a touch of genius. The opening scene is a preview of the climatic scene in the movie. "Good Fellas" also used this technique to create more suspense when the scene is repeated in the normal flow of the movie. The direction and editing mirrors the mental state of the two girls that nearly become one. Kate Winslet's tremendous emotional depth appeals to those of us who are afflicted with the malady of hyper-sensitivity. The other girl, whose name I forget, does rather disappear in her presence, but Winslet's character is supposed to be the driving force, and Winslet, like all great actors, makes the performers around her shine. Because Winslet is the leader of the pair, it is disturbing when the lesser character leads them to do the most unthinkable -- matricide. The victim of the girls is the most tolerant of the four parents, which creates even more shock when the crime occurs. I was more unhappy with Winslet's character's parents because they don't seem to give a whit for their girl. Feeling alone, the two girls find family with each other, but they take it a bit too deep. They escape into a shared fantasy land where all people become moving golden statues. It is very surreal with Mario Lanza being the golden hero of the dream world and Orson Welles, the claymation villain. This movie took me to another world in a different way than I had previously experienced with any movie. I loved it. To me it is a 10 out of 10.

Oh, Jesus. Heavenly Creatures is a heavy, heavy film that's just about enough to kill you. It builds up a frenzied mood that seems to me incomparable to any other film that I've seen. I liked Peter Jackson's Braindead, which was planned-as-camp fun, but never in that film did I see a hint of genius. Here his mastery of the medium is well evident. And unforgettable film. The only mystery is how the hell it took me so long to even hear of it. 10/10

I am a huge fan of Kate Winslet, she is my favorite actress of all time, simply because she is possibly the most honest. It seems like she has the most natural talent and when she has a role she embraces it, recently I had a message from a IMDb user who asked me if I saw this film and if I hadn't, I should due to the fact that Kate was amazing in it. I also noticed it in my "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book, so I had passed it over at Hollywood Video and figured to give it a look. I noticed also that it was directed by Peter Jackson who is now more famous due to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, but I thought this film was really over looked and one of his finest. It's incredibly unique, artistic, and disturbing in some ways. Pauline is a out cast at school and she meets the new girl, Juliet, together they find out that they have a major thing in common, a wile imagination. They want to write a story together, they go as far as to call each other by their story names and spend time with each other constantly. But the parent's concerns grow more and more as the girls become a little more... "obsessive" of each other. Juliet's parents wish to send to her Africa to live with her aunt, but Juliet and Pauline do not want to let go of each other, and Pauline sees only one obstacle keeping them from seeing each other, her mom. So they devise an evil plan to get rid of her mom, permanently. Heavenly Creatures was incredibly unique and an amazing film. I couldn't believe my eyes watching this film, it was so interesting to watch, especially being in these girl's minds and imagination. Kate and Melanie had great chemistry and Peter Jackson made this film into his own. I would recommend it for movie buffs and definitely if you want to see how Kate got her start, she was amazing. 9/10

So overrated I couldn't believe it. This movie is MADE VERY WELL and is imaginative, but is not entertaining simply because the director didn't make me CARE AT ALL ABOUT the WHINY GIRLS WHO WERE BEING SEPERATED BECAUSE THEY WERE GETTING TOO CLOSE - BOO HOO HOO. Lots of chatter, unrealistic actions by the characters (I know it's "based on a true story", but I'm sure the true story is far more interesting), and very slow pacing makes this movie suck. Why do you guys like this movie? Why? (Don't answer because I don't want to hear it).

A decade has come and gone since 'Heavenly Creatures' first graced cinema screens. It brought its director, Peter Jackson, and the second leading lady of the film, Kate Winslet, immediate international recognition. Unfortunately, the main leading lady, and indeed the real star of the movie, Melanie Lynskey was a victim of the film's global popularity. She received no publicity of any kind, particularly here in Britain, and remained every bit of the unknown she had been, prior to being discovered. To this day, Lynskey remains unknown in the United Kingdom. She, along with Kate Winslet, brought a hell of a lot of talent to bear when she became her character, but she was treated so shabbily by the people who could have elevated her career, as they had done with Kate Winslet. Her portrayal of Pauline Parker was the most visible sign of her talent. The scenes of friendship, love, passion and their shared hysteria as they commit the murder of Pauline's mother were a testament to Frances Walsh's belief in Lynskey's acting ability. She should have been rewarded with the kind of international success that Kate received. She got nothing, but three years of career-destroying obscurity. Yet, like her friend Drew Barrymore, she came back. Unlike Drew, Lynskey is still flying too low under Hollywood's radar. US and UK celebrity-based magazines have to start noticing and acknowledging her presence on the movie scene.

Two Girls form a Lesbian relationship and kill to protect it. Yawn. Well that's the stereotype over and done with now for the movie... This film has little enough charm: it's overlong, character development is replaced by screaming and girning and then there's the special effects. Now perhaps I was spoiled as I recently watched Operazione Paura and La Maschera Del Demonio but I can not understand why Peter Jackson opted for Digital Effects rather than camera trickery for this film. The effects look dated now while the sophisticated lo-fi tricks of Bava are still spellbinding and beautiful. Indeed La Maschera Del Demonio highlights another problem with this film: the woeful acting. Bava's characters all act in very formal, staged ways and Jackson tries to do something similar but his conceit falls flat on it's face through the inability of Kate Winslet to act her way out of a paper bag. Kate Winslet's acting reminds me of the old joke that an actor only has two expressions 'hat on and hat off' but in her case this is 'kooky and extra kooky.' Winslet girns, screams and shouts her way through the whole film leaving to poor viewer with a feeling similar to discovering a stone in one's shoe while on a forced march through the desert. In short a failure in almost every respect. It got two marks for Serah Pierse's wonderful, nuanced performance.