Review: The Girl In The Photographs 2015

It’s been a while since I reviewed a film that was so poorly received, unfortunately, “The Girl in the Photographs” is one of those films. As usual though, I really liked it, I can agree that, for the most part, the dialogue isn’t very good, but other than that I’d say this is a perfectly respectable, creepy film that effectively blends the horror and crime genres. Actually I may even go so far as to include the comedy genre as well, as this film is also intentionally and frequently very funny. I think I know why this movie is disliked though, it’s because it gives the impression that it contains some ‘deeper meaning’…and perhaps that was the goal, if so, I can agree that it certainly failed. There’s a strange quote featured at the start of the film, claiming that inherent in photography is the desire to dominate and own the subject matter, in a specifically sexual and violent way… I think the inclusion of this quote is largely responsible for the expectations people had for the film, it suggested the quote was a kind of ‘thesis’ for the film and then when it never truly ‘bears out’ that ‘thesis’, it left viewers feeling unsatisfied. Personally, I completely dismissed the quote as untrue and really rather ridiculous, I think because I didn’t put any stock in the quote at all, I was able to just enjoy the film as more of an ‘artsy’ slasher, and from that point of view, I think the film totally works.
“The Girl In The Photographs” focuses on Colleen, a young woman in a small town that finds herself the focus of a psychotic killer’s obsession. Colleen repeatedly comes across gruesome and gory photographs of brutally murdered girls left in places where only she will discover them. The faces of the girls in the photos are never clear enough for the police to take much action at all, throw in the fact that they are in a very small town, and they prove less than useless with regards to keeping Colleen safe. Meanwhile, in LA, a famous photographer, Peter Hemmings, is feeling washed-up and restless, he reads about the grisly photographs and devises a plan to copy them using live models, ‘playing dead’. But first he needs to actually see the photos, so he sets off for the small town of Spearfish, and eventually finds Colleen.
The character of Peter Hemmings is played by Kal Penn, and he just adds so much ‘awesome’ to the film! Without his hilariously and, often, disgustingly, sarcastic attitude and clever one-liners, the film would be far less entertaining. Overall, this film could be considered predictable, however, from scene-to-scene, I actually found it frequently surprised me, and the ending was not only unforeseen, but also far better than I expected it would be. I really think this film does work, just maybe not in the way in which it was intended. I still thoroughly enjoyed it and only wish others could see it the way that I do…