Jesse (Elle Fanning) is a young aspiring 16 year old model who just moved to Los Angeles.  Her natural beauty makes people either want to screw her or kill her.  She is quickly signed to a modeling agency and gets a test shoot with a notable photographer.  She makes friends with Ruby (Jena Malone), a makeup artist.   Dean (the photographer of her first shoot) dates her while the creepy hotel manager (Keanu Reeves) dreams of hurting her.

 

THE NEON DEMON is a very visual psychological horror movie with great visuals and a haunting score while proving commentary on the dark side of the Los Angeles modeling world and the obsession with beauty.   The movie is visual catnip and it will stick with some long after it is over.   Jesse’s hotel room 212 is her place of safety where she is in soon in danger whenever she leaves her room.   She has big dreams while wanting to be herself.  Ruby’s other friends Sarah (Abbey Lee) and Gigi (Bella Heathcote) are jealous of Jesse’s natural beauty and believe Jesse is competition to be eliminated while their own beauty has a limited shelf life while photographers and fashion designers look for the next beautiful young fresh face.  The makeup in the movie is spot on while the imagery provides beauty and horror throughout the movie.   The first half of the movie provides commentary on the modeling world, but the second half will only be for those who can stomach gory horror movies (along with necrophilia and eyeball swallowing).  Nicolas Winding Refn is a unique directorial talent where his visual sense is to be praised for its visuals and metaphorical allegories.  THE NEON DEMON is like the spiritual love child of David Lynch and The Valley of The Dolls filtered through high contrast colors. If you expect traditional storytelling, you may want to stir clear of THE NEON DEMON.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Audio commentary with director Nicolas Winding Refn and actress Elle Fanning as they talk about the making of the movie.   He reveals a few production secrets and talks about the various locations used while revealing the second half of the movie had various subplots that were dropped to focus more on Ruby’s character.   The commentary also reveals who is the main antagonist of the film and how the ending developed.

 

BEHIND THE SOUNDTRACK OF THE NEON DEMON- Nicolas Winding Refn and composer Cliff Martinez talk about the music score

ABOUT THE NEON DEMON- brief promotional fluff piece with the director talking about the movie

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: THE NEON DEMON is full of subtext and themes, but you shouldn’t expect a movie with a straight forward narrative.  It is more along the lines of a David lynch type of movie in terms of logic and themes.  I wish the featurettes explored the making of the movie more and the blu-ray lacks a code for a digital HD copy.

 

This review is ©10-23-2016 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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