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| Lovely Molly Promo Poster |
June 4 2012 – The chaotic opening wedding scenes flush with the joy and merriment of a young couple in love reveals no hints of the suffering to come in Lovely Molly. The audience gets to revel in their jubilation, in a homage to The Blair Witch Project, as the first person camera meander its way through candid, “I didn’t mean to say that” moments. Molly Reynolds (Gretchen Lodge) is a small town girl mired somewhere in middle American with a blue collar pedigree in the form of her new truck driver husband Tim (Johny Lewis). With limited education between the two and Molly working in the janitorial arts, the newlyweds plant their roots in her parents turn of the century farm house ripe with fertile memories of child abuse and addictions. The comforts of marriage soon gives way to amplified fears as the home alarm is triggered in the dead of night and Tim fails miserably in his alpha male attempt to elicit equal parts scorn and vexation at the unknown.
Any semblance of home life quickly dissolves with the absence of Tim and the cavernous abode slowly exposes it secrets as darkness falls. Molly once again is left fending off her personal demons that find her back sliding into a chemical abyss as her coping mechanisms lay bare. New comer Lodge leaves it all on the screen with an emotional vulnerability that flips between shame, and fear and grinding violence with disturbing ease. Director Eduardo Sanchez weaves an unsettling character study that slowly reveals the turbulent years that Molly endured. Strong performances from Lewis and Molly’s sister Hanna (Alexandra Holden) provide a effective counterpoint to the unseen horrors that uproots all who reside.
Eduardo Sanchez will no doubt have to fend off comparisons to his ground breaking neo-classic horror The Blair Witch Project, but this thorny tale unhinges new elements of psychological fear that makes the comparison unfounded. Lovely Molly excels on its own merrits as Sanchez reasserts his directorial prowess in fear.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Review by: John Dash
