Movie Review: The Neon Demon Disappoints

I saw The Neon Demon last night and I feel like I've finally decided exactly how much I hated it. That amount is: a lot. If you are unfamiliar, The Neon Demon is allegedly a horror film directed by Nicholas Winding Refn. It follows the journey of Jesse, a sixteen year old model who has arrived in Hollywood to start a modeling career. She is met with predator after predator, her beauty and innocence arousing something of a demon in everyone she encounters. Spoiler-y post to follow, so look away if you care.

I am not a fan of Refn's previous films Drive or Only God Forgives--although I recognize they are artistic, pretty films, I don't like the flatness or the intentional dismissal of character development. I went into The Neon Demon in spite of this dislike because it's billed as being a horror movie, and no matter what, I will see even the worst looking horror movies because I am ride-or-die for the genre.
The Neon Demon is many things. It's blunt, superficial, obnoxious, gorgeous, technically well made, underwhelming...but it's not a horror movie. In order to build the tension necessary for even the most banal horror movie, the audience either has to love the protagonists or love the villain. Refn allows us to do neither. He infuses four beautiful models with a hostile sense of vapidity that speaks of his assumptions about both beautiful women and the fashion world. In case you aren't in the know, the fashion world is populated by incredibly intelligent, passionate, creative minds. I know it is likely a terrible place at times, but the fact that he only exploited the most generic stereotypes shows that he failed to do even a smidgen of research.

It's sad, really, because the movie has some great actors. Elle Fanning is promising, when she's given the space to do anything other than be helpless. There are a few moments where it seems like she's about to become something more than a virginal ingenue, but Refn reels her back in because boring one dimensional characters are his thing and DONT QUESTION IT BECAUSE YOU DONT UNDERSTAND OKAY. Jena Malone is appropriately menacing and motherly, and in the hands of a less self-indulgent director she really could've been an epic monster. Instead she's a creepy lesbian witch who performs necrophilia with an overly self-aware teenage shock shlock, writhing and grinding on a corpse (moments after nearly raping Fanning). The entire character arc has a nasty gleam in it's eye, daring viewers to be scandalized but--like most teenage antics--barely arousing boredom. While I recognize that not every queer character has to be heroic, portraying a queer woman as a demented rapist in a story with so many roots in female empowerment (Hecate, fashion, sisterhood, queerness) feels like a slimy slap in the face.

And at this point, I'd love to give the film a pass and say "oh, but it was all a metaphor for how women are used by the world" but you know what? That's not how Refn told this story. There was no critique, nuanced or otherwise, about the plight of women in Hollywood. You know how I know? He told the story as though he was tired of being dominated by powerful women and wanted to pit them against one another. It's an arrogant man playing with Barbie dolls, turning them into half-assed vampires, cannibals, witches, and princesses, only to eventually get frustrated and rip their heads off. He has no compassion for characters, no desire to emotionally engage the audience, and only the briefest storytelling ability. I mean, the fact that by the time it became a "horror" film I was already too bored to care about cannibalism and witchcraft (me! too bored for witchcraft!) should really tell you something.

It's an insulting movie, and not even in a cool punk rock way. It's insulting for Refn to think he can tread on the psychedelic post-modern celluloid turf of Argento, Lynch, Jodorowsky (who he name checks in the thank yous) and other surrealists, who told haunting and graphic stories with a soul. If Refn truly wanted to comment on the narcissism inherent in today's society, he would've done more than dangle cynical paper dolls in your face for two hours. But he didn't, and I don't think he ever will.

So, now it's your turn--have you seen The Neon Demon? What did you think? And are you a fan of Refn's previous films?