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Title: Heavenly Creatures (1994) Post by: Torgo on September 11, 2007, 06:02:11 PM **** out of ****.
Heavenly Creatures was Peter Jackson's first foray into what most people considered to be "mainstream" filmmaking after his splatter days (Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, Dead Alive). It is based on from what I've gathered to be the most infamous and notorious murder that has occurred in New Zealand in the form of 2 teenage girls who ended up viciously murdering one of their mothers in the mid 1950's. The performances are fantastic all around. Kate Winslet is simply amazing in her acting debut and shows why she has had a long and successfull career. There are just so many jaw dropping shots/scenes in this movie that I still think that it ranks as Peter Jackson's best directorial effort to date (yes, even better than the LOTR movies which are still most excellent.) While Peter Jackson has said that he actually sort of prefers the 99 Miramax mandated U.S. cut, I much prefer the original 109 minute cut that was shown in New Zealand and about 3 other countries before Miramax ended up picking it up for international distribution. Title: Re: Heavenly Creatures (1994) Post by: Mr_Vindictive on September 11, 2007, 06:39:12 PM Great film, yet one that I haven't watched in quite some time. It's the film that pushed Jackson into the spotlight and showed what all of us already knew - the guy is one hell of a director.
As you said, the performances are spot on in the film. Winslet is great and I really liked Melanie Lynskey's work in the film. Lynskey actually turned out being quite cute. She was in Fox's sadly shortlived show "Drive" and I didn't really recognize her. She's hot. I highly recommend the flick. I need to get it on DVD sometime. Title: Re: Heavenly Creatures (1994) Post by: trekgeezer on September 12, 2007, 07:29:50 AM Creatures is a really good movie. Jackson's next is something called The Lovely Bones (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380510/) and sounds to be in the same vain as Heavenly Creatures. It's about a 14 year old girl who is murdered observing the aftermath of her death and it's effects on her family from heaven.
Title: Re: Heavenly Creatures (1994) Post by: Torgo on September 12, 2007, 04:41:27 PM Lovely Bones is a great book and I have complete faith of Peter Jackson in turning it into a great and memorable film.
I've been a Peter Jackson fan since Bad Taste came out originally and it's awesome to see how his career has progressed thus far. Title: Re: Heavenly Creatures (1994) Post by: lester1/2jr on September 12, 2007, 05:19:54 PM I saw a movie based I think on the same or a similar story called "don't deliver us from evil" It had a classic 70's horror look but lacked a compelling storylin so I gave it a thumbs down
Title: Re: Heavenly Creatures (1994) Post by: Neville on September 13, 2007, 03:48:40 AM Great movie, I loved it. As Torgo said, great acting all around, and the visuals were amazing too.
Title: Re: Heavenly Creatures (1994) Post by: HarlotBug3 on September 14, 2007, 03:56:31 PM This was one of those late nights trying to get all I could out of HBO's free weeked.
It's such a rare (I daresay bygone) treat to accidentally come across a movie that only gets better as you consider switching the channel. It's also nice to find out who the director was long after the viewing and exclaim: "Ah, that explains why it was so much better than it should have been." Title: Re: Heavenly Creatures (1994) Post by: Fausto on November 04, 2007, 10:34:06 PM This is an awesome movie.
Fun Fact: After being released from prision, both girls moved away and changed their names. Juliet Hulme became mystery writer Anne Perry. Pauline Parker changed her name to Hilary Nathan and became a devout Catholic. Nathan currently runs a riding school and has devoted her life to helping handicapped children. This is a video of Hulme (a.k.a. Perry) discussing the murder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_oYT9mvChw |