Horror, perhaps more than any other film genre, captures the
prevailing fears and attitudes of its time. With the encroachment of technology
into our lives, storytellers have to find new ways of scaring an audience
accustomed to the instant global connectivity allowed by cell phones and
ubiquitous Wi-Fi hotspots. In recent years, they’ve moved beyond the terror of
rural areas with no phone service and made social media a primary actor in the
show. Tyler McIntyre’s Tragedy Girls
eschews the “haunted computer” conceit of his predecessors and keeps the evil
based in flesh and blood while parodying the most narcissistic and
self-promoting side of social media.
High school seniors Sadie (Brianna Hildebrand) and McKayla
(Alexandra Shipp) hope to leverage their brand “Tragedy Girls”, an online show
about serial killers, into wider fame. Rather than react to criminal incidents
around them, the girls concoct a plan to capture a murderer-at-large (Kevin
Durand) and apprentice under him in order to craft the perfect killing spree
and their exclusive online coverage of it in tandem. Foibles of a typical
teenager’s life soon interfere; love interests, rivals, prom committee, and
uncooperative captives all form road blocks and threaten to drive a wedge
between the aspiring murderesses. Before long, Sadie and McKayla have to choose
their victims out of necessity, as their involvement in the crime spree risks
discovery.
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| Brianna Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp in Tragedy Girls |
The script by McIntyre and Chris Lee Hill opens on a
promising note: two teens parked on a lovers’ lane and a malevolent presence
lurking in the shadows collide in an unexpected way. Unfortunately, the larger
story fails to unfold in equally satisfying fashion. Much of the dialogue comes
across as if Diablo Codey had written Scream,
little more than a mish-mash of non-sequitur humor and heavy-handed meta winks
at the audience. For our two leads they cast off any aspiration towards nuance
in favor of clunky stereotypes. Tragedy
Girls is in no way an insightful parody of the unhealthy obsession with
fame fostered in some young adults. Instead it lands as an overly broad,
derisive statement against an online culture that the creators likely learned
about secondhand.
Hildebrand and Shipp outperform the material, which bodes
well for future endeavors (more likely to be helped along by their
participation in Marvel’s expanding cinematic universe). Kevin Durand provides
the right touch of manic camp to serial killer Lowell, a rare instance of the
parody succeeding more than it fails. While his performance is adequate, Jack
Quaid looks old enough compared to his costars that he should have aged out of
high school by now. Josh Hutcherson fits in better, although his self-absorbed
bad boy gets regrettably limited screen time.
It’s a common shortfall in horror for a promising idea to
stumble somewhere in its execution. An unfunny and unsurprising script hobbles
the performances in Tragedy Girls and
defangs any social commentary from the start. While the lead performances may
make it easier to sit through for some, the struggle for a scary and
intelligent look at our online lives continues in Hollywood.
RATING: ½ star
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