Yikes! The name Gillian Wallace Horvat was previously unknown to me, but she lands in movies with a proverbial splash with dark, dark, dark comedy I Blame Society, which hit UK screens via Vertigo Entertainment last week. Very much the kind of movie that I feared Promising Young Woman might be, Horvat’s movie riffs very much on the American Psycho vibe as we follow a young actress researching how easy it would be to murder her enemies. That’s not new ground, but Horvat’s approach is box fresh, and the jet-black result is definitely worth a look.
We’re blurring lines here, so Gillian Wallace Horvat plays film-maker Gillian, who starts a project called “I Murderer’ when some friends suggest that she’s got the right mind-set for the business-end of killing. Gillian is persuaded to abandon the project, but resurrects it several years later, where is provides an obstacle to her relationship with her editor boyfriend Keith (Keith Poulson). Gillian has a number of people in her life that, in her humble opinion, would be better off dead, and so I Blame Society kicks into gear as Gillian turns over a new leaf by killing them all and letting God sort them out at the other end.
This kind of comedy goes back via Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer to the rather more genteel Kind Hearts and Coronets, which hit Broadway as the Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder. It’s worth noting that all of these previous incarnations revolve around a male protagonist, presumably with the creators feeling that there’s enough crossed-wires in the male psyche to make the idea fly. There’s enough crossed wires in a female psyche to make the same idea all too credible, Horvat suggests, and I Blame Society manages to exhume a certain mordant humour as Gillian goes from retiring wall-flower to murderous moll.
There’s some ingenious scenes which reflect Gillian’s obnoxious, self-aggrandising desire to realise her dreams; one in which her interview is disrupted by a long shot which reveals the mechanism by which she’s controlling the camera dolly by a pulley-system as she talks. I Blame Society could use a few more actual visual gags like this, but it’s clear that Horvat has talent to burn, and even if the invention falters in the face of some rather predictable tropes before the 81 minutes is up, I Blame Society is certainly an auspicious debut for Horvat, whose dissection of the barriers faced by female film-makers is timely and well-expressed. And a framing scene involving two awful studio-execs (Lucas Kavner and Morgan Krantz) catches just the right vibe; hopefully Horvat gets some better meetings on the back of this lacerating, fun-if-you-can-take-it comedy.
Blue Finch Film Releasing presents I Blame Society in the UK on Digital Download Now.
Loved it!!
That’s what I like to hear, thanks!
After reading all the comments, I’ve seen the error of my ways. I shall watch this movie now and love every second of it.
I’m a changed man! Hallelujah!
Is the correct answer…
Excellent! What do I win?
I think you know…
An all expenses paid trip to the moon for my very own personalized kidnapping of moon people?
Yes! I’ve been waiting for this day ever since I was a little boy. I’m so happy!
Think more in the line of three pairs of matching ladies tights.
3?!?!
Man, I sure you’d spring for at least 10pair this time….
I’m being parsimonious with them, wouldn’t be special if you got them all at once. You have to earn them.
I see you are a disciple of Pavlov.
is he in Star Trek?
I believe so. A “Doctor” Pavlov. I think he was an alien on one of the various worlds the original crew discovered.
Did he have an army of hounds which he commanded with a futuristic whistle?
Maybe? I always get that guy and the guy with bells for fingers mixed up.
Understandable.
I blame society too. But I don’t murder people… obviously.
In other news, I like the look of this one. On the list! What are you thinking, Alex?
It’s got a chick with a knife and a camera. And blood splatter. Checks out.
No watches though. Surely that’s on the cons side.
I can see how you two might get along. Sigh.
Might want to check out Alex’s quiz, Dix…
I think Alex did say that I had a perfect score, so no need.
You had a perfect score when you were 0/25. But then you made two guesses, one of them (miraculously) turning out to be right. So that means you were only 1 out of 2.
Fake news! Rigged! I’ve had my friends at One America recount the scores, and they say you CANNOT IMPROVE ON PERFECTION! I won!
So much winning!
Hahahahahahaha – you never seem to be able to get past the first stage of grief.
Nothing to grieve for but your lost dignity.
Woah! The second stage! I can’t believe my eyes!
Actually, Fraggle just doubled you up now too.
Oh how the mighty have fallen, and fallen . . .
Young people use their cell phones. I don’t like it, but that’s the way it is.
Sundials too modern for you, Bunty?
Time itself may only be an emergent property of the physical universe. Does it even exist to be measured? I’ve moved on.
Maybe because it’s a long long wait for you to get any awards?
I’ve won every award worth winning. Even the Nobel Prize for Distinguished Film Criticism and a Special Achievement Oscar. Your shelf of Brony Awards are not real awards, though I’m sure they look very pretty on your shelf.
The words of a fantasist. Evidence, please?
You keep using that word. I don’t think you know what it means. Using it to describe me is fine if you just think it’s a portmanteau for “fantastic cineaste” but that’s not its dictionary definition.
Fantasist= a baldy loser with no grip on reality, no prospects, and no discernible ability other than screenshotting watches and writing about Charlie Chan movies. Am I rite?
So. Much. Projection. Perhaps you are a projectionist?
Mate, I’m sorry that I keep winning your quiz, but that’s just the way it is. Maybe you’ve got bins to empty? Captain Booky needs the comments section on my blog to be a specific length, and I wouldn’t want to start dropping your pitiful efforts…
Otsy crushed you in the quiz. I feel bad for you, because you did try, but that’s the way it goes. There’s no point getting upset over it now. Just be best!
Fake news ! You can’t beat a ‘perfect score’ !
No! Typical young people. Where has the value of watches gone? Down the drain, I tell you!
I hear even pawnbrokers don’t want them.
What you and OTS? Hahah, adios, losers!
Don’t worry, they’ll still take your Brony Awards.
As long as Eleanor Bron is there to present them, I’m down with that.
Young people have infiltrated our watch shops, or Tamworths and our pawn shops. Something needs to change!
I always worry, when I see a title like that, that I’m about to step into some conservative’s idea of a social warning. Old films used to take this bent with juvenile delinquency and highlighting the drinking and philandering of the parental stock. J’accuse! Anyway sexy, stylish murder is a popular trope, American television is almost nothing but!
Yup, I liked that angle from American tv, could watch law and Order until I pass out….but I think in this case, the title is ironic.
Those sunglasses she’s wearing are atrocious. Between that and her choice of colors for her clothes, I’m not surprised she’s gone round the bend…
You should have your own fashion column….do THESE shoes go with this dress? I think she’s in disguise, but that’s no excuse…
Oh, she chose them on purpose?!? Yes, that definitely speaks to a disturbed and disordered mind.
I’ve thought about doing a What’s Hip According to Bookstooge series of posts but I don’t feel the world is ready for my sartorial advice just yet.
I’d be first in the queue.
Well polish up your spats, get that bowtie cleaned and have those suspenders ready, because the days of Bertie Wooster are coming back….
Were they ever away?
If the fellows with the baggy pants hanging down to their knees are any indication, they yes, those times went far away!
I look forward to some hot tips for fashion
I wouldn’t mind seeing this, nothing wrong with lots of female serial killers movies. Also what happened at the BAFTA’s?
I was wondering about that too. BAFTAs aren’t so big outside of Baftaland.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/apr/29/actor-noel-clarke-accused-of-groping-harassment-and-bullying-by-20-women
He says he vehemently denies the allegations. That was always good enough for Donald.
I couldn’t comment on the allegations. But his films are horrific, woman-exploiting garbage.
Ok I read it. Well that’s his career over and rightly so by the sounds of it.
Hope so. Horrid films.
Not sure they’re that big here either, except for the media and film tv critics loving them.
Well, at least Dix seems to follow them. But maybe he felt snubbed back in the day . . .
Haha, how many Gemini awards have you won?
What’s a Gemini award?
I think he means Genie Awards. Which is the Canadian Oscars.
How many have you?
Ah right, cheers.
I think Alex has been badly affected by being passed over for awards. We need to be gentle with him.
Not sure he’s bothered about awards, and I’m gentle with everyone anyway.
He keeps mentioning that he’s not been listed in the top critics list but I don’t think they give awards for pictures of watches…
Well they should, I like watches.
Maybe we should make an award just to keep him happy. It’s a shame.
Sshhh I’m doing the crossword!
Sorry!
If Alex was talented, he’d have a Canadian Oscar….
What award did you get for being the thirtieth-best movie blog in Stirlingshire? Or is that site still up?
I take it you are still a non runner in the competition?
Don’t live in your county. How many sheep came in ahead of you?
Haha, real film critics don’t get outclassed by sheep, just you. So the critics circle haven’t shortlisted you? How crushing…
You were beaten out by several sheep, some chickens, and a My Little Pony doll. I was chuffed to see Hugo came in first though. Go Hugo!
The doll was disqualified! Fake news! So, not shortlisted AGAIN, eh? Tragic for a man of your age…
I was taking home awards while you were still in short pants. I let the youngsters have their fun now. Obviously that’s not you, but you can be content with winning your brony award.
So what awards have you won, Bunty? Before young bucks like me took the spotlight away…
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/apr/29/actor-noel-clarke-accused-of-groping-harassment-and-bullying-by-20-women
Oops. Who’s Noel Clarke?
Maker of horrible, woman-exploiting films that I wouldn’t review if I was at gunpoint. Avoid.
Sounds a bit like To Die For. Also seems like female psycho killers are the in thing this season.
Reading the news in the UK this morning re BAFTA suggests female serial killers might have good reason to take such a POV. Astonishing that they could contemplate a lifetime achievement for someone with that track-record creatively…