TORN HEARTS

US, 2022, 97 minutes, Colour.

Katie Sagal Abby Quinn, Alexxis Lemire, Joshua Leonard, Shiloh Fernandez.

Directed by Brea Grant.

This is very much a women’s project, writer, director, central characters, two men in supporting roles.

The film has a prologue set in the 1990s, a television interview with two singers, sisters, hugely successful.

Then the film opens in the present like a country music film, two young women, the group called Torn Hearts, singing, acclaim from the audience, full of hopes for their future. One is played by Abby Quinn, the more outgoing, pert, cheeky singer with Alexxis Lemire as the more straightforward, attractive singer. As the film progresses, we see something of a role reversal with them, friendship, challenges to friendship, egged on to hostility.

Their agent introduces them to a young singer and they hope to have a supporting role with his group. One girl spends the night with him but is disillusioned when the plan is for an all-male supporting group. However, she gets information about a retired singer, Harper Dutch, and where she lives. The two girls then go to the house, with a gift of cheesecake, allegedly the singer’s favourite, make a pitch to come in to ask her advice and, after hesitation, she lets them in. Fatal mistake!

Harper Dutch is living alone, after the death of her sister, with a great deal of memorabilia of the sister around the house, and a room which is equivalent of her shrine. Sinister implications, sinister explanation later.

Harper Dutch is played by veteran Katie Sagal, who in her early career, played in bands, supported Gene Simmons and Kiss, was supporting singer to a number of stars, including Bette Midler. On television she played in 260 episodes of Married With Children. This brought her quite a worldwide following.

Here, she is obviously enjoying her role, the famous star in retirement, wealthy, a mansion, able to welcome visitors or reject them. The main drama is with the two girls, infatuated, wanting to do a demonstration, asking the star’s advice, performing for her.

But, the country music aspect is way to horror tropes. This is a Blumhouse production, noted for its very successful range of horror films over the years, and information given that this film was made in producer Jason Blum’s own house.

What follows is growing menace, the singer persuasive to her young visitors, drinks, drugs, waking up, memory loss, the singer becoming more commanding, demanding they make breakfast and then rejecting it, spurning them, ridiculing them, contradictory whims yet being seductive in suggesting that they sing with her and make a recording.

Then there is a change of character in each of the girls, the pert girl banished to a basement where she discovers the truth about the dead sister, murdered by her jealous rival sister. The other girl plays up to Harper Dutch. Harper Dutch taunts and tantalise is, getting the girls to physically attack each other fight, express their inner feelings towards each other.

Then the agent arrives, has known Harper Dutch in the past, plays her games in terms of promotion – and then she kills him.

So, more of a horror film, the threats to the girls, fights, knives, wounds and blood, and a final bloody confrontation which does not lead to a happy ending or a happy future.

It would be interesting to do a survey of male audiences to see whether they liked the film, identified with it or not – probably not. As said earlier, this is a women’s film project.