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Heavenly Creatures [Blu-ray] [Region 1]

1 disc
Region 1 USA/CA (info)

HEAVENLY CREATURES represented a departure of sorts for horror director Peter Jackson and was the first film to earn him widespread critical acclaim. Jackson both co-wrote and co-produced the picture, which is based on an actual 1954 murder case. The two protagonists, New Zealand schoolgirls Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, first meet when Juliet (Kate Winslet in her silver-screen debut) is introduced to Pauline's class as a new student. Pauline (Melanie Lynskey), an introvert who feels misunderstood by her family and peers, is instantly smitten with the sophisticated and self-confident newcomer, and the girls become best friends.

Eventually, Pauline and Juliet begin spending more and more time together, withdrawing into a magical land of their own invention--Borovnia, a fairy-tale kingdom populated by lifesize clay figures. The girls' distraught families fear that the friendship is becoming unhealthy, and Juliet's parents decide to end things by sending their daughter away. Faced with their impending separation, the girls decide nothing will tear them apart, leading to an unexpectedly grisly denouement made even more unnerving by the ignorance of their own delusion. A harrowing story of misdirected adolescent creativity, Jackson's HEAVENLY CREATURES is chillingly unforgettable.
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Credits

Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent, Clive Merrison, Simon O'Connor
Critic Reviews

"...Exhilaratingly weird....Cruel logic and pitch-black humor..." - Recommended
Premiere
"...A startling and haunting film....Blazing performances..."
Rolling Stone
"...A feverish intensity to recommend it....[Lynskey and Winslet are] disturbingly effective..."
New York Times
"...Major passion, seamless narrative...and a berserk admonitory vibrancy....The film is inspired..."
Film Comment
"...CREATURES has a witty, overwrought visual style that the girls themselves would probably favor, and it makes good dramatic use of state-of-the-art special effects..."
Los Angeles Times
"...Unknowns Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet are exceptional finds..."
USA Today
"...Intense and disturbing....Breathtakingly vital..." -- Rating: A+
Entertainment Weekly
"...Enthralling and frightening..."
Chicago Sun-Times