Excision DVD Another World Ent Lang ? English 2.0 5.1 Subtitles Danish, Norwegain, Swedish Duration 78 mins Extras Commentary Trailers Interviews PAL 2 Number of discs 1 UNCUT What is an Excision? the removal of tissue from the body using a scalpel (a sharp knife), laser, or other cutting tool. A surgical excision is usually done to remove a lump or other suspicious growth. A disturbed high school student with aspirations of a career in medicine goes to extremes to earn the approval of her controlling mother in this twisted coming-of-age shocker. Excision is a 2012 American psychological horror film written and directed by Richard Bates, Jr., and starring AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Ariel Winter, Roger Bart, Jeremy Sumpter, Malcolm McDowell, Matthew Gray Gubler, Marlee Matlin, Ray Wise, and John Waters. The film is a feature-length adaptation of the 2008 short film of the same name. REVIEW: 3.0 out of 5 stars A serious message, some great acting, but must we have all the gore? Reviewed in the United States ???? on December 26, 2021 Verified Purchase I am going to give this 3 stars because I rather greatly disapproved of a lot of bloody gore that I did not think was necessary to drive home the core message of this movie. This is easily a 4 star movie in terms of acting, storyline, pertinence in our modern society - but has to be down graded to 3 because some artsy fartsy director/screen writer thinks we are too dense to get his message without scenes of horrible gore. Get over your artistic selves - you had a wonderful movie, pertinent, poignant with a great story line and two great lead actresses - you botched it by trying to put your artistic cleverness in the middle of it. A domineering, devout Christian and selfrighteous step mother. A wimpy real father. A darling and lovable, but tragically ill step sister. And, yes, you have an incredibly complex situation for the central character, an 18 year old with serious social adjustment problems. Her domineering step mother just says “Trust Jesus” and ignores this child’s real and serious need for psychiatric diagnosis and appropriate care. She thinks that going to church every Sunday and learning proper table manners and how to dress for and behave in a dance for debutantes is all her seriously ill step daughter needs. Dad is such a wimp, he cant see or do anything. Her darling younger sister is the real focus and the real love of her life. Annalynne McCord proves that she is an incredible and versatile actress. She was much darker, much less attractive, not at all sexy, than her previous roles that I had seen. I really liked the movie for the serious issues about the struggles of teen agers, the difficulty they have in finding any kind of reality, the destruction of their self esteem by peers, the seemingly aloof “well in my day” solutions offered by parents – and the punishment to follow if they don’t follow the 25 year old formulas for how to get along with your peers and be popular in high school. I want to highly recommend this – but the gross and bloody gore in so many scenes is certainly going to dissuade others. I cannot give it more than 3 stars despite a very important story line and an incredible performance by McCord and Traci Lords. Is Richard Bates Jr. this year's Lucky McKee? Reviewed in the United States ???? on December 20, 2012 Verified Purchase I've seen a lot of movies in my lifetime. When I say a lot, I mean far too many to ever dare count or recall if I had to. I've been intrigued by the horror film genre since I was a pre-teen. Now, in my 30's, I can safely say that I am no less intrigued than I ever was. I am, however, jaded. It seems that the horror film genre has gotten either a. lazy or b. capitalistic or c. a combination of both. Thanks to Michael Bay, nearly every film that I loved as a child of the 80's has been eviscerated. Every once in a while a little GEM comes along that gets me truly EXCITED about horror movies again. Excision is THAT film. Excision is an intelligent film. It knows its own strengths; a slow build is the best recipe for true horror. Those expecting a cheap thrills, "jump scare" film will be sorely disappointed. Excision has a far bigger IQ than Paranormal Activity. And those expecting exploitation (A Serbian Film, Cannibal Holocaust, Human Centipede) will also be let down. This film is disturbing, but it's more of a tragedy than a shocker. I won't give anything away; I'll just say that the viewer knows what is going to happen at the hands of Pauline, as we see her psyche unravel piece by piece. Despite the fact that Excision is a black comedy, it is ultimately a tragedy masked in gory imagery and sassy witticism. Fans of Lucky McKee's brilliant 2002 film MAY (Angela Bettis) will most likely appreciate this most. Much like May, Excision is a slow descent into madness. And much like Angela Bettis in MAY, AnnaLynne McCord gives a stunning performance as a disturbed young woman. I've read an amazon review or two citing that Traci Lords' acting is bad in this picture? WHAT???? Again: What??? I know that this is about opinion, but I have to wholly disagree with the sentiment. Lords is amazing as the uptight, suburban "everything has to look perfect from the outside," mother. And she MAKES the ending work. Without her, this would not be the effective film that it is. I notice other film influences here (intentional or otherwise): Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Santa Sangre), Todd Solondz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Palindromes) and MAYBE a little Cronenberg. Fans of Ginger Snaps and Martyrs will also most likely appreciate this effort. The imagery is nothing short of brilliant (and is the main catalyst for my Jodorowsky comparrison). Pauline's sexually sadistic fantasies are portrayed in vivid, candy colored detail. The cinematography is beautifully surreal and disturbing. Even more effective, imo, is the device of Pauline's "confessions to god." Though surrounded by darkness, Pauline is lit, vigil like. The "confessions" give the audience Pauline's narrative; it's a direct vein to her psyche. My best advice is to go into this film without knowing too much about it before hand. I tried to review sans spoilers, which can be difficult to do. As I said earlier, the audience can guess as to where Pauline is headed, but it's far more rewarding to guess as the film rolls. Buy this film. Heck, if for anything, maybe just to support independent film makers. We need more under the radar talent to breathe new life (no pun intended) into a genre controlled by suits. ************************************************************************ BRAND NEW SHRINK WRAPPED ************************************************************************ HIT BROWSER BACK BUTTON TO RETURN TO THE MENU