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Bursts Of Wild Yet Middling Cinema In Villains
We’ve met lovers like Jules and Mickey before in movies like Badlands, Natural Born Killers and, of course, Bonnie and Clyde. They are partners in crime, metaphorically and literally, kicking off Villains with a smash-and-grab robbery that’s given a bit of flare by the animal masks they choose to wear. As they dash off in their getaway car, Jules (Maika Monroe) excitement translates into titillation, and she’s all over an elated Mickey (Bill Skarsgård) as he drives. But their plan to hightail to a beach and easy living hits a snag when they run out of gas.
Along a remote road they find a big house the couple hop to break into, steal a car for and escape. But Villains, and this isn’t high praise, becomes Badlands meets The ‘Burbs when this criminal couple stumbles upon a horrid secret in the basement of this precious suburban home. Panicked, they encounter the freshly returned homeowners, George (Jeffrey Donovan) and Gloria (Kyra Sedgwick). And what follows is a twisted comedy barbed with horror and splashed with blood.
At the jump, Villains is instantly enticing. Mesmerizing horror stars Monroe (It Follows) and Skarsgård (IT) team up to shake up their images. There’s nothing haunted or Pennywise-style menacing about Jules and Mickey, even as they crash through the lives of others with a giddy abandon. At their core throbs a love, like, and lust for each other that fuels them. And unlike their cinematic siblings, they don’t seem dangerous as much as…
