• PDI Press

    PDI Press

    BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

    PDI Press
    January 17, 2022 2

    Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

    PDI Press
    January 16, 2022 1

    Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

    PDI Press
    January 15, 2022 3

    Featured

    BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

    John E. Meredith
    PDI Press
    January 17, 2022 2
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Marvel at the Movies
    • Muppets 101
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews

    Reviews

    Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

    Movies
    June 26, 2025 7

    Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

    Movies
    June 8, 2025 13

    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025)

    Reviews
    June 7, 2025 29

    Featured

    Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

    Nate Zoebl
    Movies
    June 26, 2025 7
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews

    Interviews

    Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

    Interviews
    July 13, 2018 397

    David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

    Interviews
    March 7, 2017 223

    Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

    Interviews
    September 29, 2016 8

    SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

    Interviews
    July 28, 2016 61

    SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

    Interviews
    July 27, 2016 3

    Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

    Interviews
    April 16, 2016 3

    Featured

    Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

    The Final Girl
    Interviews
    July 13, 2018 397
  • News

    News

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD is here!

    News
    February 9, 2025 20

    “PATER NOSTER AND THE MISSION OF LIGHT” UNLEASHES TERRIFYING UNDERGROUND HORROR – A PSYCHEDELIC CULT MOVIE EXPERIENCE COMING SOON!

    News
    November 15, 2023 74

    Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

    Shot for Shot
    February 1, 2023

    Featured

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD is here!

    Paul Brian McCoy
    News
    February 9, 2025 20
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Shop
Breaking
  • Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)
  • Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
  • From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025)
  • Until Dawn (2025)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
    Home
    Movies

    31 Days of Halloween 2015: Day 26 – Heavenly Creatures

    John E. Meredith
    MoviesReviews
    October 26, 2015 5

    A great horror movie makes more of an impression on the psyche than any other kind of film. Hell, even a bad horror flick can scar you for life. There’s a phrase that every seasoned horror fan loves to hear: “Have you ever seen . . . ?”

    For the next 31 days, John E. Meredith will unearth some of his personal favorites that fell through the cracks, that are not so obvious, the kind that might even sneak up on you while you’re trying to sleep.


    Heavenly Creatures 1994, New Zealand. Directed by Peter Jackson. Written by Jackson and Fran Walsh. Starring Kate Winslet, Melanie Lynskey, Sarah Pierce.

    When I was a child, I frequently fantasized about killing someone.

    heavenly-creatures-01

    I don’t know where it came from. Life at home was sometimes troubled, but there was no physical abuse in the house I grew up in. There was no history of insanity, or of murder, readily apparent in our family tree. We had no cable television, so the most violence I observed was in Bugs Bunny cartoons and the evening news. My nature was otherwise pretty sweet and innocent. All I wanted was to be friends with the kids who liked me and to be left alone by the ones who didn’t. Of course that’s not how it goes. In reality, whatever age we are, there are bullies. These guys want nothing more than to mess with the people who most want to be left alone. The older version of me eventually understood that people usually seek to hurt others because they are themselves in pain, but the younger me just wanted to make them stop. No matter how I had to do it.

    When I was a child, there was another world beyond this one. Though it was a heavily populated place, I was the only person who knew how to get there. In this world, my mother’s soap operas came to exist beside my father’s Westerns. Clint Eastwood walked with Indiana Jones. Darth Vader was terrorized by a huge demon that looked suspiciously like a Gene Simmons doll. Puppet dogs had mice for children, and these mouse-kids went on otherworld adventures with superheroes in STAR WARS ships. I might as easily find Judy Blume here as I would Stephen King. This twisted land in my cerebral cavern opened up a space where anything could happen. Here, people who deserved to die were eventually always getting killed. The bad guys would beat up on the good guys, but the good guys always won. Somehow, all of this interior conflict worked as a crazy kind of self-created therapy, which eventually made the exterior me a lot less crazy.

    heavenly-creatures-05

    Somewhere far from here, because of a fantasy world that might not have been so different from mine, a killing actually happened.

    Honora Parker was knocked to the ground by a blow to the back of the head. With a brick wrapped in a flesh-colored stocking, her assailants swung at her again. And again and again and again. Until they had crushed her skull. The two girls, covered in blood, fled back to the tea kiosk where they had eaten with Honora only minutes before. They were screaming, crying, as they told the owners of the tea shop that the woman they were here with had fallen and hit her head. The killers were Honora’s daughter and her daughter’s friend.

    It’s Christchurch, New Zealand, the 1950s.

    Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) is a quiet, subdued ninth-grader at a repressive girls-only school who lives in her own world, mostly shunned by her classmates. Then Juliet (Kate Winslet) arrives from England, all exuberance and intelligence. The new girl has a bit of an attitude and isn’t afraid to correct a snotty French teacher on her first day. There isn’t anyone who wants to be friends with either of these girls, so they quickly befriend each other. Realizing they have mutual interests as writers, the girls invent their own world, where medieval characters live in a mythical kingdom called Borovnia. The girls giddily create stories of sexual escapades and murderous revenge, even giving each other fictional names. They form an elaborate fantasy life together. They often sneak out and spend the night acting out stories involving the fictional characters they have created.

    heavenly-creatures-03

    Inevitably, Pauline and Juliet’s enigmatic relationship provokes misunderstanding, resentment and growing resistance from their elders. Their parents find the girls and their inner world disturbing and worry that their relationship might be sexual. Homosexuality was considered a mental illness at the time, so both sets of parents try to stop the girls from seeing each other. Then Juliet’s parents announce that they’re getting a divorce. Her father has resigned from his position at the college and plans to return to England. Juliet, however, will be sent to live with relatives in South Africa. For her health, they say, but it’s obvious that they just want to get her away from Pauline. Pauline begs her mother, Honora, to let her accompany Juliet to Africa, but that is never going to happen.

    Meanwhile, the world of Borovnia has become a darker place. There is more desperation there than ever. More violence. And the easiness of murder in their fantasies might just be the answer to their problems in the other world. . .

    heavenly-creatures-header

    I hear a lot about Peter Jackson’s gorier early films (BAD TASTE, BRAINDEAD) and his huge Tolkien adaptations, and sometimes even about THE FRIGHTENERS, but I hardly ever hear about HEAVENLY CREATURES. Blasphemy, since this is the movie that launched him into the big time. Jackson said he didn’t want to make a dark, brooding little murder film from the girls’ true story because it would have been the obvious, clichéd way to go. Instead, he crafted a dark, fantastical little murder film with crazy claymation that was damn fun to watch. Critics bemoaned his attempts to get the audience inside the girls’ heads, claiming that all that clay figure fantasy stuff just excluded the viewer even more. I would suggest that this is exactly how he succeeded, since Pauline and Juliet essentially retreated to that world in order to be together.

    While it’s not my favorite Jackson film (that honor would go to the one where zombie-demons get clipped en masse with a lawnmower), it’s probably the one where he’s drawn the most realistic characters. That’s rather funny, considering how much time they spent in fantasy land. But then, that’s a place that I understand quite well.

    APPIP ERROR: amazonproducts[
    AccessDeniedAwsUsers|The Access Key Id AKIAIIK4RQAHE2XK6RNA is not enabled for accessing this version of Product Advertising API. Please migrate your credentials as referred here https://webservices.amazon.com/paapi5/documentation/migrating-your-product-advertising-api-account-from-your-aws-account.html.
    ]
    (Visited 529 times, 1 visits today)

    Related

    31 Days of Halloween31 Days of Halloween 2015Fran WalshHeavenly CreaturesJohn E. MeredithKate WinsletMelanie LynskeyPeter JacksonSarah Pierce

    FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
    Previous Fargo 2.01 “Waiting for Dutch” & 2.02 “Before the Law”
    Next Tales of Halloween (2015)
    monsterid
    John E. Meredith
    J. Meredith is a freelance writer currently working on his first novel while still trying to keep the lights on. He’s got too many interests to ever pursue them all, though he spends far more time with movies, music, and books than he really should. As a Halloween baby, he feels a natural tendency toward things dark, horrific, or at least black-and-white. Feel free to haunt him on his Facebook Page or on his Instagram accounts Scribe_69 and john_e_meredith.

    Related Posts

    The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 06: 28 Years Later

    Paul Brian McCoy
    The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
    June 24, 2025 6

    The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 05: Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2

    Paul Brian McCoy
    The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
    June 6, 2025 4

    Daily Top Ten

    • jin-roh-headerBig Eyes Smart Mouth – Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade by Serdar Yegulalp
    • AT606-visionAdventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
    • MailmasterDrive-In Saturday: Wolfcop (2014) by Scott Delahunt
    • vampire diaries stefan-and-damon-in-the-1990sVampire Diaries 6.04 & 6.05 by Shawn Hill
    • i-spit-on-your-grave-09The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
    • teen-titans-06Lost in Translation 291: Teen Titans (2003) by Scott Delahunt
    • guns-akimbo-headerGuns Akimbo (2020) by Nate Zoebl
    • thunderbolts-headerThunderbolts* (2025) by John E. Meredith
    • screenTranscendence (2014) by Jessica Sowards
    • x-files-S801-headerAll Binge… No Purge: The X-Files S8 Part One by Rick Shingler
    400x400 GI Joe Funko Banner

    Weekly Top Ten

    • i-spit-on-your-grave-09The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
    • AT606-visionAdventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
    • hills-have-eyes-02The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006) by Corin Totin
    • meg-foster-headerWomen in Horror: Meg Foster by Shawn Hill
    • guinea-pig-2-04Sick Flix: Guinea Pig 2 – Flower of Flesh and Blood (1985) by Corin Totin
    • babylon-5-blu-ray-04Babylon 5 Complete Series Blu-ray Review by Paul Brian McCoy
    • patty-mullen-headerWomen in Horror: Patty Mullen by Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    • Raven’s Watch Production Stills 2016The Watcher (2016) by Jessica Sowards
    • AttackInterview of the 50 Foot Cheerleaders! by Jason Sacks
    • killer-sofa-07Killer Sofa (2019) by Fred L. Taulbee Jr.

    psychodrivein

    We came here to chew bubblegum and write intelligent reviews and commentary on cult TV and movies! And we're all out of bubblegum!

    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 482: Examining Recent Trailers

Two new trailers dropped that are of interest to Lost in Translation: Spaceballs 2 and The Naked Gun!
—
Read more of Scott’s article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #Spaceballs2 #TheNakedGun #Trailers
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Final Destinat Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES is a return to form for a franchise that never should have been on the brink of death.
—
Read more of Nate’s review at the link in our profile!

#FinalDestination #FinalDestinationBloodlines #AdamBStein #ZachLipovsky #KaitlynSantaJuana #TonyTodd
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S02E29 - File Card Focus: Big Boa
 
Greg and Jaren return to take a hard look at Cobra’s one-man trainer: Big Boa! 
—
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod gang at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #Cobra #BigBoa #FileCardFocus
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com The Psycho Dri Today at https://psychodrivein.com

The Psycho Drive-In Podcast: 28 Years Later

Paul and John are back with a new PSYCHO DRIVE-IN PODCAST with a brand-new review of 28 YEARS LATER plus a look back at the franchise, its themes, its innovations, and its impact on the genre!
—
Listen to the guys at the link in our profile!

#ThePsychoDriveInPodcast #28YearsLater #28WeeksLater #28DaysLater #DannyBoyle #AlexGarland #AlfieWilliams
 #AaronTaylorJohnson #JodieComer #RalphFiennes
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: Backstock Blacksite - Night Specter (2008)

In Backstock Blacksite, we open the classified crates and dig deep into Greg’s personal G.I. Joe overflow closet, where extras, variants, and forgotten figures wait to be unearthed.
—
@anythingjoespod #AnythingJoes #GIJoe #GIJoeClassified #NightSpecter #BackstockBlacksite
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Predator: Kill Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

With Predator: Killer of Killers, Predator fans are feasting, baby!!
—
Read more of Paul’s review at the link in our profile!

#Predator #PredatorKillerOfKillers #KillerOfKillers #DanTrachtenberg #LindsayLaVanchy #DamienCHaas #LouisOzawa #RickGonzalez #MichaelBiehn #JoshuaWassung #MichoRobertRutare
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com From the World Today at https://psychodrivein.com

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025)

I can’t wait to see more Ballerina films. Seriously. I want one right now.

—

Read more of Paul’s review at the link in our profile 

#Ballerina #JohnWick #FromTheWorldOfJohnWickBallerina #AnaDeArmis #KeanuReeves #IanMcShane #AngelicaHuston #GabrielByrne #DavidCataneda #LenWiseman #ShayHatten #ChadStahelski #NormanReedus #LanceReddick
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com The Psycho Dri Today at https://psychodrivein.com

The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 05: Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 

Join Paul and John in the fifth episode of the Psycho Drive-In podcast, where they delve deep into the universe of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.
—
Listen to the guys at the link in our profile!

#PsychoDriveIn #ThePsychoDriveInPodcast #KillBill #QuentinTarantino #LadySnowblood #Arena #FemalePrisonerNumber701Scorpion
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Until Dawn (20 Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Until Dawn (2025)

If you’re going to be Until Dawn in name only, why not just be that original horror idea and let someone else actually adapt Until Dawn as it was? 
—
Read more of Nate’s review at the link in our profile!

#UntilDawn #DavidFSandberg #PeterStormare #EllaRubin
    Follow on Instagram

    Look Who's Talking

    Shawn EH
    Shawn EH - 5/4/2025
    Thunderbolts* (2025)
    Yep, very well done; avoiding the big flashy battle that these heroes (can any of you fly?)...
    Ideonova
    Ideonova - 12/26/2024
    Page to Screen: F. Paul Wilson’s The Keep
    Not living up to the source material? What source material? The book is a predictable, at times...
    Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    Fred L. Taulbee Jr. - 8/17/2024
    Cahiers du Horror 03: Frank Henenlotter and The Brain that Wouldn’t Die
    I need to see that again. Maybe make it a double feature with All of Me. Steve Martin is someone you...
    RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

    Archives

    Large_rectangle_336X280
    • PDI Press
      • PDI Press Catalog
      • PDI Press Writers
        • Fiction
    • Columns A-D
      • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
      • ABCs of Horror
      • All Binge… No Purge
      • Anything Joes
      • Beautiful Creatures
      • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
      • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
      • Cahiers du Horror
      • Dispatches From the Field
      • Drive-In Saturday
      • Dungeons & D-Listers
    • Columns F-P
      • The Final Girl
      • First Looks… Second Thoughts
      • The Flesh is Weak
      • Innocence and Experience
      • Lost in Translation
      • Marvel at the Movies
      • Muppets 101
      • Page to Screen
      • Popcorn Cinema
      • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
      • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Columns S-Z
      • Schlock & Awe
      • Shakespeare on Film
      • Shot for Shot
      • Sick Flix
      • Unnatural Selections
      • Versus
      • Video Word Made Flesh
      • We Got Lists
      • Women in Horror
      • The Xeno File
      • Zombies 101
    • Reviews
      • Books
      • Comics
      • DVD/Blu-ray
      • Movies
      • TV
      • Series
    • Interviews
    • News
      • Trailers
    • Psychos
    • Shop
    • PDI Press
      • PDI Press Catalog
      • PDI Press Writers
        • Fiction
    • Columns A-D
      • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
      • ABCs of Horror
      • All Binge… No Purge
      • Anything Joes
      • Beautiful Creatures
      • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
      • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
      • Cahiers du Horror
      • Dispatches From the Field
      • Drive-In Saturday
      • Dungeons & D-Listers
    • Columns F-P
      • The Final Girl
      • First Looks… Second Thoughts
      • The Flesh is Weak
      • Innocence and Experience
      • Lost in Translation
      • Marvel at the Movies
      • Muppets 101
      • Page to Screen
      • Popcorn Cinema
      • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
      • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Columns S-Z
      • Schlock & Awe
      • Shakespeare on Film
      • Shot for Shot
      • Sick Flix
      • Unnatural Selections
      • Versus
      • Video Word Made Flesh
      • We Got Lists
      • Women in Horror
      • The Xeno File
      • Zombies 101
    • Reviews
      • Books
      • Comics
      • DVD/Blu-ray
      • Movies
      • TV
      • Series
    • Interviews
    • News
      • Trailers
    • Psychos
    • Shop
    Type to search or hit ESC to close
    See all results
    Username
    Password
    Remember Me
    Lost password?
    Create an account
    Username
    Email
    Cancel
    Enter username or email
    Cancel