Positive Buzz for Tahmoh’s part in Trapped Ashes

Royce Clemens from Horror Yearbook recently saw the horror anthology film, Trapped Ashes (to be released by Lionsgate), and posted a review.

STANLEY’S GIRLFRIEND: Directed by Monte Hellman

I may like some of these shorts, but Monte Hellman’s STANLEY’S GIRLFRIEND is the one I love. Screenwriter Leo (John Saxon) tells a story about himself back in the day when he met a young man obviously based on the late Stanley Kubrick (They don’t mention THE KILLING by name, but they say “the movie set at the racetrack was great”).

Young Leo (Tahmoh Penikett) and Stanley (Tygh Runyan) become fast friends and Stanley introduces him to his girlfriend Nina (Amelia Cooke).There’s something about her that’s a little… Off… Stanley disappears one day and Leo and Amelia start sleeping together. Then he starts withdrawing from the world.

Far from the comedy of the first short or the creeping dread of the second, there is a nostalgia and sadness for things past that drives STANLEY’S GIRLFRIEND. You can tell that Hellman (who directed the drive-in classic TWO-LANE BLACKTOP) is a fan of movies first and a filmmaker second. And it builds into a slow reveal about the characters forty years after the fact. Kind of like a ghost story around a campfire. I like that. It’s delicate.

I know there are some who will get impatient or call it boring, so if you come upon this review after watching the movie, I’ll make you a deal: You write YOUR OWN review about why you don’t like it.

Till then, of course, you can kiss my ass. (***1/2)