Eve Movie Review

A hot new movie needs to cast a really hot new actress to play the part of Eve. Bex Leary (Rachel Warren), is a desperate but experienced actress and feels she deserves the role far more than the upstart newcomer Alex Beyer (Christine Marzano). But her cynical agent believes otherwise – and Bex has some undisclosed past issues that push her even further out of the limelight.

Unaware of this rivalry, Alex returns to her impossibly trendy Portobello flat with her self-centred boyfriend, and soon finds herself victimised by a hidden stalker. Bloody posters and surreal industrial whale noises coming from your attic space would freak anyone out,right? Something bad is coming to get this starlet. But can you really care about a bunch of shallow, self-centred film luvvies in the first place?

The police in this film certainly don't. When the first scary signs appear, the detectives cynically dismiss any concerns, apparently because the hip, arty couple had the nerve to install a slide in their hipster-cool living room. Very real fears of being stalked are brushed off with little concern. It turns out these cops think threats made with fake blood are considered just that – fake. They don't even bother to check the slightest thing that could give a clue to the stalker. And of course, from there on, things just go from bad to worse.

And things can, eventually, get much, much worse. But on the way, we get to see the even more depressing struggle Bex has to be taken seriously, or even being treated as a human being at all, by the entertainment industry. Taking digs at the often callous treatment of 'talent' and the ritual humiliation of auditions, Eve goes beyond La La Land and towards the seedier side of an actress who must do whatever the hell she can to make it. Because filmmakers are fickle, and the promise of an overnight success always hangs on a knife edge.

Frankly, it's enough to drive anyone crazy – and Eve definitely succeeds in showing that, too.

In fact, as far as aspirational horror movies about destructive moviestar rivalries go, this is one of the juicier interpretations. With lurid shades of Starry Eyes, The Neon Demon and of course, All About Eve, the film builds nicely on the 'desperate starlet goes totally nuts' horror niche. There's even a big splatter of Perfect Blue in there too, tapping into that anime's raw savagery and trippy fascination with showbiz dopplegangers.

While there are a couple of slowish sections, Eve is highly enjoyable throughout, hitting us with a few decently twisted and gory scares before the inevitable showdown. More thriller than real horror, this dark little satire on screwed up London luvvies is certainly worth a look. And that gorgeously fancy flat doesn’t hurt the viewing experience at all.

Come for the murders, stay for the real estate.