Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered — Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered( Blu Ray)
Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered is a 2024 film that blends elements of character study, slasher/serial killer thriller, and trying to make it in Hollywood satire. It focuses on Stacy- a young strawberry blond, who has recently set down in LA to make it as an actress, as a gloved/ masked killer is taking out aspiring blond actresses. The film has a decidedly darting/ fragment/ sleekly arty structure, which tonally darts all over the place- shifting from unease/ fearful, onto awkwardly vapid, to darkly funny. Here, from the recently resurrected Anchor Bay, is a Blu-ray release of the film.
Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered is the first feature-length film from writer/ director Nick Funess. Who, before this, has been connected to several shorts, either as a writer, actor, or production assistant. His only other director's credit is 2020’s Mean Spirit, which is a four-minute comedy short.
The film is just a feature-length as it slides in at one hour and six minutes, but a lot is packed into it, as most of the scenes/ shots only last around a few minutes to say at the longest ten minutes.
The film has a small cast of just four people, though there are others in the foreground/ back of shots/ on the phone. The two main characters are Stacy (Samantha Carroll), who has recently moved to LA from small-town USA. And her decidedly vapid actress friend, Joise( Elle Chapman).
We open in a small upstairs nighttime apartment. Here we find a blond young woman reading a set of lines with different inclinations, but she keeps hearing noises coming from the unlit downstairs- then the power goes out. Over this few-minute scene, Funess creates a wonderful sense of unease/ foreboding- but just before it can be resolved, we dart off to the next scene.
As the film unfolds, we meet our lead, Stacy. We see her rehearsing lines, talking to off-screen agents, chatting to her mum on the phone, sunbathing/ drinking coffee with Joise, attending a rather odd addition, doing TikTok awkwardly in the park, driving, and doing arts & crafts on a cigarette lighter.
Around this, we get jarring looks/ quick shots of our killer. One of the most effective/ troubling of these is where attack footage is rewound again and again. Also fed through the film are snippets of black-and-white stock footage of blonde Hollywood actresses.
The film's score is rather effective- moving between uneasy textured sound, bright/ vapid synth runs, and sleek electronica- all of which work well, never being overdone/overloaded.
Both of the two leads are pretty good/believable in their roles, though I’d say the most awkward/ darkly amusing moments come from the wonderful vapid Chapman. All in all, I’d say Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered is an impressive opening feature from Funess, and I very much look forward to checking out what he does next.
On the extras side, we have a commentary track from writer/ director Nick Funess and Executive producer /Cinematographer Corentin Leroux. This is fine, with a decent enough insight into the production/ the film's influences/ etc- though at times they do sound a tad pretentious. They begin by touching on the red credits- saying they were selected as they wanted a vibrant colour, and it’s the colour of blood. They pointed out locations as they appear- these apartments/ offices/ rooms were largely connected to friends and family. We find out that lead Samantha Carroll managed to get tearful in scenes after playing Coldplay's “Yellow”. They talk about the use of single-person shots to highlight how each character is living in their own world. Later on, they talk about shots they pushed for. How they tried to make LA look like a desolate ghost town, and the way they shifted/ moved scenes around in the finished edit for the right impact. They point out lines they liked and the effective use of sound design. The only other extras are scene sideshow and theatrical trailer.
Both Lynch and Winding Refn are clear influences on what’s going on here, mixed with serial killer uneasy, and nods towards Giallo. But really, I think Funess has managed to create something fairly distinctive/ of his own with Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered.