By Geno McGahee
Horror is the home to many strange films and the genre has been known to push the limits. In the 1983 film “JULIE DARLING”, we travel into some strange territory that may make you cringe, but the film overall delivers some compelling stuff.
Julie (Isabelle Mejias) is a 16 year old girl that is not getting along very well with her mother, Irene (Cindy Girling). The two begin with a feud over breakfast when Julie wants to use more chocolate Quick in her milk, but her mother objects. Her father, Harold (Anthony Franciosa), overrides his wife and Julie gets her way. Immediately, it’s obvious that Irene is a trophy wife, or has to be. She is far too hot and too young to be with that old dude Harold, but they have a great house and money falling out of their ass. So, she must have signed on for the cash.
Making Irene’s life more difficult is the pet that Julie has chosen. Her huge snake roams free and she uses it to terrify her poor mother. At one point, she holds the snake right to her mom’s face and startles her. Harold looks the other way. What a fucking terrible husband this dude is. Making matters worse, Harold nearly worships his daughter and ignores his poor wife. The family is very dysfunctional.
Weston (Paul Hubbard), a food delivery man from the grocery store, shows up to bring some food and he has great fashion sense. He is wearing a Canadian tuxedo (my apologies to all Canadians and denim enthusiasts) and terrible leather driving gloves. When he arrives and sees Irene, he makes his intentions obvious as he ogles her constantly. She doesn’t return the flirting but does ask for a favor. Weston accepts and takes the snake out of the house. When Julie arrives back home, she discovers that her mother has gotten rid of the python and the war between the two becomes red hot.
As the two battle, a familiar face returns. Weston shows up looking for loving and when Irene shoots him down, he begins groping her with rape right around the corner. Irene screams for help and when Julie hears her, she runs out with her gun, finding this scumbag on top of her mother, but she doesn’t shoot. She allows her mother to die and for the killer/rapist/Canadian tuxedo guy to escape. For Julie, this was a good thing and now it’s just her and her daddy, but that doesn’t last long as Harold brings in Susan (Sybil Danning), a chick he’s been hiding on the side.
The two show up at the house and Harold notes that he has been “married in name only” to Irene over the past several years. Fucking scumbag Harold. He is cheating on his wife and shows no sadness for the tragic death. The bed isn’t even cold yet and he’s moving in a new girl along with her young son, which is going to be more trouble for Julie, who wants her dad all to herself and, even worse, she wants him in more than one way. Damn, did they need to include an incest angle? I could have done without that, but they wanted shock value and they got it.
As Harold and Susan enjoy each other, Julie looks in and pictures herself in Susan’s position with her hairy old daddy. She is not happy with Susan or the young son and has plans to take them both out so she can have her dad in any and every way…I guess. Jeez, that scene was fucked up.
Considering that Weston owes her a solid, Julie recruits him to kill Susan to pay back the debt of freedom from prison and the inevitable rape from Bubba that he was sure to encounter. On top of that, she promises a great fortune that is located in her dad’s safe. He’s game. Since the murder, he’s been picked up for beating up a hooker after he couldn’t perform. I’m not sure if he was haunted by the murder or if only raping somebody turns him on or if he can only do the deed when he’s wrapped in denim. Whatever the case, the dude was limp.
The difference between Susan and the former wife, Irene, is that Susan suspects that Julie may not be up to any good and has been keeping a keen eye on her. When Weston shows up, she puts up a good fight, but gets launched out the window. When he tries to collect the money, Julie shoots him with a shotgun and he is launched across the room. It was one of the best scenes in the movie. It was so awesome to see him launched. I know it’s not realistic, but I love how action films used to have the bad guys launched across the room from a gunshot…sometimes through a wall because of it. Fuck realism, this is entertainment.
The flick ends with Julie getting hit with some Karma and Susan standing tall. JULIE DARLING was a very good horror/suspense film. Isabelle Mejias was great as the young and tainted girl. Her demeanor throughout is disturbing and it gets worse by the minute. She gave a tremendous performance. Sybil Danning also did very well in this and was the perfect counter for Isabelle as the two began to fight a secret battle.
I highly recommend JULIE DARLING. It’s disturbing at times, funny at times, and has its moments of horror. It’s definitely worth a watch.
Rating: 7/10
