By Melissa Antoinette Garza
I love Bill Skarsgård. By far, BATTLECREEK (2017) is my favorite film that he stars in, though he of course shined in the role as Pennywise in the IT (2017) films.
VILLAINS(2019) was one of those flicks that I had desperately wanted to see when it first came out, but I never got around to it. I happened to come across an interview Skarsgård did about the movie which made me remember I had yet to see it so I grabbed it off VUDU for $3.99.
The film opens with small time hoods Mickey (Bill Skarsgård) and his girl Jules (Maika Monroe) hitting up a gas station. They are wildly and passionately in love and have a plan to take the money from the hit and start a new life together. They want to get themselves to Florida and set up a small mom & pop shell shop.
Unfortunately, they run out of gas and become stuck only a few miles away from the convenience store they robbed. Knowing the fuzz is going to catch up to them, they look around for an escape. Eagle-eyed Jules spots a mailbox. The duo walks up to the estate, realizes no one is home and breaks into the house. They both start to panic and opt to take a bit of the yayo to speed up the thinking process. Things become clearer when the coke kicks in. They begin searching the house for a hose to siphon gas out of a car in the garage, but they get more than what they bargain for when they go into the basement.
Chained to the wall is a young girl (Blake Baumgartner), and Jules refuses to leave her behind. Before they can free her, the owners arrive home.
George (Jeffrey Donovan) and Gloria (Kyra Sedgwick) find Mickey and Jules rummaging through their kitchen. George is cool, collective and even makes himself a drink, despite Mickey holding a gun on him.
Mickey informs the crazy couple that he is going to take the small child and leave. Reluctantly, George and Gloria agree, but they have a plan up their sleeve. When the girl is unchained, she bites Mickey giving George the opportunity to get the upper-hand.
Gloria is chained in the basement with the child, while Mickey is handcuffed onto a bed – and Miss Gloria wants to play. RAWR RAWR Imma don’t blame that crazy bitch for one second. Mickey is a hottie!
Gloria does a little striptease, but is disappointed and insulted when Mickey doesn’t get hard. She has a mommy complex and is a very very wild gal. The next day, Mickey pretends to be into her and even calls her “mommy.” It works and he momentarily gets the upper-hand. He even nearly gets away, but George stops him with a bullet to the leg.
Meanwhile, Jules bonds with the young girl who is known only as Sweetiepie. George reveals that he kidnapped the child because Gloria couldn’t have kids. Instead of being happy, she grew to resent the girl and wanted George to kill her. Instead of offing the kid, he chained her in the cellar.
Jules and Mickey devise a plan to get away and take Sweetiepie with them. In the end, a showdown occurs. The ending was predictable, but difficult. I wish it had turned out differently, but this type of flick rarely offers a Hollywood happy ending.
Still, I highly suggest the flick. The acting is tremendous. Donovan had a bit of a Tom Skerritt vibe going on, and he nailed it. He was creepy, holier-than-thou, crazy and absolutely chilling at times.
Sedgwick likewise did a fabulous job. She had the tough task of portraying Gloria as very reserved and overtly sexual within moments of each other, and she pulled it off brilliantly. Gloria’s insanity and delusions were crafted in a way that the right actress had to portray them for it to be believable. Sedgwick was definitely the right actress!
I absolutely adored Maika Monroe for several reasons. First, she was a strong female lead who exhibited determination, fortitude and autonomy while never losing her feminine prowess or nurturing nature. She actually reminded me of my best friend a lot. There was this unbelievable kindness and compassion to Jules, but she was no pushover. She played as hard as the boys when it came to throwing down. Imma love my best friend and Imma loved Jules too.
Last is RAWR RAWR Bill Skarsgård. He’s so yummy and of course he was fantastic in his role. Mickey was a lost soul desperate for a way out. He knew he loved Jules and he knew he needed a better life, but getting there was the problem. His solution was petty robberies, but he wasn’t a bad dude. He had a conscience and a heart. At times, he was like a scared boy which is when the nurturing side of Jules would come out. Other times, he was in panic or anger mode, and Jules would talk him down. The chemistry between the two was palpable, but it wasn’t only the sexual energy between them. The devotion and care they had with one another made it a thrill to watch.
Most interesting was the contrasting relationships between the two couples. Sure, Mickey and Jules were criminals – but they weren’t George and Gloria. It’s the difference between good people doing bad things and crazy motherfuckers doing crazy motherfucking things.
In some ways, VILLAINS is a good and dark comedic version of DON’T BREATHE (2016). I hate DON’T BREATHE. It’s one of the rare movies that I rated a 0/10. It sucks so bad. Fuck that movie. In that film, it is impossible to care about any of the characters because they’re all unredeemable.
In VILLAINS, Mickey and Jules may be thieving punks, but they’re not unredeemable. They’re sweet and loving and in it for each other. That’s the difference. In DON’T BREATHE, all of the characters came across selfish, self-absorbed and void of any traits that would make them realistic. They were caricatures and bad ones at that – only out for themselves.
Contrastingly, the humanity in VILLAINS is everywhere. The reason Mickey and Jules don’t leave is to free Sweetiepie. It’s an altruistic move and even though Mickey needs to be talked into it, he agrees in the end. It’s impossible not to feel sorry for the predicament that the young couple finds themselves in, regardless of their crimes.
That’s important for several reasons. One, it helps the viewer sympathize with their plight. Two, it makes certain that the audience hates the antagonists. In DON’T BREATHE, I hated everyone and the flick was dreadfully boring and empty. VILLAINS does it right and made me want to see George and Gloria punished for their horrific deeds.
I highly suggest VILLAINS. It’s a cross between AMERICAN GOTHIC (1988) and MOTEL HELL (1980). I wish the ending could have gone differently, but that’s just the softie in me. Beyond that it was a fantastic production. Also, watch the initial credit scroll at the end because there is some fab art going on.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10
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