Buy Heavenly Creatures on DVD

Heavenly Creatures

Lions Gate Films / Year: 1994

DVD More Info Region Code: 1 UPC: 031398137559 Catalog #: DV10833304 Languages: English Dolby Digital Surround (Primary)	Usually ships in 5-10 days	$9.99
Blu-ray More Info Region Code: 1 UPC: 031398146872 Catalog #: DB10833305 Languages: English Dolby Digital Surround (Primary)	Usually ships in 5-10 days	$17.99 (10% off) List Price: $19.99

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Synopsis

Heavenly Creatures represented a departure of sorts for horror director Peter Jackson and was the first film to earn him widespread critical acclaim. Jackson both co-wrote and co-produced the picture, which is based on an actual 1954 murder case. The two protagonists, New Zealand schoolgirls Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, first meet when Juliet (Kate Winslet in her silver-screen debut) is introduced to Pauline's class as a new student. Pauline (Melanie Lynskey), an introvert who feels misunderstood by her family and peers, is instantly smitten with the sophisticated and self-confident newcomer, and the girls become best friends.

Eventually, Pauline and Juliet begin spending more and more time together, withdrawing into a magical land of their own invention--Borovnia, a fairy-tale kingdom populated by lifesize clay figures. The girls' distraught families fear that the friendship is becoming unhealthy, and Juliet's parents decide to end things by sending their daughter away. Faced with their impending separation, the girls decide nothing will tear them apart, leading to an unexpectedly grisly denouement made even more unnerving by the ignorance of their own delusion.

3 Reasons To buy this film

The screen debut of Kate Winslet.
From legendary director Peter Jackson.
And, of course, the bathtub scene.

Review

The provocative, imaginative true-life story of how the intense and passionate relationship of 1950s teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme led to the grisly murder of Pauline's mother. The film realistically and fantastically portrays the friendship of the teens with Lynskey and Winslet giving outstanding and believable performances as Pauline and Juliet, respectively. The parents of both teens worry about their daughters' "unnatural" relationship and things go terribly wrong when they are eventually separated. Only one solution remains for the two friends.

Director Jackson endows the film with such vision and substance (in addition to some amazing special effects) that the viewer is quickly drawn into its characters' lives. Some have found it a harrowing, cautionary tale of obsessive love gone awry, others as a homophobic tale of violence and madness caused by same-sex love. You decide. Either way, it's the most thrilling story of matricide since Psycho.

Of interest:
After serving time, Juliet became a best-selling murder mystery author
using the name Anne Perry.