Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 50% (Critics) / 36% (Audience)
Directed By: Jonathan Levine
Written By: Jacob Forman
Starring: Amber Heard, Edwin Hodge, Whitney Able, Luke Grimes and Anson Mount
Studio: Radius-TWC

Synopsis: Starring Amber Heard and Anson Mount, ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE is about a group of high-schoolers who invite Mandy Lane, “a good girl” who becomes the object of everyone’s affection after returning from summer break, to a weekend party on a secluded ranch. While the festivities rage on, the number of revelers begins to mysteriously drop one at a time. – (Source)

The Good:
I absolutely loved the look and tone of this movie. It took the sensibility of a movie like SCREAM but looked like the lovechild of the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and an Abercrombie & Fitch commercial. The way everything looked so desaturated and would then be hit with some quick jump cuts and video style edits were pretty inventive. There also were moments where the camera lingered almost longingly on Amber Heard in an almost obsessive way that was sort of creepy but effective. I like to believe it was done on purpose to give the viewer the feeling of being just as “in love” with Mandy Lane as all the guys in the movie were or maybe director Jonathan Levine was slightly obsessed with his leading laddy but it stood out to me in a good way.
Amber Heard was great as the titular girl that all the boys loved. I would be hard pressed to think of another young actress that could pull of the duality of being the hottest girl in school but also the nicest and least full of herself.
I also think the twist was a pretty neat one that I didn’t see coming and served to make the move a lot more than just another homage to the slasher genre.
And the musical choices were great especially the way Bobby Vinton’s “Sealed With A Kiss” takes on such an eerie vibe as it is played in this film.

The Bad:
The baddie in this movie was pretty blah and didn’t really do much for me as far as slasher movie villains go.

The Ugly:
The kills were possibly the weakest part of the movie. They seemed to be sloppily orchestrated and shot in ways that were just boggling to the mind. For a movie that so obviously loves the genre it was a shame to see one of the most important parts of these types of films not measure up.

Final Verdict: A nice change of pace teen slasher movie with good performances from its young actors and especially its leading lady. The direction and cinematography was inventive except for the way the actual slasher parts of the movie were shot which was a shame because if the director had been able to be just as deft with the so-called “money shots” as he was with everything else then this long delayed film would have been totally worth waiting 7 years to see (I originally saw it in 2007). But it is more than worth a look see on when it hits VOD on Sept. 6 but I would skip trying to make it to one of its showings during its limited theatrical run starting on October 11.

Grade: B-