30 •Metro Magazine 195 | © ATOM
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The latter two are charming stereotypes of suburban parents,
leaving money for pizza and instructions to be in bed by eleven.
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at his ugly Christmas tie, he teasingly switches it to an equally
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ing he’d love him to ‘get some ass’, she lets him clumsily try to
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unaware of the weed the latter has acquired from the former’s
brother. This easy passing of blame – her ‘not my child’ certainty
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with Ashley. He has had a crush on her for years and, now that
she is moving, it is his last chance. This is a familiar plotline in
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old Ashley is not going to have extremely inappropriate relations
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laugh at his transparent efforts. He puts on a horror movie – a
signal that he believes he is no longer a kid – yet rests his head
on Ashley’s shoulder as though he is scared, a typical move for
the girl in such a scenario. He also declares his maturity by guz
zling champagne from the bottle, bragging about how well he
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kisses her, she rebukes him in an authoritative tone,desperate
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like a child. He is almost thirteen, he argues – a particularly
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parents. Ashley softens, consoling him by saying she would
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are besieged by classic horror scenarios: prank calls, a brick
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!DSSDQ 6@SBG .TSis a loving homage to the horror genre, with
a catalogue of aural and visual tropes: eyes peeping through
cracks, a silhouette at the window, a locked door found ajar,
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shot from behind a faintly moving swing in the backyard looks
towards the open back door, establishing the intruder’s en
trance. In the horror movie they are watching, a scared woman
says, ‘I want to leave’ – dialogue that always precedes a terrible
occurrence – before Ashley is startled by a noise outside. When
she, reasonably, asks, ‘Why would they go into the attic?’ she
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handed with references, that it’s a relief to get to the fairly
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under the bed – she eventually realises and is furious, admon
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fated plan was a ruse, a soft twist distracting the viewer fromThis spread, clockwise from top left:'ARRETT ,UKE AND
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