The Scary of Sixty-First

Good movie!

Good movie!

Good movie!

Good movie!

source: The Scary of Sixty-First

The movie should have been a cool psychological thriller. It started well but became incoherent. There was no explanation to why things were happening. People just started acting crazy for no reason. And rather than focusing on the story/legend /conspiracy, they were more focused on meaningless and irritating sexual activity.

OK, first things first -- "The Scary of Sixty-First" is going to divide audiences. You will either like it, or think it's the stupidest and most annoying thing you've ever seen. I'm in the first group, but I cannot promise you won't be in the second. Hopefully this brief review will help you decide. The movie begins with two friends, Noelle (co-writer Madeline Quinn) and Addie (Betsey Brown) getting a tour of an apartment in New York by a real tool of a real estate agent. It's got some issues, but it's a good deal so they decide to rent it. Addie and Noelle move in (with help from Addie's boyfriend Greg), and to be honest it seems like they are "friends" almost in name only. Soon after, a girl (known only as "The Girl" and played by director and co-writer Dasha Nekrasova) shows up. She tells Noelle that the apartment was owned by Jeffrey Epstein and was possibly used by him and his co-horts to traffic young women. "The Girl" convinces Noelle to help her investigate Epstein's history in the area, and soon her and Noelle are traipsing around New York while Addie seems to be having more and more issues, perhaps due to the possibility that something supernatural is in their new apartment ... Look, this movie is bonkers. "The Girl" is obsessed with every conspiracy theory know to man. And they are investigating... what, actually? Nothing they do is really anything more than looking on Google or is some "new theory." And yikes, "The Girl" and Noelle are horrible people and we have an instant and constant dislike for them both, so it's impossible to be rooting for them and I think the movie wants us to. But man oh man, what a ride. Watching every bat-s**t crazy moment unfold is worth it. The stuff that happens -- and serious stuff does happen, believe me -- will stick with you. It's a wild blast of a ride. At a little less than 90 minutes, it moves briskly and doesn't overstay its welcome. And turning the Jeffrey Epstein saga into the subject of a horror/mystery flick is a minor stroke of genius. My only complaint is that it really doesn't stick the landing, which is a shame -- it came so close to really nailing the ending but just didn't do it. As I said in the beginning, there's every possibility you'll hate it. Pretty strong recommendation from me, but caveat emptor.

Although the film borrows somewhat heavily from Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, this movie I would say is the better. The metamorphosis acting of Betsey Brown is Oscar worth IMHO. To go from a neurotic young woman with a good relationship with her boyfriend, to this possessed under age sex slave persona is truly remarkable and frightening how far she goes with it. Using the mystery of Jeffery Epstein and his associates, it also reminded me of NXIVM. Brandon Truaxe, and even Stephen Colbert's expose on 'sex party's in NY he never got invited to'. And yes, all these are TRUE. To what degree in mystery they are about we may never truly know. I think the move also slams the whole #MeToo garbage and that Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey are * cats compared to what can REALLY go on among the super elite. Sadly though, the movie leaves a lot of loopholes for better or for worse. How these two young women could get such a high end place, and what's their backgrounds or ambitions never divulged. Secondly 'The Girl' that shows up and barges her way in, wanting to get the truth about Epstein and his operations. Dasha Nekrasova admits she had a friend that was involved with Epstein while he was alive. Though she doesn't divulge any of the gossip she may have been privy to, her 'Girl' character eludes that she knows more about Epstein and his nefarious doings from sources that may have disappeared or gone insane as well. And thirdly, the Psychic Reader. Although very ominous and scary - is a bit over the top without much reason to be. But these faults can be excused as the film plays upon all characters delusions of what they think they know, and where spontaneity creates a dream like reality for some of them. So by the end, it doesn't seem like anyone is in their 'right mind' anymore. And I'd say that's the scariest part, as there's still so much left unanswered. Either caused by 'the dark arts', mental instability, or just pure paranoia. Or maybe all three still? A gripping movie worthy of good praise!

Neither suspenseful and self-aware enough to be a gallo film nor clever in its psychological distress of the stripe of Argento, nor as conspiracy-addled as Eyes Wide Shut (despite the material lends itself to a serious search-no Aquino, no Wexner Ohio police force, none of the threads re: Epstein's being a tapped gifted student the likes of Sarfatti; an episode of Subliminal Jihad will take you much further). Nor is the film willing to hurl itself into experimentation and formal editing proper (a Brakhage-esque experiment in conspiracy qua audio-visual editing, like a Project Wandering Soul meets Paul McCarthy, would be genuinely interesting). This is a film that loses its thread early on and lapses into clichés that do not embrace their being clichés, which means the film refuses to be self-referential. It loses the thread in a way that is similar to Jacques Rozier's Maine Ocean, but is not as smartly edited or funny. This ends up looking like the director made a poor film not as a critical exercise with which to playfully challenge but because they simply could not make a good film. The sole saving grace is, at certain points, the lighting. A pity, because the Epstein matter lends itself to cinema. Go watch Francesco Rosi for much more accurate and affecting cinematic portrays of conspiracy. I do hope the director's subsequent film takes up the challenge of making a genuinely good film.

This movie is outrageous, purposely offensive, gross, stupid, and overflowing with conspiracies and I absolutely loved every minute of it. I am not sure I have laughed so hard in my life as I did to some of the more outrageous scenes. I can only assume the bad reviews here are from prudish folk who either wandered into the wrong film or just are not capable of understanding a joke, albeit, a wildly offensive one. If you love goofy conspiracies (Epstein, Clintons, etc) and can stand an offensive joke and some seriously whacky sex scenes, and would like it all wrapped up in the style of a 70s Italian slasher flick, you will love this movie.