VOD Review: Proxy (2014)

I don't want to say too much about the plot of Proxy, so as not to give its twists and turns away. The movie switches gears a few times, taking us in directions that we never thought it would, and about halfway through its running time, it changes dynamic completely...

This is all because director Zack Parker is based and doesn't give a fuck. He does what he wants. In the case of Proxy, what he wants is to mess with your mind and its expectations.

We still haven't seen Scalene; Zack Parker's previous film which stars the brilliant Margo Martindale, and even another Halloween 2007 veteran (like Klebe), Hanna Hall, mainly because we're lazy.

If Proxy is any indication as to what we can expect from watching Scalene though, we'll be adding it to our Netflix queues asap, because we're definitely up for some more of this type of mind-fuckery.

 

*We're going to try to leave Proxy's plot details vague while trying to break it down for you. Given its twists in narrative, it's really for the best.

Proxy opens with shy QT Esther getting an ultra sound, because she's really pregnant, and about to pop. When she leaves her OB/GYN's office... well, let's just say that her trip down the alley doesn't end well for her or her baby bump.

She is going to be the best Mother!

A traumatized Esther seeks out the help of a support group to cope with her fragile mental state after her horrific ordeal, and meets Melanie; a kind housewife type who is doing her best to recover from a traumatic ordeal of her own. The two become fast BFF's, forming an unhealthy kinship, and leaning on each other for support... until one of them witnesses something that sets in motion a chain of events that spells doom for all!

Well that didn't go as planned...

From here on out, Proxy turns into a story of a creepy girl with a crowbar who sets out to "help" her equally-creepy new friend, does some creepy "Mommy-Daughter" sex role play with her issue-filled lover, and basically destroys everyone's life in the process. *Not that they didn't have it coming though, because they really are a creepy bunch.

Vague, I know. Just go and watch the movie.

If you gaze to long into the abyss, a crazy bitch gazes back into you.

The opening "sequence" of Proxy shocked us to the point of pausing the movie, and spending the next 10 minutes trying to unfrown our faces... because it was honestly one of the toughest scenes we've had to sit through in a while. That scene, along with the movie in general, was quite effective.

Once that was all over with, Proxy became a movie about suffering, grief, and crazy bitches with huge issues; mainly depression, and Muchausen by Proxy. With its characters all doing shady things that snowball into an avalanche of ruin for them all by movie's end, Proxy builds an odd momentum of dysfunction and delusion that at times almost felt Hitchcockian in an odd way. A psycho-sexual way, even.

For a low budget Indie film, Proxy certainly gets a lot right.

The performances here were all great. The three women in the movie -Alexia Rasmussen, Alexa Havins, and Kristina Klebe- handled the subject matter, and played their mentally-unbalanced characters, with multi-leveled skill. Joe Swanberg was solid as well, playing the man stuck in the middle of the crazy menage of women.

Now that is the look of love that ABC was talking about so many years ago.

Some of the acting in Proxy, especially that of the secondary characters, felt very stiff. It could be that the characters were written that way, and that the actors were directed to play it wooden, but that's probably not the case. It could also be that the main actors (Swanberg, Klebe, Rasmussen and Havin) elevated the material in general with their solid performances.

We're not sure what the deal was, but a lot of it just felt stiff.

Not her, though.

The opening sequence was really tough to watch, and actually made us pause the movie for a few minutes. That's a good thing for a Horror movie, to get such a strong reaction from its audience, but damn was it ever a rough stretch to get through.The psychology at work behind said sequence made it all the more disturbing.

"Remember when our kids were alive? Good times."

Aside from the soon-to-be-classic opening nastiness, Proxy boasted some pretty disturbing subject matter. While some of it was graphic, most of it was implied/off-screen. This movie is no gore fest by any stretch, but it still delivers the visceral goods in its own way.

This one has it all; strap-on rape roleplay, female masturbation, lesbian canoodling, Kristina Klebe and
Alexia Rasmussen topless... Alright, so maybe this movie doesn't have it "all," but it has enough sexuality in it to make it not kid friendly.

Women are insane, both suburban housewives and ex-con lesbians alike. Guys too.

What is she even doing?!?

Proxy is one of those movies that will be too much to handle for some people, whereas most Horror fans will love its slow burning dysfunction and psycho-sexual strife. More psychological than visceral, Proxy both entertained and disturbed us, and left us thinking about it long after it was over. For the $7 rental price, you'll be hard pressed to find another movie as effective & affecting as this one.

Proxy is available now on VOD, and in Limited Theatrical Release.

B+

The women of Proxy, while all three insane, were visions of loveliness... creepy, unsettling loveliness.