17-year-old Kate Winslet made her film debut in this compelling blend of true crime and dark fantasy...
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:41
Fresh:39
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8.2/10
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Dramas
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... 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. A harrowing story of misdirected adolescent creativity, Jackson's HEAVENLY CREATURES is chillingly unforgettable. [More]
Starring: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent
Starring: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent, Clive Merrison, Simon O'Connor
Director: Peter Jackson
Director: Peter Jackson
Reviews for Heavenly Creatures
Acted with conviction, and directed and written with febrile vibrancy.
...A work of remarkable clarity and vision, as well as one of the most original pictures of this or any other year.
The film's structure demands rational and beautiful segues from the real world into fantasia, a ballet of sensibilities that Jackson pulls off without a misstep.
Fantasy and reality blur in a chilling film that shows Jackson's limitless potential
Unlike the campy excess of Jackson's earlier Dead Alive, deliberate overkill ltimately points toward a dearth of ideas rather than a surfeit.
What makes Jackson's film enthralling and frightening is the way it shows these two unhappy girls, creating an alternative world so safe and attractive they thought it was worth killing for.
The single best film in Jackson's filmography, and a compliment to New Zealand cinema.
The inner tension of the film emerges from Jackson's enjoyment of the girls' bustling insanity and then his gradual withdrawal from it.
A dark, astounding film from Peter Jackson, showing his mastery of blending fact and fantasy. A deserved winner of Venice Festival's Silver Lion and Toronto Fest's Critics Award. Along with Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, this is 1994's most audacious film.
Jackson's unique style and uncanny ability as a director make this one of the best and most powerful films of 1994.
Latest News for Heavenly Creatures
December 13, 2005:
Critical Consensus: Crown This "Kong"
The original "King Kong" is a movie so loved, and so emulated, that it would seem a foolhardy task to try to remake it. But Peter Jackson is a director who dreams big,... More...
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