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Movies / On DVD / Heavenly Creatures
Heavenly Creatures

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Heavenly Creatures (1994)

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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

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Heavenly Creatures

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1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

17-year-old Kate Winslet made her film debut in this compelling blend of true crime and dark fantasy...

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/17/01
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Edinburgh U Film Society | comment Comment
01/01/00
Keith H. Brown
Keith H. Brown
Edinburgh U Film Society
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
06/06/01
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Acted with conviction, and directed and written with febrile vibrancy.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
02/13/03
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

No review available.

comment Comment
04/22/05
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

The movie that first got Jackson & Winslet noticed

comment Comment
03/29/06
Lori Hoffman
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly

...A work of remarkable clarity and vision, as well as one of the most original pictures of this or any other year.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Joey O'Bryan
Joey O'Bryan
Austin Chronicle

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.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

Fantasy and reality blur in a chilling film that shows Jackson's limitless potential

comment Comment
09/06/06
Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

Unlike the campy excess of Jackson's earlier Dead Alive, deliberate overkill ltimately points toward a dearth of ideas rather than a surfeit.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
02/11/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

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.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The single best film in Jackson's filmography, and a compliment to New Zealand cinema.

Full Review Source: CinemaBlend.com | comment Comment
08/12/02
Joshua Tyler
Joshua Tyler
CinemaBlend.com

This incredible film may be director Peter Jackson's masterpiece.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment 1 Comment
02/07/07
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
N/R

A movie that begins with high tension gradually fizzles out.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
01/01/00
Chris Hicks
Chris Hicks
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

The inner tension of the film emerges from Jackson's enjoyment of the girls' bustling insanity and then his gradual withdrawal from it.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
03/11/08
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

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.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
12/04/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

One of the most genuinely disturbing films I have ever seen.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
Film Threat

Powerful

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
09/27/02
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

Jackson's unique style and uncanny ability as a director make this one of the best and most powerful films of 1994.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
all

Latest News for Heavenly Creatures

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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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