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YMMV / The Neon Demon

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  • Anvilicious: Modeling hurts both physically and psychologically. Many critics who disliked the film have accused its constant assurance of this message, especially through the film's own Tag Line, as nothing more than pretentiousness, with the Surreal Horror and graphic violence needlessly reinforcing the message even more.
  • Audience-Alienating Premise: A film centering around fashion and modeling that frequently discards plot for nightmarish surrealism and Gorn was never going to have wide appeal, to say the least.
  • Complete Monster: Hank the motel owner is a sleazy and callous predator who pimps out young runaways, showing a delight over doing so to a 13-year-old who falls into his clutches, which he refers to as "real Lolita shit." Jesse receives a premonition of Hank violently assaulting her with a knife and locks the door to keep him out, only for Hank to attack and rape the young teen girl next door.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Lots of love goes to Jena Malone for her extremely against type role as Ruby, and her performance becomes even more remarkable on the second watch once you know what's coming. Even people who don't like the movie tend to say she's the best thing about it.
    • Keanu Reeves as Hank in a similarly depraved against-type role as Jena Malone.
  • Fridge Horror: Ruby lying in what is presumably, Jesse's unmarked grave in the mansion garden. Given her past behaviour at the morgue, it's safe to assume what she was doing in there.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Jerkass Woobie: Sarah is a backstabbing snake who cannibalizes her competition but you feel so sorry for her when she is desperately trying to impress at the audition.
  • Just Here for Godzilla: Some people watch the movie for the stunning visuals, especially the hallucination scenes. Either that or for Keanu Reeves.
  • Memetic Mutation: It's now a common joke that almost every movie Elle Fanning starred in is a prequel of this.
  • Nausea Fuel: The morgue scene.
  • Offending the Creator's Own: It's a film written by two women that's been accused of being misogynist.
  • Spiritual Successor: Surprisingly, to Bronson. Jesse's speech about why she wanted to become a model is eerily similar to the opening speech in Bronson.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Crossing over with Questionable Casting, Jesse's agent is played by Christina Hendricks and is characterised as a former model. She has a single scene, about three lines, and is not involved in the coven's plot to sacrifice Jesse at all.
  • Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Given its dark depiction of the model and fashion agency, being mostly occupied by Jerkasses (even the protagonist who started as a Nice Girl, but then Took a Level in Jerkass) with the lead character's boyfriend being the only sympathetic character who is eventually spurned by her, being riddled with Surreal Horror and Gorn and finally resulted in the lead being killed and devoured, it is no wonder the movie has its detractors.


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