Film Review: 'She's Crushed'

Things have been a bit rocky for retired veteran Ray (Henrik Norlén) and his girlfriend Maddy (Caitlin Wehrle). With Ray's habit for drinking with his old army buddy Phil (Robert Paschall Jr.) keeping him away from home frequently, Maddy feels Ray drifting away from her⁠—and their relationship begins to unravel as a result.

So when Ray meets his young new neighbor Tara (Natalie Dickinson), who initially appears to be a perky and mildly flirtatious girl, Ray finds himself allured by her charms⁠—so much so that after he has an affair with Tara after she takes him home drunk from a bar. By daylight, however, Ray is regretful for his transgression and breaks things off with Tara, who appears to accept her fling with Ray as a one-time thing.

But as Ray will come to learn the hard way, Tara has become far more attached to him than she lets on⁠—and is not the type of girl who takes rejection well. With a dark past lurking beneath her unsuspecting face, Tara is determined to have Ray back in her arms⁠—and is willing to get blood on her hands to make it so.

For a low-budget indie horror flick, She's Crushed has some interesting history behind it. Likely inspired by the viral marketing that made The Blair Witch Project a household name, a YouTube channel was made under the name "Taraiscrushed", which had Natalie Dickinson making in-character video diaries about Tara, with the entries dating back to 2006⁠—three years prior to the film's release. Having not seen any of the Taraiscrushed videos, I can't comment on how much they do or don't add to the movie that they were building up to, though I can't imagine they would make She's Crushed any more or less of an empty film.

(But still, props to the film crew for being so far-thinking in making a little history to go along with their film)

To start off with positives, She's Crushed certainly knows where its bread is buttered and puts a lot of focus on Tara, who is played with a psychotic fervor by Natalie Dickinson. It doesn't take long for Tara's innocuous facade to disappear and reveal the true workings of her sick and demented mind, with Dickinson holding nothing back as Tara's antics go from insane to downright sadistic. Dickinson also does the most she can to spice Tara up with some depth, allowing a few moments that indicate Tara⁠—as violent and cruel as she gets as the film progresses⁠—is ultimately a psychotically bitter woman with an almost child-like mentality, taking her rage out on anyone unfortunate to be in her way.

Dickinson's acting strength proves to be both an asset and a detriment, though, as her vigorous performance makes it more obvious how Tara is the only character to be given much in the way of development. While Ray is given about the same amount of screentime as Tara, the script never allows for Ray to develop a significant personality before his life falls apart as a result of his indiscretion. The same is applicable to Maddy, who is given even less screentime to work with than Ray. Despite that, however, Henrik Norlén and Caitlin Wehrle give solid performances with what they have, and bring poignant emotion to their characters once Tara's schemes reach a malicious crescendo. David Taffet is similarly strong as Tara's sleazy supervisor Clinton, and Keith Malley injects some much needed humor into what is otherwise an overwhelmingly bleak film.

For that, in a nutshell, is the overarching problem that kills She's Crushed: the storyline is ultimately just so thoroughly dark and devoid of enough redeeming aspects to make it enjoyable. While the idea of a Fatal Attraction retread with a more violent Woman Scorned at the helm is an interesting idea, the film's oppressively dour tone robs the concept of any enjoyment due to how dedicated the film is to making the proceedings as horrific as possible. Gore hounds might find some enjoyment in the very brutal scenes of Tara's sadism (ones which even the most hardened horror junkies might have trouble watching), though otherwise, She's Crushed suffers from an audience alienating amount of darkness and misery permeating itself.

The film's dark and gruesome tone also serves to undercut the script's attempts at bringing depth to Tara. The tagline, "Some are victims, some are predators. Some are both," seems to indicate the film wants Tara to become a humanized villainess rather than just an obsessed psychopath. While the video diaries may have gone into Tara's backstory, viewers unversed in this movie's viral marketing campaign will find that the film's events severely betray this intention. Tara's backstory is only shown in brief snippets that never come together into a coherent understanding of her character, and even if they had, it would hardly be enough to counteract the horrific actions Tara takes in her deranged pursuit of Ray, making what efforts the script and Dickinson do accomplish feel undeserved on Tara's part.

Ultimately, while the cast does all they can to breathe life into the film they're in, She's Crushed squanders their efforts with an overly dark tone that will be sure to drive viewers away, a script that fails to give most of the protagonists any depth, attempts to humanize a character who is deserving of no sympathy, and an unsatisfying ending that lingers on the mind for all the wrong reasons. As such, despite having actors who bring their all to the proceedings, She's Crushed is a film that I feel obligated to advise you to steer clear of.

Score: 2 out of 10 heavy suitcases.