Proxy (film)

Proxy

Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by Zack Parker
Produced by Faust Checho
Zack Parker
Written by Kevin Donner
Zack Parker
Starring Alexia Rasmussen
Alexa Havins
Kristina Klebe
Joe Swanberg
Music by The Newton Brothers
Cinematography Jim Timperman
Edited by Zack Parker
Production
company
Along The Tracks
FSC Productions
Distributed by IFC Midnight
Release dates
  • September 10, 2013 (2013-09-10) (Toronto International Film Festival)
Running time
 120 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Proxy is a 2013 American horror film directed by Zack Parker. The movie had its world premiere on September 10, 2013 at the Toronto International Film Festival.[1] It stars Alexia Rasmussen as a pregnant young woman who joins a support group after she miscarries due to a vicious attack.[2] The filmmakers describe Proxy as a spiritual successor to the horror film Rosemary's Baby, and its main character Esther Woodhouse is named after the earlier film's protagonist Rosemary Woodhouse.

Film rights to Proxy were picked up by IFC Midnight shortly after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.[3]

Plot

While walking home from a doctor's appointment, the pregnant Esther Woodhouse (Alexia Rasmussen) is knocked unconscious by a person in a hoodie who hits her belly repeatedly with a brick. Despite the efforts of emergency room doctors, her baby is already dead when removed by Caesarian section. Noticing that Esther doesn't seem to have any friends or family (the baby was conceived via sperm bank), a social worker at the hospital forwards her to a support group for grieving parents.

In the support group meetings, Esther meets and befriends Melanie Michaels (Alexa Havins), a woman who claims her husband and child were killed by a drunk driver. Later on, while visiting a department store, Esther sees Melanie walking in alone and suddenly start screaming that her son Peyton was kidnapped and begging a security guard for help. Esther follows Melanie to the parking lot and witnesses her taking Peyton out of the car and into the store. Esther is strangely pleased by this.

While Esther is home, her attacker suddenly appears. Esther is dragged from the kitchen and is raped by lover Anika Barön (Kristina Klebe) who has performed the attack at Esther's request. Esther then performs oral on Anika. She asks about Melanie, clearly jealous but Esther dismisses her. Esther is next seen in a bar. She is in a toilet where she is having sex while one guy watches another. Once he has finished, the watching guy takes over and the sex gets rougher.

Esther later invites Melanie into her home. Esther asks about Melanie's family and she sticks to her drunk driver story. Esther then tries to seduce Melanie, claiming that she's the only person who understands her. Melanie rejects Esther and when the latter says she knows what happened at the department store, Melanie slaps her and tells her to never contact her again.

Esther takes Anika's truck and tracks down Melanie's house. Sneaking in with a crowbar, Esther finds Peyton in the bathroom and drowns him in the bathtub. Melanie enters and distraughtly asks why Esther did this and she claims that she did "the things that [Melanie] couldn't do" and now they can be together. After she says this, Melanie's husband Patrick (Joe Swanberg) walks in with a shotgun and kills Esther.

Days pass and the Michaels are heavily grieving. Patrick is particularly unhinged and fantasizes about having left Esther alive so he could torture her. After noticing Anika's truck and the fact that it hasn't moved ever since the murder, he enters it and finds the registration. However, when he reports it to the police, he is told to stop since it would constitute theft (even though the door was unlocked). Patrick also starts attending a support group but then finds out from a regular that his wife had been secretly attending for a year and that she had claimed Peyton was kidnapped. Patrick confronts Melanie who denies everything and apparently leaves her.

Meanwhile, Anika, enraged by Esther's death, tries to track down the Michaels and finds out where they are from the police informing her about her truck. She goes to Melanie's house, ties her up and plans to wait for Patrick, so she can torture and kill them both. She then hears running water from the bathroom and investigates, believing it is Patrick taking a shower. Instead, she finds him dead. Melanie breaks free and holds Anika at gunpoint and thanks her, claiming she just made a "much better story". Melanie fantasizes about being interviewed on TV two years later, having written a book about her experiences on having both her son and husband murdered by a deranged woman and her revenge seeking lover, respectively, as well as advocating for child safety and self-defense and ending the interview by announcing that she has remarried and is now pregnant. Anika then manages to reach for a hammer while Melanie fires the shotgun, ending the movie with a black screen and the sound of the gunshot, the outcome unknown.

Cast

Reception

Critical reception for Proxy was mixed to positive and Bloody Disgusting praised the film as "a joyfully trashy, sinful slice of macabre entertainment".[4] Fangoria also gave a positive review, citing the suspense and acting as highlights.[5] Shock Till You Drop gave a more mixed review, overall praising the film while stating that the second half of the movie "drags a little".[6] Reviews from ReelFilm and the Toronto Standard were more negative,[7] with the Toronto Standard remarking that while the film was a "valiant effort to copy [Hitchcock]", the movie may have been too ambitious for the budget and actors to live up to.[8] The film currently holds a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

References

  1. ↑ "Proxy". TIFF. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  2. ↑ "Proxy - Director Zack Parker Interview". Fearnet. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  3. ↑ "Toronto: IFC Midnight Picks Up North American Rights to Zack Parker's 'Proxy'". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "'Proxy' Is A Supremely Twisted, Joyfully Sinful Thriller!". Bloody DIsgusting. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  5. ↑ ""PROXY" (TIFF Movie Review)". Fangoria. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  6. ↑ Doro, Paul. "Fantastic Fest Review: Proxy". STYD. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  7. ↑ "Proxy (review)". ReelFilm. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  8. ↑ "TIFF '13 Review: Proxy". Toronto Standard. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
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