“All The Boys Love Mandy Lane” is a decidedly subversive slasher-film that manages to maintain a burgeoning sense of contemporary awareness even though many of its elements, particularly the horror aspects, are knowing, but not of the winking at the camera variety, throwbacks to the pioneers of the slasher subgenre in the 70’s and 80’s, starting with its old school title card and continuing as the grippingly satisfying plot unfolds. Jonathan Levine’s, of “The Wackness” fame, directorial debut is a diamond in the rough of the usually achingly unoriginal, thoughtless films that have given the subgenre of slasher flicks a bad name.

As Mandy Lane (Amber Heard), as untouched and pure as she is gorgeous, strolls down her high school hallway, all eyes are on her. All the teenage boys with their ever present hormones that control their lives want to deflower the virginal stunner, and all the girls want to be her best friend; keep your friends closer but those hotter than you even more so. All she had to do in order to become one of the most popular girl in school was get hot over the summer, but she doesn’t quite know how to deal with all the attention.

Before her introversion gets the better of her, Red (Aaron Himelstein) gets her to agree to come along with him and a group of stereotypically endowed individuals to a weekend long party at his ranch, which will be free of adult supervision besides ranch hand Garth (Anson Mount). One things for sure, amidst all the debauchery, the main reason Lane was invited was so that each of the undersexed boys could take a shot at stripping her of a little more than her form hugging clothes.

Sooner or later it becomes fairly obvious that no one is getting with Mandy despite their best efforts, but because one always wants what they cannot have, they only try harder. However, they are not the only ones playing the “let’s see who can get in Mandy’s pants first” game. As the drunken, Ritalin-frenzied bodies begin to drop to the floor one by one, killed off by a psychopathic stalker with a shotgun, it becomes clear that not only do all the boys love Lane, someone’s willing to kill the competition just be alone with her.

The film, like many slasher films before it, begins with a picturesque snapshot, almost like an affecting music video, of modern teenage culture so honest and respectful that you would rather the film would just continue as an indictment of the bloodless brutality of the harsh insecurities of high school society. It’s the effortlessly accurate depiction of the true horrors of teenage life that allow the audience to connect with the characters on a level unusual of the genre’s requirements.

In addition, the actors invest nothing but candour in their portrayals of stereotypical characters, and effectively eliminate any pigeonholes that might have been present if it were not for their emotional investment. Not only are they believable, but wholesome and true making it that much easier to feel their pain without resorting to simply wincing humorously when the bloody horror unfolds.

Amber Heard plays her ostensibly simple role of the chaste and unknowing Lane to perfection. She is different from those around her, more morally fine-tuned and unwaveringly distant, and is therefore above everyone else. But she never preaches or frowns down upon the immorality of her substance-addled friends. And yet, as she drifts through the blood-spattered waters of self-discovery, she holds us in utmost captivation, with the power to seem familiar and surprising all at once. Simply, when Heard is off screen, the film feels a little uncomfortably empty, but there are plenty of clever twists and surprises leaving the audience little time to fill in the blanks along the way. These simple distractions actually work in the film’s favour, as when the final resolution is revealed it seems over calculated but refreshingly intelligent as well.

Levine has an acute eye for both the visual and sonic excellence that many other independent horror flicks lack, and with his extensive use of sun-bleached images, sunspots drifting in an out of focus unlike so many over sterile, too clean-cut modern horrors that appear to come straight from the factory of the “mediocre slasher-bore” is attractive to say the least. A passable retro soundtrack balances the genuinely horrific, in a good way, sound editing, as everyone who loves horror knows that the terror-aspect of the genre comes more from the use of sound and music more than the gory visuals, but Levine wisely uses both to full effect.

Throughout, “All The Boys Love Mandy Lane” is a mediation between a sophisticated exploration of the true terrors of adolescent life and an entertaining horror film that is not exactly a great film, but one that lingers in memory long enough that subsequent viewings down the road seem like a well warranted not-so-guilty pleasure. It may just be the “Scream” of the post-Scream slasher world, and that’s saying something indeed.

Fatac Rating: ***½

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane. Directed by Jonathan Levine. Written by Jacob Forman. Cinematography by Darren Genet. Music by Mark Schulz. Edited by Josh Noyes. Starring: Amber Heard, Anson Mount, Michael Welch, Aaron Himelstein, Edwin Hodge, Whitney Able, Luke Grimes and Melissa Price. Running Time: 88 minutes. Age Restriction: Not Rated. Year: 2008. Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars. [B]