A pretty young actress. A casting call. A private meeting with the lecherous man who has the power to give her the role. “Starry Eyes” tries to wring a horror movie out of this tired old setup but, halfway in, seems to realize it has nothing new to offer and becomes a mere gorefest.
Alexandra Essoe plays the actress, Sarah, who is frustrated by her inability to break into the business and prone to hair-pulling fits even before she goes on the fateful casting call. She makes the decision that actresses in this story line always seem to make, only to find that in succumbing to the lecher she has also sold her soul.
So far so good, but then Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, who jointly wrote and directed, appear to run out of ideas, sending Sarah on a writhing, sputtering killing spree through her circle of friends and roommates that isn’t particularly scary, just gross. Ms. Essoe does pretty well with what she’s given. It would be nice to see her in a more substantive movie.
Maybe the filmmakers think they’re saying something about prostituting oneself, in one way or another, in pursuit of the hollow goal of stardom. If so, the idea is hardly original. There are hints of satire beneath the goings-on, but if that was the intent, it’s too veiled.