The story appears simple on the surface, but is revealed, especially after multiple viewings, as more multi-layered and textured than Cassavetes at his best. Ostensibly it concerns a 14-year old Catholic girl, Wynne (Agutter) growing up in this post-modern wasteland, who develops a crush on her much older adoptive brother (Marshall)- a crush which perversely deepens and grows into infatuation once she starts to believe he is the local sex killer. This is in itself an idea that makes you sit up and jolt, but as the narrative develops, it continues not necessarily along a linear path but in several confusing and fascinating directions: the family&amp
;#39;s hist
ory, (de
tailed effecti
vely in c
hilling
flashback d
uring an im
provised seanc
e) is a che
quered
one, an
d has s
uffered at l
east one majo
r relocation a
nd upheaval
in the last
ten years.
At the crux,
however, it&
amp;#39;s th
e depict
ion of social
al changes
that mak
e I Sta
rt Count
ing so fascina
ting and elevat
e its languag
e far beyo
nd the confi
nes of t
he standard
horror f
ilm. The m
ajor subtext- t
hat teenage gir
ls were
maturing
more quickly th
an befo
re, and de
veloping fu
ll sexual an
d romant
ic appeti
tes (eve
n if in
thought rather
than dee
d) but
were no
t possessed
of enough
discretio
n to make the
right cho
ices- was
a step for
ward for
a genre i
n which i
ts young fe
males had previ
ously been p
ortrayed
as bimbo
victims (Cover
Girl Kill
er and The Nig
ht Calle
r spring to m
ind), but n
ot one
that all
viewers would
necessar
ily agre
e with. B
ut most striki
ng of all, and
possibly the
most enduring
image which t
he viewer will
take away
with them,
is of the mast
erful symbol
ism with whi
ch director Gr
eene invest
s every
shot. Every in
ch of t
he Kinch fa
mily's
world- th
eir house, t
heir wal
ls, the
ir TV, Ag
utters u
nderwear,
bedroom
furniture
and toys, Sut
cliffe&a
mp;#39;s
clothes, Mar
shalls van,
the local
Catholi
c church, t
heir town centr
e, their reco
rd shop) -
is painted a
bright, scinti
llating white
- a white whic
h, by inferen
ce, is sl
owly becomi
ng smudge
d and co
rrupted with t
he dirt of the
outside worl
d. White also
symbolises,
of cour
se, puri
ty and innoc
ence (two qual
ities Catholi
c schoolgir
ls are supp
osed to
hold de
ar), an
d it is in
to this w
orld of innoc
ence that t
he ever-pr
esent red
bus (a symbol o
f violati
on and penetr
ation), cond
ucted by the le
cherous yet
similarly ju
venile
Simon Ward,
makes regu
lar journeys. T
he allegory
is further
expanded in
one scene
where
Agutter be
lieves
she sees
the Christ fig
ure in
church
weeping
blood: by
the time
we acknow
ledge i
t, its gon
e, but
the seed has
already been
planted. Rar
ely in a genr
e production
has the use o
f colour an
d backgrou
nd been so im
portant or ef
fective in
creating a un
iformity of mo
od. I Start C
ounting i
s as near
-perfect a
n end to a deca
de as one
could hope f
or, and exact
ly the kind o
f film peopl
e should be ma
king now- whi
ch is, of
course, exac
tly why the
y never will
. A genre es
sential.
by D.R.
The story app
ears simple on
the surfac
e, but is r
evealed,
especial
ly after
multiple
viewings, a
s mor