Teen movies have shaped our very existence, long after we’re teenagers, and long after the films’ cultural markers make no sense. The Real World, anyone? And now there’s a proper documentary all about the teen movie. Charlie Lyne, who, at the age of 21, is barely out of teenagerhood himself, has used a Kickstarter account and some funding from the British Film Institute to make a documentary all about the history of the teen film between 1995-2004. That's because it's the most prolific era of teen films, and threw out some of the weirdest and most wonderful movies of the genre.
A 'film essay', it is made up of clips from 200+ teen films, and is narrated by Fairuza Balk ('the perfect choice of narrator') who played the magic-mad violence-crazy villain in The Craft. Its soundrack also includes music from Summer Camp.
Debuted at SXSW, the initial reviews are positive. And although the film isn't earth shattering, there are meant to be some interesting montages highlighting just how clichéd each pool/make-out/school disco/frat party/lunch-time in the cafeteria scene in every single teen movie can be. One reviewsays it is 'a smart analysis of the high school movie genre'. However, the film isn’t sold on everyone, with ChristianityToday.com’s reviewer saying that it ‘desperately needs to go back to high school itself to relearn the difference between topic and thesis.’ Eeek! To be honest, we wouldn't expect great reviews of a documentary full of teen movie sex scenes from a Christian website.
Ahead of the film's official release - we sure hope it will be released somewhere over here - we’d love a list of all of those films. If any of the 200 used in this documentary are anywhere near as good as Mean Girls, Heathers or The Craft then we’d actually pray for a rainy summer so we can spend full weekends indoors in front of the TV with the curtains firmly shut. Apart from Road Trip. We’re ok with missing that one the second time around.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.