There is the sweet smell of success with the movie Little Erin Merryweather. This movie opened to rave reviews at the New York City Horror Film Festival. All the stars are aligned. There are good-looking young actors, a fresh story, a new character in horror and a memorable sound track. This is an ambitious film with a lot of pop culture and cult status seems assured.<br /><br />The movie creates a new chapter in horror with its strong feminist theme. Add to that an eerie premise which revolves around young men in jeopardy. One might see this directly from the movie i.e. a scene where the three young men are watching our villainess, the lady in red, pass by them on a college campus. The more brash teenage boys sort of jeer at her as if to say that she has no problem picking off boys that seem to be gruff and tough whereas one of the main characters, Peter, has the virginal strength to fight her off.<br /><br />It may be why Peter and our villainess Erin connect. This movie may also be about the strength of the repressed. Unlike a lot of other slashers, it is interesting how these victims are portrayed. They are typical college kids. No one is a star vying for an academy award and the performances are all the more absorbing because of that. Instead of a high body count the victims are people that the audience comes to care about partly because the script is smartly set into the normsville of everyday life. When it seems more normal and accessible to the audience, they can relate to it. Then all of a sudden you find that what is supposed to be normal college life can become very threatening and scary.<br /><br />What's nice about this movie is it follows a basic rule of thumb- it's not what you see but what you don't see that is scary. It is the anticipation of knowing what's going to happen but not knowing exactly where and when. It also builds and builds and as time goes on the audience gradually gets a closer look at the villainess in a frightening immobilized doll's mask. The villainess is deftly played by Vigdis Anholt.<br /><br />Anholt, Morwick, Callahan and Johnson all bring in strong performances. Morwick who plays the role of Peter (also screenwriter and director) does a wonderful job of portraying a vulnerable character with a little boy quality that the audience comes to care about. Peter's best friends Teddy and Sean are played by Brandon Johnson and Marcus Bonee who are unfortunately not so lucky and the audience waits in dread.<br /><br />This movie is cleverly balanced with moments of terror and carefully chosen moments of comic relief. The movie is special because it is taking this genre and doing something fresh with it. Through stylized photography and artwork and a score that is close to a hauntingly sweet jack-in-the-box, watch out! Beyond the beautiful exterior of it all, evil lurks. This may very well become a classic. - Reviewed by Sandra Wint, Tribeca- NYC