Intensity 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Written and Directed by Emily Robinson
Ugly Cry comes from the perspective of a director who broke into Hollywood as a teenager, starring in the movie Eighth Grade. Robinsion is still quite young, in her mid-twenties, but she has already experienced the full-on tension of trying to please casting directors and competing for jobs against hordes of other aspiring actresses. It is the classic Hollywood story. Thread the needle between committing to the moment while not overacting. Be beautiful, but to succeed as an actress, you need to push your emotions. Bring that passion, but do not wrinkle your face or distort your carefully honed image.
We are in the midst of a female-body-horror movie moment. Ugly Cry joins the ranks of this powerful new trend. The door has been opened for female directors to have their say on their perceptions of beauty and Hollywood’s expectations. On the heels of movies like The Substance (Dir. Coralie Fargeat), The Ugly Stepsister (Dir. Emilie Blichfeldt), and Grafted (Dir. Sasha Rainbow), which took a decidedly more graphic take on body horror, Ugly Cry explores the emotional distress of self-doubt and bad decisions made under pressure. This film is horror-adjacent, but it will have you urging our protagonist, “No, honey, don’t do that! Not in the face!” by the end. What Ugly Cry has most in common with the aforementioned films is that they are all self-mutilation-themed. It is self-destruction in the pursuit of perfection.
The lesson? Learn to cry pretty.
It’s not body horror, but it is a film about the horror of having a body… Cry with abandon. But don’t wrinkle your face. Be beauttiful, but not intimidatingly beautiful. Be real. But not too real. Be you, but better. That’s how it feels sometimes.
Emily Robinson
The Cast of Ugly Cry:
- Emily Robinson plays Delaney, an actress trying to get her first big break in Hollywood.
- Aaron Dominguez plays Mile, Delaney’s actor boyfriend, who is scheduled to leave on location to play a zombie for a big release feature film.
- Ryan Simpkins plays Maya, Delaney’s best friend, who often ends up competing with her at the same casting auditions.
- Robin Tunney plays Valeria, Delaney’s protective mom, whom Delaney doesn’t see as often as she should.
- Ray Abbruzzo plays Walt, Delaney’s acting coach.
- Melinda McGraw plays Dr. Mari, a plastic surgeon.
A Synopsis of Ugly Cry:
Delaney is looking to get her first big break in the rough and tumble world of Hollywood. She is taking acting classes to fine-tune her emotional connection to her performances. She struggles with heavy emotional scenes, though, which result in unconvincing and cringeworthy takes. Her acting coach, Walt, notes that she is “So close… but do yourself a favor, and commit.”
As she prepares for the loneliness of having Miles leave town for a while, she gets a golden opportunity. Her agent sends her an audition for a horror film, “Living Ghost”. As it so happens, the role requires a big emotional scene in which she would have to cry. She practices in front of a mirror and watches “how to cry” YouTube videos to ensure she nails the audition. She knows she has to bring additional gravitas to her presentation. So, she channels latent fears of Miles having an affair, and that seems to do the trick. Her remote audition features her big scene read devolving into heaving sobs, guttural wailing, and leaving nothing to chance. She has finally found that nerve. That something extra.
Except, it didn’t play well with the casting director. The review said they liked her performance but noted she made a “weird” face when she cried.
To add to her difficulties, she found out that Maya is competing for the same role. And, adding salt to the wound, Maya asks her to help her with her read-through, and Delaney sneaks a peek at Maya’s phone to find out that Maya may be the producer’s preference. Meanwhile, she and Miles are having difficulties finding time to talk, and her mom is nagging her about family issues. This drives Delaney to get Botox to try to minimize the natural wrinkles that occur when crying.
Delaney’s life slowly unravels as nothing goes her way. Her self-doubt and loathing are leading to hallucinations and paranoia. Her body is turning on her, too, with her hair falling out and rashes erupting in unfortunate areas. Unfortunately, she spins bad decisions into worse reactions. Can she break this spiral descent, or is this all a big miscalculation on her part?
An Evaluation of Ugly Cry:
Though marketed as a horror film, it is probably better described as a dark drama, with a touch of body horror. It absolutely belongs in the current pantheon of female body image horror, as it addresses many of the same issues. Clearly, this is a passion project. Fortunately, she has not fallen into the trap of making the story too complicated, as can happen with first features. There is a clear focus, and importantly, Delaney is a protagonist that you want to watch. You care about her struggles. When she makes poor decisions, the desire to yell at the screen to get her to reconsider her moves (particularly some really poor decisions at the end).
Her supporting cast does a wonderful job of providing a framework for her eventual manias. You can understand her frustrations with them. However, they are her support system, and her mistrust is blowing her worries into paranoid accusations. Compounding her problems is poverty, as she babysits on the side and has maxed out her credit cards. Plus, her agent has even told her that she’s not getting any younger. Not helping! A dubious thing to say to a 24-year-old actress, who most would consider to be in her prime. Similarly, her plastic surgeon has doubts that she needs any work done. She’s too young for Botox. Undaunted by this, Delaney blindly and desperately pushes for the procedure. Ah, what we do for beauty.
Grounding everything here is the fact that Emily Robinson is an absolute joy to watch on screen, particularly when she is crying. She GOES FOR IT. Delaney’s first attempt at crying that we see is an insincere performance in acting class. We get to compare that to her eventual wracking, convulsive, ugly crying later on, and it’s a marvel to watch. Snot streaming out of her nose, buckling over in emotional pain. It’s great. I think it’s also a bit much for the scene, and I think that’s the point.
Committing to the emotions of a big, dramatic scene is a drama school cliche so broad that even non-actors are aware of it. Robinson’s critique here is of Hollywood’s desire for melodrama without the side effects, and how these pressures encourage actors to do some pretty stupid shit to meet these expectations.
Concluding Thoughts:
I am 100% down with horror movies (and near-horror movies) exploring the literal ugly side of Hollywood. It is the most visceral way to get your point across. Robinson is lovely. She is pretty in the girl-next-door variety. However, should Robinson decide that she doesn’t want to play Hollywood’s game and commit to working behind the camera and at the keyboard, she still has a bright future. She is already a published author of a novel, Consumed, “A gritty, subversive tale of love, loss, and psychoses in the digital age (and it features a little cannibalism). At such a young age, she has accomplished quite a bit. I’m betting that she is capable of the trifecta of writing, directing, and acting for a long while. I would get in line should she decide to create a cannibalism movie.
Ugly Cry had its world premiere at the prestigious SXSW. The next opportunity to catch Ugly Cry will be at the Overlook Film Festival from April 9-12, one of the best horror genre film festivals in America. It does not have a distributor or a wide release/streaming date yet. The movie is currently unrated, and would probably warrant an R rating for language, sexual situations, and scenes of self-mutilation… though none of these elements are prominent. It would likely be appropriate for mature teen viewing.
Review by Eric Li
Epilogue: My Top Ten Ugly Cry Moments in Horror Movies
To honor Delaney’s emotional sacrifice, here are my favorite ugly-cry scenes from horror movies. See, it’s not so bad to spill your guts out before you have to spill your guts out (literally). None of these scenes features pretty cries. These are full-body, prolonged painfully emotional breakdowns. Take THAT Hollywood expectations!
- Annie’s (Toni Collette) breakdown after the death of Charlie in Hereditary. (Also, her breakdown after Steve catches fire… It’s a two-fer.)
- David Drayton’s (Thomas Jane) collapse after realizing he killed all his companions for nothing at the end of The Mist.
- John Baxter’s (Donald Sutherland) abject grief after hauling his drowned daughter Christine’s corpse from the pond in Don’t Look Now.
- Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) mourns Newt at her autopsy in Alien 3.
- Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) wants to know “What’s in the BOX!?!?” in Se7en.
- Robert (Will Smith) euthanizes his dog, Sam, when he turns in I am Legend.
- Dani (Florence Pugh) is overcome with emotions as she sacrifices her boyfriend, Christian, to be burned alive (in a bear skin) in Midsommar.
- Wendy Torrance’s(Shelly Duvall) panicky desperation while being pursued by Jack in The Shining.
- Anna’s (Isabella Adjani) violent and manic subway miscarriage in Possession. Talk about commitment to a performance!
And now… add Ugly Cry for Number Ten!
