I have not seen any of Victor Salva's movies before until now. He is also the director of the recent horror film Jeepers Creepers. The actors are all quite good: Mary Steenburgen as the woman that tries to help, Lance Henriksen as the local sheriff, Jeff Goldblum as the science teacher, and especially Sean Patrick Flanery as Powder. The movie can be classified in a number of ways: uplifting drama, family picture, and horror. There are strong moments of absolute emotional power, beauty, and humanity as Powder tries to fit in amongst the local people, but ends up teaching them lessons about humanity instead. Powder's appearance seemed even Chaplin-like at times, emoting with the slightest variances in expressions like a mime. Like many uplifting family movies, Powder was hard to find. I had never heard of it before and wonder if it was ever in theaters even. I don't think the script was developed enough and it was a bit predictable at times. I would rate it a PG-13 movie because of the intensity in some scenes and innuendo in the bullying. Teenagers, who feel they don't fit in, will strongly identify with Powder and will probably love this movie. However, this is also a horror movie, but a different kind of horror movie. At first it seems to follow in Carrie's shoes, setting up a revenge plot. But the horror we see isn't a misfit student getting revenge in unspeakable ways on classmates. It's in the town's inability to treat Powder with humanity. *** of 4 stars.
Review of Powder
