''The Ugly'' is a 1997 New Zealand

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

, the first feature directed and written by Scott Reynolds. The film starred

Paolo Rotondo Paolo Rotondo is a New Zealand director, writer and actor of stage and screen. Biography Rontondo was born in Napoli, Italy, from a Neapolitan father and New Zealand mother of Irish descent. He grew up in Italy and moved to New Zealand when h ...

, Rebecca Hobbs,

Jennifer Ward-Lealand ' Jennifer Cecily Ward-Lealand (born 8 November 1962) is a New Zealand theatre and film actor, director, teacher and intimacy coordinator. She has worked for 40 years, appearing in over 120 theatre performances: Greek, Shakespeare, drama, come ...

, and Roy Ward. The film is about a psychiatrist who is meeting with a serial killer to determine whether or not he has been successfully cured. They delve into a journey through his past and his victims, and through this "The Ugly," a distorted allusion to

The Ugly Duckling "The Ugly Duckling" ( da, Den grimme ælling) is a Danish literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). It was first published on 11 November 1843 in ''New Fairy Tales. First Volume#New Fairy Tales. Fir ...

, is revealed. It was nominated for best film awards at festivals in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Plot

Inside of an old, decrepit insane asylum in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, detained

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

Simon Cartwright (

) seeks to be reevaluated by an outside psychiatrist to prove that he has been cured. He specifically asks for Dr. Karen Schumaker (Rebecca Hobbs), who has recently gained some notoriety from winning a case involving another serial killer. Simon is abused by Philip and Robert (Paul Glover and Christopher Graham), two orderlies at the asylum. When Karen arrives, she argues with the head of the asylum, Dr. Marlowe (Roy Ward), who believes she is getting involved in Simon's case for the publicity. As she is led to her first session with Simon, another patient named Marge (Darien Takle) warns Karen to watch out for "The Ugly." Simon's backstory is explored through a series of flashbacks. As a youth, Simon was the target of abuse by his mother (

). She drove away the only person Simon had ever cared about, Julie (

Vanessa Byrnes Vanessa Byrnes is a director, actress and educator in New Zealand. She has collaborated on many theatre and screen productions including feature films, short films, television commercials and theatre. As an educator she completed a PhD at the Uni ...

), and had prevented his wealthy father from taking custody and giving him a better life. In response to this, Simon murdered his mother and, after an attempt to cover up the crime, was locked in an asylum for five years. Upon his release Simon killed over a dozen random people, including Julie. However, Simon spared the life of a teenaged deaf girl, recognizing that she was like him. Simon explains that it is "the ugly" that makes him kill; it will not leave him alone until he has satisfied its voice. Karen discovers that "The Ugly" is Simon's alternate persona, and that he has psychic powers. At the end, Simon kills Philip and Robert, escapes the insane asylum, and kills Karen.

Cast

as Simon Cartwright ** Caelem Pope as Simon, aged 4 ** Sam Wallace as Simon, aged 13 * Rebecca Hobbs as Dr. Karen Shumaker * Roy Ward as Dr. Marlowe * Paul Glover as Philip * Cristopher Graham as Robert * Darien Takle as Marge *

as Evelyn Cartwright * Cath McWhirter as Helen Ann Miller * Vanessa Byrnes as Julie ** Beth Allen as Julie, aged 13

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 40% based on 5 reviews, with a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

of 5.44/10. IMDb has a rating of 6.0/10.0 with 57 reviews and 37 critic reviews.

Special effects

Director Scott Reynolds made a stylistic decision to depict all blood shed in the movie as a dark, black color. Author

John Kenneth Muir John Kenneth Muir (born December 3, 1969) is an American literary critic. As of 2022, he has written thirty reference books in the fields of film and television, with a particular focus on the horror and science fiction genres. Biography Bo ...

writes in his book, ''Horror Films of the 1990s'', about how this visual cue may suggest that Simon never saw his victims as being human, making it easier for him to kill.

Awards

The film had 14 award nominations with 7 wins. At the 1999 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (USA) awards the film was a nominee for the best home video release. Fangoria Chainsaw Awards (1999) they were a nominee for best limited-release/direct-to-video film, best actor (Paulo Rotondo) and best actress. (Rebecca Hobbs) At FantaFestival (1997) it won best actor. (Paulo Rotondo) Fantasporto (1998) it won 2 awards and had 1 nomination. Best actress (Rebecca Hobbs) and outstanding first feature. (Scott Reynolds) it had a nomination for best film. New Zealand Film and TV Awards (1997) it won 2 awards, best contribution to design (Richard Taylor) and best design. (Grand Major) Puchon International Fantastical Film Festival (1997) it won 1 award and had 1 nomination. Citizen of choice award and best of puchon. Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival (1997) it won 1 award and had 1 nomination. Best director and best film.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ugly, The 1997 films 1990s New Zealand films New Zealand horror films New Zealand independent films 1990s psychological thriller films 1990s serial killer films 1997 horror films 1997 independent films 1990s English-language films