Slanted review
A light body horror drama about how far you’ll go to fit in.
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Slanted
Directed by Amy Wang
Written by Amy Wang
Starring Shirley Chen, Mckenna Grace, Amelie Zilber, Vivian Wu, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Fang Du, Nicholas Myers and R. Keith Harris
Slanted Review
I always put a one line blurb on top of these reviews. They aren’t meant to be taken as a tell-all about the movie being covered, obviously. The purpose is to simply set a tone or a taste of what the movie is about. The one I wrote for Slanted feels accurate enough, but it also feels very surface level. It may have made a good tagline on a poster…but it doesn’t paint a very full picture. Slanted is more of a drama than a horror movie. A dark satire, sure…with some light body horror elements to boot. But those things aren’t what the movie is about.
Joan (Shirley Chen) is the daughter of a Chinese couple who grew up in America. It causes a divide between them…with Joan inundated with an entirely different culture. Namely, a culture that values and accepts beautiful blonde women over Asian Americans. She’s obsessed with becoming prom queen…something she sees as possible when the school’s favorite popular girl drops out of the race. When she realizes the school will never vote for her over the next blonde in line…Joan decides to take drastic measures. A cutting edge surgery that turns her into the All-American blonde of her dreams (Mckenna Grace).
Obviously this all sounds insane. And not totally unlike a somewhat reverse Soul Man. Slanted treats being white like an unlosable paradise. This is part of the satire, of course…but it’s a key part of Joan’s perspective. She elects to turn her back on her heritage to fit into what she considers the social norms of her actual homeland. Not just fit in…thrive. Because being white is amazing in the world of Slanted. I think some people will take that message the wrong way. The view of America and being white comes from the eyes of someone who feels like an outsider. There are some over-the-top ideas here…but they make sense from Joan’s viewpoint. There are stores for prayers and guns all over the place…that sure seems like a pointed commentary from the perspective of what it feels like to come to the US from another country to me.
The surgery itself is presented as an underground but soon to be booming (if you’ll pardon the pun) operation. Joan becomes aware of it through her use of an app that “Americanizes” her look in photos. She likes the look so much she eventually dies her hair blonde…much to her mother’s chagrin. Her father is more supportive…later explaining that he understands what it’s like to try and fit in. Unfortunately, he tells her too late that he eventually learned that the real American dream isn’t bending to other’s expectations and acceptance. By the time they have that heart to heart…he’s talking to a daughter who has begun to discover the downsides of her surgery.
It goes pretty well at first, of course. Now known as Jo…Mckenna Grace is able to effortlessly climb the social ladder. She befriends the most popular girl in school…and inches closer to her prom queen dream. While her social status rises…her personal issues begin to grow. Her parents are, expectedly, aghast at her decision. Her best friend isn’t a fan either. These things only get worse when Jo finds how easy it is to find yourself on the other side of the looks and treatment that she received as Joan. Wanting to fit in means…having to fit in, after all.
Slanted does a pretty good job telling the story it wants to tell. It has ideas that feel authentic even within a slightly exaggerated setting. As a drama, Slanted more or less works. The satire can be more hit or miss…and it’s rarely as funny as it could be. The issue is wanting that dramatic tone to stick. It’s hard to have comedic moments work when the story makes you feel bad. It’s interesting…but ultimately too slow and a little depressing to pull laughs from. If the story had adopted a zanier tone that matched its out there concept…Slanted might have found a better balance. The body horror elements amount to some saggy face moments and culminate in something a bit bloodier…but it’s not going full Substance here.
Ultimately, Slanted would have benefited from focusing on how crazy this all is. At least, it would have made for a more entertaining movie. I understand why that isn’t the movie we got. The commentary is too pointed for this not to come from a personal place that writer/director Amy Wang would have wanted to present as a drama. If you can picture a version of Mean Girls that removes the laughs and adds in a race switching element…you’ll kind of get where Slanted is going. I guess I could have just used that as the opening blurb.
Scare Value
Slanted works pretty well in delivering the movie that it wants to. That might not quite be the movie that you want it to be, however. There’s an 80s style version of this that would have been completely bonkers and thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. In 2026, we have to settle for some light satire and dark drama. Not bad. But not what it could have been. At least from a pure entertainment standpoint.
2.5/5
Slanted Link
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