A slow-burn, surreal nightmare that honors paranoia-filled dramas of the '60s and '70s that has a shocking payoff to make it feel entirely original, all grounded by Essoe's tortured performance.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 20, 2023

Equal parts occult horror and slasher flick, Starry Eyes is definitely a B movie, but fairly well done, as such.

| Mar 11, 2020

Unfortunately, it becomes a grisly, exploitative Faustian romp in the second half, reduced to cliché and depending on a descent into violent gore.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 12, 2019

The characters also have very real and complicated relationships. Nothing is one-dimensional.

| Aug 21, 2018

An age-old fable given a modern Hollywood twist, Starry Eyes is a sublimely satirical and horrific examination of the real price of blind ambition that isn't afraid to let things get nasty or weird.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 7, 2016

A rough, gritty indie combo of Faust and Black Swan -- set in the cutthroat world of young Hollywood.

| Aug 23, 2015

...creepy and funny and would be great as a midnight movie.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 1, 2015

...an ambitious (and sporadically engaging) misfire.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 20, 2015

Horror fans should keep their eyes on the filmmakers - and Essoe, who gives a star-making performance.

| Original Score: B+ | Nov 21, 2014

Not a slow burn so much as a strong build up, and once STARRY EYES gets where it's going the film becomes explosively violent and shocking.

| Nov 14, 2014

STARRY EYES' story is not uncommon, but its execution is grand. The film is harrowing and insightful, unafraid to go to places both dark and deep.

| Nov 14, 2014

"Starry Eyes" may leave you feeling hopeless, but its bleak vision of masochistic perfectionism is clear-eyed, cogent, and devastatingly unsettling.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 14, 2014

It has often been said that Hollywood changes people. "Starry Eyes" disturbingly, unforgettably takes this adage to the literal brink, then pushes far beyond it for chillingly good measure.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 13, 2014

The degeneration into familiar genre tropes reduces the impact of the wittily satirical set-up, with the result that Starry Eyes fails to live up to its initial promise. But the film indicates genuine talent on the part of its directors/screenwriters.

| Nov 13, 2014

There are hints of satire beneath the goings-on, but if that was the intent, it's too veiled.

| Nov 13, 2014

It may take a little while to get there, but once it does it is worth taking this diabolically offbeat journey.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 13, 2014

Writer-directors Kevin Klsch and Dennis Widmyer have inexplicably nullified the film's horrific aspects by preceding them with mundane, everyday awfulness.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 12, 2014

Uneven ...

| Nov 11, 2014

Starry Eyes builds to an eye-gouging, head-spinning climax without ever losing track of its aim ...

| Sep 28, 2014

A razor-sharp shot across the bows of Tinseltown.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 28, 2014