Remember that cycle of "From Hell" movies in the 1990s? We had the babysitter from Hell in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle; the roommate from Hell in Single White Female; the tenant from Hell in Pacific Heights; the cop from Hell in Unlawful Entry; and so on... And now, very belatedly, here's Rose McGowan being menaced by the paperboy from Hell, in Victor Salva's **Rosewood Lane.
Except it looks as if there may be more to this particular antagonist than simply being a bit of a sociopath. Is there the hint of some supernatural shenanigans here? Frankly, it's too dark to really tell, but there are definite suggestions that Paperboy can do things beyond the ken of the other yoot, and that Rose isn't afraid of him like her neighbours know to be (wise warning imparted there by Rance Howard, in Fred Gwynne Pet Sematary mode).
We're also in the filthy hands of Victor Salva, whose serial-killer truck driver in Jeepers Creepers turned out to be a bat-fairy-vampire-boogeyman. Hate when that happens. So there may be a bit of a formula at play, but we may also yet be surprised: Salva, for whom this has long been a pet project, promises it's "his most terrifying story".
McGowan plays a radio psychiatrist enduring tough times after the death of her father and heading back to her childhood home to recuperate, not really expecting a "deadly game of cat and mouse". Lin Shaye, LesleyAnne Down, and Salva regular Ray Wise co-star, and Rosewood Lane premieres at LA's Screamfest this weekend.