Rating: 
Summary: This should be re-released
Review: It's a shame that this video is no longer available for sale. It is a piece of art.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, and gorgeous to behold.
Review: This is one of the strangest bonds between two people put on the big screen I have ever seen. However, this film is beautifully acted, with amazing settings and a terrific script. You are drawn into their world, and really understand their love for one another. Just a warning to the general public - If you are looking for the painted-up 'Titanic' version of Kate Winslet, go elsewhere. This is a film where her actual talent shows, not her cleavage.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely incredible
Review: From out of nowhere, seemingly, came this, one of the most absolutely original and astonishing films of the 1990s. Peter Jackson's film takes as its starting point the real-life murder committed by two teenage girls in Christchurch, New Zealand in the 1950s, but transforms it into a brilliant meditation on the role of escapism and fantasy in daily life and their sometimes devastating consequences. The film takes you into the bizarre Brontësque fantasy worlds of the two young women, Pauline Rieper and Juliet Hulme, as they come to turn to each other for support against the dreadful realities of adolescence and their parents' unhappy lives, and allows you to feel their mounting intensity of hysteria as their dreamworld spins out of control. Lynsket is remarkable as Pauline, but the real find in this film was Winslet, whose ripe beauty only enhances her complex portrayal of Julie, replete with all the paradoxical sensuality and innocence, charm and spitefulness, of a young woman on the verge of adulthood but avoiding the responsibilities it will entail. The ending of the film has haunted me for years. Don't miss it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Such a 'Heavenly' Film
Review: Despite the rave reviews and stylish directing coupled together with a pair of fine performances, Heavenly Creatures was simply too weird for my tastes. It's an art film, an abstract expressionists impression of what the world looks like through somebody elses eyes. Unfortunately those eyes are a pair of oddball friends who fall into a fantasy world from which they can not (nor desire) to leave. It's not to say this is a bad film, just not for everyone, as I concede my favorites like Taxi Driver and Boogie Nights might not strike the same cord with others as it did me. Especially good is Winslet, who prior to this I knew only as Rose from Titanic. It's hard to imagine her fleshing out such an emotionally crippled character which she does with remarkable effectiveness and will make it very hard for me to critize her acting ability again. It's worth checking out, that is if you can stomach an hour and a half of dancing clay figurines and ditsy dream sequences before things get really good.
Rating:
Summary: Very Powerful and Intense!
Review: This movie is one of my favorite Kate Winslet Movies. She and Melanie Lynskey were fabulous. The way the girls came to be friends and couldn't bare to be torn apart is unbelievable. It still amazes me how Kate Winslet's character, Juliet, came to be this famous author, Anne Perry.
Rating:
Summary: Kate Winslet at 18
Review: Christchurch, New Zealand, 1952: two school girls become friends and swoon over Mario Lanza, "world's greatest tenor," as they create a fantasy world of royalty and intense emotional attachment to one another. This is teen escapism carried to the nth degree. Innocence and wholesome fun do NOT prevail. As the parents grow increasingly concerned about their daughters' obsessive relationship, the girls begin to hate the parents... Based on a rather shocking (for its time) true story. Kate Winslet made her film debut in this modest comédie noire from way down under. It is amazing to realize that three years later she starred in the Academy Award winning Titanic (1997), on her way to establishing herself as one of the most charismatic and talented stars of the past decade. In retrospect, her budding talent is apparent here as the spinning, laughing, crazy teen who went off the deep end emotionally. There is no mistaking the sharp, confident and commanding Winslet style. Despite the part, Kate looks as wholesome and delicious as apple pie with cherry vanilla ice cream, yet manages to convey the demented edge necessary to the role. Full-figured and brooding Melanie Lynskey is intriguing and not easily forgotten as Kate's manic/depressive friend. Director Peter Jackson is to be commended for getting the most out of the girls, and for making their fantasy world believable. We can imagine how they fell into it.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful and thrilling film!
Review: I loved this movie! 2 girls find eachother, become intimate friends and are torn part by parents leading to a matricide. You can't tear away from this film. The imagry is great, the fantasy is exquisite, the suspense is mind tearing, and the romance is touching. This film has it all! An especially touching film for those familiar with going through their own self discovery.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: Previous to this film, director/screenwriter Peter Jackson was known for making over the top comedic horror movies like Bad Taste and Dead Alive. While those are wonderful films of their type, no one could have predicted that he would go on to create a masterpiece of modern cinema like Heavenly Creatures. This is the kind of film that makes you realize how imaginatively impoverished most other movies are. I was shocked to recently find out that the American version is about 15 minutes shorter than the New Zealand release. Here's hoping that this unique film will someday be available in the U.S. in its full-length, original version and letterboxed on DVD. Soon!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing.
Review: Somebody once said, that the novel Lolita was the only convincing love story of the century. Well, Heavenly Creatures is the only convincing cinematic love story I've seen yet. The fact this is a true story only underscores that. It's a very twisted love story, but one none the less. This film will make you feel a lot of different emotions when watching it. Both love and hate for the two main characters, a constant feel of uneasiness, especially when they go into their fantasy world, among others. The ending of this film gets me like no other film I've yet seen. You despise the girls for what they do. It's amazing how one evil act transforms your feeling for the girls. Most disgusting to me, is how real life Juliet Hulme, has gone on to make millions of dollars a myster writer. Some justice, eh? All-in-all, HC is probably in my top 5 movies for the 90's. Hopefully we'll be getting a feature ladden, widescreen DVD soon.
Rating:
Summary: Melanie Lynskey ROCKS!
Review: Heavenly Creatures is one of the greatest movies ever filmed. Mind, it takes stamina to watch it, but it's well worth it. Peter Jackson (now deservedly directing "Lord of the Rings" in New Zealand) put one of the most remarkable, beautiful, frightening, and tragic love stories on celluloid with this movie, and should be forever honored. The relationship between Juliet and Pauline gets handled with joy and exuberance, with a gradually increasing amount of uneasiness and dread. The handling of emotions in this movie is a triumph. Those who enjoy a good laugh should check out his "Dead Alive." While this movie is usually mentioned in articles as "Kate Winslet's first" its main attraction (without dissing Ms. Winslet at all) is unquestionable Melanie Lynskey, one of the most talented actresses out there (pretty much my favorite) and also one of the most unjustly neglected. Don't watch it just for her, but keep her in mind.
| 
