Movies News Talk
One of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School's villain reminds us to check two real crime documentaries. Summer School is the second season in Max's Pretty Little Liars spinoff, which centers five teenage girls under attack by a masked killer. Original Sin, Archie Waters targets Noa, Mouse, Faran, Tabby, and Imogen in the first season since he and his father blame their parents for guiding his sister Angela Waters to her death. But in Summer School, the Liars pose a far more serious threat when they oppose the villain Bloody Rose.
Although at first they think the killer is their therapist or Karen's mother, the ending of Summer School shows Bloody Rose is Mrs. Langsberry – Chip's mother – and Wes – Tabby's ex-boss from the Orpheum is the guy wearing the Archie mask. Mrs. Langsberry's revealing is, to be honest, uninspired. But Wes's villain, background narrative, and motives serve as a reminder to see two shockingly identical real crime documentaries.
Viewers of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School who enjoy real crime will find Wes's drive for assisting Bloody Rose relatable. Seeking celebrity, the character chose to create a film featuring actual victims. Netflix debuted a three-part docuseries featuring a similarly minded killer in 2019. Don't F**k With Cats tracks the online detectives who assisted in identifying Luka Rocco Magnotta, a man who filmed and shared films of killing kittens and killing another man called Jun Lin. Magnotta reminds Wes from Pretty Little Liars: Summer School quite a bit.
Magnotta worked as an actor in adult films, auditioned for a reality TV show called Cover Guy, created sock puppet stories to tell tales about himself, and yearned to be famous. He circulated tales of his celebrity and altered pictures. Wes made extra effort in Summer School to discuss significant movie ideas that would make him famous absent from him being a heterosexual white male. In the end, Magnotta and Wes turned to murder — an act most people seeking celebrity would never undertake – as neither of them could become famous using traditional channels. Don't F**k With Cats claims Luka Magnotta even emailed the London Sun saying, "I will continue to make more movies. The next time you hear from me, it will be a film I'm working on with some humans in it.... This reflects Wes's comments about creating a horror film with actual death involved. Watching the docuseries can help anyone wishing to get a better grasp of Wes's character. Note that Don't F**k With Cats has significant trigger warnings.
In the last scene of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, Wes's army of proxies visits the Orpheum and Tabby's house threatening everyone. Their disguises let them follow Mrs. Langsberry's bidding for Wes. SpookySpaghetti and Bloody Rose were first an homage to Creepy Pasta and Slenderman. In both instances, the online community that supported the tale helped a persona developed to be "real" to assume a life of its own.
But Wes's homicidal agents are a mirror reflecting the actual Slenderman stabbings documented in Beware the Slenderman. The documentary examines the situation when two 12-year-old girls named Anissa Weir and Morgan Geyser attacked their classmate Payton Leutner, stabbing her 19 times, to please Slenderman and serve as his proxies. Likewise, Wes's proxies are ready to inflict acts of violence and self-harm in order to provide fictitious heroine Bloody Rose happiness in Summer School. Only one of the proxies' faces is seen in the documentary Beware the Slenderman, hence nothing is even known about the figure and it offers a decent insight into the mentality of someone who can operate in similar manner. With season 3 of the spinoff, hopefully some of the unresolved issues regarding the proxies from Pretty Little Liars: Summer School will be clarified.
Entertaining to see, Max's Pretty Little Liars spinoff has given a lot of attention on horror movie references and homages. But Wes's plot and drive turn out to be far more grounded than those of any normal horror film. His misogyny and racism toward Tabby mirror real-life social problems that, sadly, are much too widespread. Being a heterosexual white male, he is so privileged that he cannot understand a Black teen girl surpassing him depending on her credentials.
The show moves toward its villain as a more serious menace. This is not like the crazy backstory of horror villains or the soap opera tone of the original Pretty Little Liars. Wes in Max's Pretty Little Liars would fit the shaded middle ground like Norman Bates and John Kramer in the Venn diagram of grounded reasons and conventional horror villain backstories.
Inspired by real crime, the Pretty Little Liars series has always included mystery, suspense, and dark secrets into its narratives. Pretty Little Liars: Summer School most clearly shows this obsession with real crime. Inspired by documentaries and real-life events, the show threads them into the fabric of its storyline. This method generates a grounded realism that helps viewers familiar with genuine crime stories to relate to the characters and their challenges.
Pretty Little Liars: Summer School's fundamental themes of identity, power relationships, and the darker side of human nature entwine the true crime components into their fabric. The link of the show to genuine crime reminds us that actual events can be equally gripping and terrifying as fictitious stories. Pretty Little Liars: Summer School asks viewers to consider the complexity of human behavior and the possibility for darkness to hide in even the most unlikely locations by examining these issues from a true crime perspective.