The men are less interesting but still effective. Sargent is so over-the-top that Dave comes across as being in a different film. However, he comes across as a maniac and thus a real threat to the heroes. Ben is easily manipulated, which gives the character an arc, small though it is. The story needs villains, and these two are vile and work in that regard.
What hampers The Virgins the most is its pacing. Despite a lean 75-minute runtime, there are long stretches of nothing truly happening. The diner incident is over right around the 12-minute mark. All the characters and their motivations are set up quickly, great. Then there’s a bit of the girls getting to know the cabin and drinking and all. That makes sense, sure, but Ben and Dave don’t enter the house until approximately 35 minutes in. That is 23 minutes of nothing besides drinking and talking happening. Now, as previously mentioned, these characters are fun to be around, but that is still a stretch of just waiting for something, anything to start happening. As if that weren’t bad enough, once the evil men break into the home, they do nothing until 59 minutes in, on the dot. So that math works out to 47 minutes of nothing going on. The narrative is grinding away doing nothing while the audience is waiting for the shoe to drop and the stakes to rise.
Ben and Dave hide behind homemade masks inside the cabin in The Virgins.
“The gore effects are great…”
All that means the film has 16 minutes left to have the girls fight off the attackers, introduce their real plan for the weekend, have the family lore come into play, and have a little denouement/wrap-up scene. That is not a lot of time for any of that, so why waste close to 50 minutes on next to nothing? However, the finale is good. The gore effects are great, the theme works with everything already established, and audiences are actively rooting for Poppy and Gabby to make it out unscathed.
There is a terrific 35- to 40-minute short within The Virgins. Munroe and Atwood rule together and individually. The villains are despicable in every way, as they should be. The plot, when it chugs along, is cool. But there is a lot of nothing happening, 47 minutes of nothing, in fact. That hurts the film immeasurably. As it stands, this is a strong showcase for its young cast and for Trudrung as a director, but not as a screenwriter.
For more information, visit the official The Virgins site.
"…a strong showcase for its young cast and for Trudrung as a director..."
