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All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is a slasher movie that was made in 2006, first released in Britain in 2008, and finally got a limited theatrical release in the U.S. in October 2013, after seven years on The Shelf of Movie Languishment.

Mandy Lane (Amber Heard) is the most beautiful girl in her school, and all of her male classmates want to sleep with her, even though all indications are that she wants nothing to do with them. One of her classmates, an arrogant football player named Dylan, goes so far as to try to jump off the roof of a house into a swimming pool in order to win her love. Dylan winds up banging his head on the side of the pool and killing himself.

Fast forward nine months, where Red (Aaron Himelstein), the Big Man on Campus, is throwing a party at his parents' ranch, and all the cool kids are invited... especially Mandy. Unfortunately for the partygoers, somebody has come to the ranch uninvited, and he has his sights set on winning the heart of the beautiful Mandy Lane... no matter who gets in his way.


This film contains examples of the following tropes:

  • Alpha Bitch: Chloe. She seems to think a lot of herself, and loves putting her friends down. However, she's shown to be very insecure beneath the surface.
  • Ambiguously Bi: Chloe is interested in Garth, and is heavily implied to be into Mandy as well.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Mandy. She's athletic, she doesn't seem attracted to any of the guys in school despite all their best efforts, and her scenes with Chloe are possibly the only moments where she appears to be sexually attracted to another character. And of course, there's the Reality Subtext with Mandy's actress Amber Heard being bisexual... This would make the movie a rather interesting aversion of Bury Your Gays.
  • Asshole Victim: Mandy betrays and kills Emmet, who was willing to commit several murders out of infatuation for her.
  • Bait the Dog: Mandy fakes her kind, innocent personality to manipulate everyone around her. She also seems to be genuinely bonding with Chloe, but it's to lull her into trusting her, and Mandy later murders her with no remorse . An extremely specific example would be the Cooldown Hug she gives Chloe seconds before killing her.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: It's implied that Mandy spares Garth because of all the characters, he was the only one who did anything for her by way of kindness without asking for anything in return. Nobody else measured up to that. Not the girls who saw her as competition to be worn down, not the boys who all wanted to get into her pants, and certainly not Emmett who all along tried to friend-zone his way in. The girls themselves drop a bit of Foreshadowing that Garth remains faithful to his past wife even after she passed away and left him a widower. Garth among all the male characters does not even exhibit the slightest degree of selfish sexual interest in Mandy and only shows genuine interest in her well-being when she does find herself in a troubled spot. Although there is some Pragmatic Villainy mixed in, as noted below.
  • Big Bad: Mandy Lane herself is responsible for the murders.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Mandy, as it turns out, was in on the murders the whole time.
  • Black Dude Dies First: Played with, then subverted. When the power goes out, Red sends Bird out to turn on the generator. An experienced viewer would expect this to be his death sentence, but all that comes of it is a conversation between him and Garth. Ultimately, Marlin and Jake both wind up biting it before him. However, when he does die, it's one of the most gruesome deaths in the film.
  • Break the Haughty: Chloe slowly breaks down over the course of the film, both because of the danger and because she realizes what her attitude is costing her. She spends her final moments sobbing in Mandy's arms... before being killed by her.
  • Cerebus Callback: The flashback at the very end.
  • Chekhov's Party: The first party where Emmet goads Dylan into jumping off the roof into the pool. You can see Mandy look at Emmet from the pool, giving him the go-ahead, which is an early hint that Emmet and Mandy are in on the massacre together, and won't be confirmed until Mandy kills Chloe.
  • Cowboy: Garth, who takes care of the horses on the farm, has a brutal past as a soldier and is a proud Texan on top of that.
  • Creator Cameo:
    • The film producers appear as football coaches.
    • And later the film's writer and production designer appear as fireworks salesmen.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death:
    • Marlin has a shotgun stuffed in her mouth and fired, disfiguring her mouth. That doesn't kill her, and Emmet uses her as bait to kill Jake. Once Jake is dead, she is finally killed by a brutal whack upside the head with the same shotgun.
    • Bird has his eyes slashed by Emmet, who allows him to crawl a few feet away while taunting him, before slowly stabbing him to death.
  • Deadly Hug: How Mandy kills Chloe.
  • Developing Doomed Characters: It took about 20 minutes before any killing starts.
  • Does He Have a Brother?: When Garth and Mandy get to talking and she seems like a nice person, he asks if she has a sister around ten years older.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?:
    • The scene wherein Mandy murders Chloe is heavily sexualized.
    • Also, the scene where Emmett shoves a gun down Marlin's throat is deeply reminiscent of a rape. Given what we learn about Emmett, it makes some perverse sense.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Chloe's reaction when Mandy, who she thought was her best friend, stabs her to death. Also Emmet's reaction when he realizes Mandy was never going to go through with the suicide pact.
  • Everything is Big in Texas: A ranch? Check. A working cowboy (named Garth)? Check. Reckless use of guns and fireworks? Check. Filmed in Texas? You bet.
  • Evil All Along: Mandy manipulated Emmet into killing her friends for her, then kills him to get away with everything.
  • Eye Scream: Bird gets slashed across the eyes, blinding him before he gets stabbed repeatedly. While he's blinded, Emmet taunts him, asking him where he is.
  • Fake Boobs: Chloe wears a padded bra in order to make her breasts look larger than they really are.
  • False Friend: Mandy is this to pretty much everyone, but especially Chloe. She manipulates her into thinking she's her good friend, so when Chloe's in trouble later, she goes straight to Mandy, who promptly kills her.
  • False Reassurance: Mandy hugs Chloe and tells her it's going to be okay... then stabs her to death. She may have done it to keep her calm so she wouldn't realize what was happening.
  • Final Boy: Emmet thinks it's him, but after Mandy backstabs him, it's actually Garth.
  • Final Girl: Mandy. Pure and innocent. Subverted when it's revealed that she was in on the murders, and double subverted when she turns against the other killer Emmet, allowing her to be the Final Girl after all.
  • Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Mandy hugs Chloe, it's pretty noticeable that she's not concerned that Emmet is right there, seemingly about to kill them. You can actually see Chloe's Oh, Crap! reaction as she's figuring this out, but Mandy stabs her before she can react.
  • Foreshadowing: When Mandy is comforting Chloe in the bathroom, Chloe notes that her hands are shaking, and asks if she's okay. Just before Mandy kills Chloe, we can see her hand shaking as she holds the knife. It's possible that she does this when she's thinking about killing.
  • Genre Throwback: To gritty '80s slashers.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Chloe admits to Mandy that she's jealous of her for being prettier than she is.
  • The Heavy: Emmet does all of the dirty work .
  • Hollywood Pudgy: Marlin. But then again, the only person who says she's fat is Chloe. invoked
    Chloe: Marlin, don't get me wrong, but you're all pudge. That thing [her new belly button piercing]'s gonna get lost in the folds.
    Marlin: I'm not fat.
  • Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Mandy gives off these vibes at the beginning of the film...
  • Informed Attractiveness: Mandy is lusted over by every guy in school, but she's no standout among the other attractive girls in the cast. Though this may also be a case of simply wanting what you can't have.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Chloe's not a nice person, but she's genuinely concerned for the others when the danger starts. It's implied that deep down, she's aware of what her attitude is costing her.
  • Karma Houdini: Mandy, the film's Villain Protagonist. Not only does she survive, but Garth credits her with saving them both... completely unaware that she set the entire thing up.
  • Kick the Dog: After killing Chloe, Mandy laughs about how much blood was "gushing" from her.
  • Kiss of Death: Mandy kisses Emmet just before she betrays and kills him.
  • Laughably Evil: Emmet can be this. Some of his taunts towards his victims sound more like things you'd hear from someone watching a horror film. He's a little hard to take seriously, which should hint that he's not the true Big Bad.
  • Lovable Jock: Bird. Downplayed in that he's just as cocky as Jake and Red, and as insistent on getting into Mandy's pants, but he does have a moment during the party where he seems worried about her when Jake won't leave her alone.
  • Manipulative Bitch: Mandy manipulates Emmet into killing most of the other teens, then turns on and kills him once he's served his purpose. She also manipulates Chloe into trusting her, so that Mandy can kill her herself.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Mandy, of course. Chloe as well.
  • Nice Guy: Garth. It's the reason Mandy spared his life in the end.
  • Nice Guys Finish Last: Parodied. Emmet seems to view himself as the Dogged Nice Guy in Mandy's friendship group..and his "niceness" extends to brutally killing everyone at the party with Mandy, as she told him to. He then seems to genuinely not understand why she doesn't want to die with him, proclaiming his adoration for her...as he viciously wrestles her to the ground and tries to kill her.
  • Obviously Evil: Emmet. In the Time Skip, he wears a shirt that says "natural selection". Sound familiar?
  • Obvious Villain, Secret Villain: Exploited. Nerdy Emmett is revealed as the killer early as he's shown brutally killing his way through the party (and see Obviously Evil). But Mandy is also revealed to be his accomplice, who has been hidden in plain sight.
  • Outlaw Couple: Emmet and Mandy.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • Mandy seems rather standoffish at the party but is nice to Garth and watches him when he's injured. Of course, she needs him to trust her so that she can get away with everything.
    • When Chloe has a panic attack, Mandy takes her up to the bathroom and calms her down, reassuring her that she's okay. Subverted, since she was manipulating Chloe into trusting her, so that Mandy can kill her herself.
    • For all that she does, she seems to genuinely love her aunt.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: The other reason Mandy spares Garth. After all, she needs someone alive to take her home, and attest to her version of events...
  • Psychotic Smirk: Mandy displays one while stabbing Chloe to death.
  • Reconstruction: Of the Slasher Movie.
  • Rewatch Bonus: On second viewing, you can tell that Mandy and Emmet planned out the "dare" that kills their friend Dylan. Mandy can be seen looking up at Emmet, giving him the go-ahead.
  • The Scourge of God: Smoking weed, snorting ground-up ADD medicine stolen from younger siblings, stealing kegs of beer out of a truck parked at a gas station while the owner is standing feet away... and that's just the first twenty minutes.
  • Sex Signals Death: Marlin. Just minutes after she gives a blowjob to Jake, she gets a shotgun barrel shoved down her throat.
  • Shotguns Are Just Better: Unusually for a slasher movie, the main killer uses a shotgun on three people. note 
  • The Sociopath:
    • Mandy Lane herself. She seems kind and innocent on the surface, but she has no empathy for anyone, masterfully fakes emotions, and is responsible for the deaths of all her friends. She manipulates Chloe into thinking she's her best friend, then stabs her to death with no remorse. She uses her charm to manipulate Emmet into doing her dirty work, then turns on him and kills him, mocking him for trusting her.
    • Emmet, too. He's a total clingy jealous guy to Mandy, but he kills without remorse and takes sadistic pleasure in killing people, which is reinforced by the sexualized, brutal way he kills people.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: The radio in Chloe's car plays Latin pop music as Emmet chases down Chloe with it.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Double subverted with Emmet.
  • Straight Edge Evil: Mandy, who seems to be the quintessential Final Girl spends the Wild Teen Party abstaining from alcohol, drugs, and sex before being revealed as one of the killers.
  • Suicide Pact: Emmet and Mandy had one, in which they would kill a number of their classmates and then themselves in order to get themselves immortalized in pop culture. At least, Emmet thought it was this. Mandy was using him the whole time, and reveals at the last minute that she was never going to go through with it.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Red and Chloe, you just had to stop and kiss before you reached the car, didn't you?
  • Troperiffic: The film assumes that the viewer knows all the cliches of slasher movies and proceeds to play them all completely straight. And then subverts them all to hell in the last ten minutes.
  • Twist Ending: Mandy was in on the whole thing, as part of a Suicide Pact with Emmet. And even then, Mandy backs out of the pact at the last minute, causing Emmet to come after her.
  • Wild Teen Party: Even with only six people (one of whom isn't partaking in the debauchery), Red's party rather quickly turns into this.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Mandy turns on Emmet and kills him once he's killed all her friends for her.
    Mandy: You should never do anything for me.

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