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| "The Lord of the Rings" was how I discovered Peter Jackson. I was interested in seeing the films because there had been a brilliant touring production of "The Hobbit" in Australia about 10 years ago now. That's how I became interested in the stories. It was an incredible production and I don't think it's ever been revived. I could be wrong though. Through "The Lord of the Rings" I discovered "The Frighteners" which is one of my favourite films, and "Heavenly Creatures". I went out and bought the extended editions box-set of "Lord of the Rings" and the director's cut of "The Frighteners" but I never could find "Heavenly Creatures". I did manage to see some of it on TV when I was in high school and I'd never forgotten it. So finally I found a copy last year which turned out to be the director's cut which wasn't actually shown at the cinemas. But I didn't know that at the time. It's based on a true story which happened in the 1950s in Christchurch, New Zealand. Juliet Marion Hulme, 15, and Pauline Yvonne Parker, 16, took Pauline’s mother out to Victoria Park on an outing and battered her to death 45 times with an improvised blackjack. They were the best of friends and they wrote stories together, dreamed up an entire fantasy world that they were going to take to Hollywood, but their friendship became obsessive and their parents tried to keep them apart. Juliet was going to be moved to Africa to stay with her aunt and Pauline wanted to go. She thought that if they removed Mother from the picture then everything would turn out fine. The last scene is, without a doubt, the most traumatic horror scene I have ever seen. I thought it made all the horror movies look like kindergarten. The lead-up to the murder was terrible. You kept hoping and hoping and hoping that they wouldn't go through with it, that they'd realized what they were doing and that they would change their minds. As they lead Mother down the path in Victoria Park, "The Humming Chorus" from Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" begins playing. Finally, there is silence, and the following exchange of dialogue: MOTHER: Yvonne, love. We should be going back. We don't want to miss the bus. Juliet, button up your coat. You'll get a chill. PAULINE: Mother, look... (Mother spots the Pink Stone that either Pauline or Juliet has planted there. Pauline raises the brick in the stocking as Mother leans over to observe it. And she brings it crashing down on Mother's head. The noise that Mother makes is just gut-wrenching. And then the sound of the brick as it hits her head, this horrible crunching noise. We only see her bloodied for a few short moments and the rest is just implied. It cuts away to a dream sequence, Juliet sailing away on the ship to Africa and Pauline sobbing hysterically from the docks. Then, darkness... And Mario Lanza's version of "You'll never walk alone" from "Carousel" begins playing. And that's the point, I'm not kidding, where I did not only have tears in my eyes, but I was sobbing, SOBBING. I, like so many other fans of the film I've since discovered, became fascinated in this case. The girls were imprisoned for 5 years and they were never allowed to contact one another ever again. After they were released, they vanished and were never heard from again. Even in 1989, when a play based on their story was produced, "Daughters of Heaven", it still wasn't publicly know where they were. When "Heavenly Creatures" opened in 1994, Juliet's identity was exposed. She was none other than crime/detective novelist ANNE PERRY whose books have been selling over the world for decades. She had to face the media all over again and tell them her story. Some of the articles from that time are very interesting and any fans of the film should check them out. In 1997, Pauline's identity was exposed. She'd been living in the UK as HILARY NATHAN. When she was confronted by the media, she said that they had the wrong person and she'd always gone by the name of Hilary. But it is her. Recently, a man wrote into the Heavenly Creatures Fourth World website (I'll include the link at the end of my message) about how he had just bought Hilary Nathan's house (and put up pictures of her drawings and illustrations on Flickr.) He said she was a very humble woman, very nice, but the place was in a shocking state. She didn't have a television or a radio. She slept on a mattress on the floor. And she spent most of her time in prayer. Her sister says that she truly regrets what she did and has been on her own all these years, paying for her crime. She has never seen the film, and would not want to, and nor has she ever been in contact with Anne/Juliet since they were imprisoned all those years ago. All Peter Jackson fans should see the film if they haven't already. I love "Lord of the Rings" but this is my favourite of his. I still haven't seen "The Lovely Bones" though.
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