Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I was intrigued by the synopsis when I stumbled upon this movie. I typically enjoy these 50's/60's coming of age period movies ala "Man in the Moon". That was my expectation, a different spin on "Man in the Moon". The movie started out pretty good and I was intrigued. Around 20mins in, story elements just seemed scattered all over the place. In the introductory scene, Lewellen discusses bruises on her body and how she's going to kill her daddy. I'm all set to witness a young girl who's obsessed with meeting Elvis, kill her dad. One of those two things ought to be her goal? Nope. That's the last thing we hear or see about her resentment towards her dad. In fact, she's quite fond of her dad through the rest of the story. So, maybe it's about her journey to see Elvis? I recognize his music is what comforts her, but the story is setup for an Elvis meeting... and when she misses out on the Elvis concert at the midpoint, I figure the ending will also involve Elvis. As a screenwriter myself, her missing out on Elvis at the midpoint has me suspect that she will not be successful in this goal, and she isn't. In fact, Elvis is really never mentioned in the last half of the movie. The snakes throughout were kinda cool, but what did they mean? Symbolism for sure... but extremely vague in my mind. Throughout the last half of the movie, I'm waiting for something to happen. I want clarity on what her goal really is, what the story's about, and I'm waiting... still waiting... and end credits. What? It's a shame that such beautiful scenery, music, and acting talent was wasted on such a lousy story. I didn't get it at all. So, I do some brief investigating and this is what I found...I've already mentioned I didn't like the story or the screenwriter's (Deborah Kampmeier) attempt at putting together a story. OK, so who's the director? Hmm, the director is also Deborah Kampmeier. Hmm, OK so who's the producer that actually liked the project enough to through some money at it? also, Deborah Kampmeier. I'm sorry to say it, but this leads me to believe that no one in the industry wanted to get on board this project. This explains the strange use of 'symbolism'(?) throughout the movie, because it was weird enough that only one person understood it... Deborah Kampmeier. I couldn't figure out if the snakes represented evil, poison, personal demons, etc... who knows? With 20mins remaining in the film, I suspected the snakes were actually symbolic for good? Perhaps a cleansing of the soul? But then at the very end, when dad goes to pick up a dead snake and the snake has a 'dead reflex' to strike... the dad is bit. Yet, Lewellen skips happily along and into the house... roll credits. What? Backup. OK, so maybe... just maybe... if she actually disliked her abusive father this would make sense. But, he wasn't abusive and she loved her father. What? It almost seems like there was an original script with a major rewrite, and no one bothered to fix the ending?I also noticed that pretty much any film Deborah Kampmeier has been associated with, has also been written, directed, and produced by herself. She's also teaches a master scene study class in New York City. Who am I, a newbie screenwriter (who can spot 20+ things wrong with this story), to critique Deborah? Hmm, maybe it's just me?

This film is sheer brilliance. I love it, and it was an emotional film, which I am a fan of. It sounds to me like all of these people heard about the movie, got their hopes way to far up and then were let down. I saw this for the first time today, I never heard any hype about it because I wasn't into indie-films when it first came out so I had no pre-conceived notion about this film before watching. The writing is beautiful, Dakota Fanning's portrayal is amazing. The character of the father was done so well and all in all this was a wonderful movie. I don't think it was meant to have a clear cut "this is the point of the movie". Not all movies are like that and not all movies should be like that. This is a real and raw film and truly heart breaking. Most of the reviewers who reviewed this movie are way off base because I thought this was wonderful.

Hounddog is a movie about many things people (including the author), love to hate about the Old South. The director, Deborah Kampmeier, resorts to cliché after cliché to tell her half-baked story that I'll get mentioning in a few lines. She set the story in the south for no plot necessary reason, and layers our expectations with even more expectations. All of the young white adults are pitiable, uneducated characters who have no control over their lives. The old one is a hard-lined Christian nut, and the black people are oppressed yet compassionate because they are black. This story's only noteworthy player is Fanning's character Lewellen. She is a preteen girl, admittedly a caricature herself, who was fortunately played by someone who delights the audience with her rendition of Scout Finch.She resides with her alcoholic father and enjoys swimming in the river and Elvis LPs. She has to move in with her strict grandmother when a cartoon thunderbolt strikes her father while he is mowing the lawn. Seriously, this happens for no reason and demonstrates the film's low budget. The CG effect is laughably obvious.Lewellen is in the summer before physical womanhood. She has as much fun playing dress up as she does offering boys kisses for peeks at their penises. She is totally unaware of how much of a woman she is going to be. The director plays on her innocence and includes a scene of particular cruelty made worse by our attachment to Lewellen as enhanced by Fanning's accent and method acting.Lewellen wakes up one morning and is greeted by a lascivious milkman. The poor guy has enough pimples to fit the ugly never-going-to-have-a-girlfriend stereotype you forgot that you had. You probably forgot about it because you aren't used to directors pigeonholing their audiences into such obvious setups.The milkman entices Lewellen with the promise that he will give her tickets to an Elvis concert. He meets her in a barn and asks her to strip and perform "Hound Dog," after which he rapes her. The scene is framed in such a way that we don't see him committing the act. It is not intended to be exploitative. The camera moves over her anguished face and her hand is gouged on a nail. The blood flows from her hand so you can see the coming adulthood metaphor in case the rape wasn't sufficient.Like the lightning bolt, the rape scene isn't required. It's a slap in the face to the audience that has been encouraged to grow attached to the character. I'm not offended by the rape itself, even given the age of the victim. I'm angry that the director uses it as an attempt to resuscitate her story. This story doesn't merit putting us through it. Lewellen does get better with the help of the token black characters, and the film finally ends.Hounddog was a critical and commercial failure and may have caused the end to Kampmeier's carrier. Fanning's portrayal of Lewellen is worth watching, especially the visceral way she interprets the trauma of the rape. It doesn't mean you should watch movie, but it may provide a director with a glimpse into her range for a horror or thriller.

HOUNDDOG(In the style of Elvis' hit song "Hound Dog")You ain't nothing but a "Hounddog" Stinking all the time You ain't nothing but a "Houndog" Boring all the time Well, you ain't caught a "love it" And you ain't no movie friend of mineWell they said you were high classed (did they?) Well that was just a lie Well they said you had no plot class Well that was not a lie You ain't never caught a viewer And you ain't no friend of fine (Song over)Let's just say that the awful southern-themed "Hounddog" had no bark and no bite. The film stars Dakota Fanning as Lewellen, a tween southern girl in the 50's who obsesses for Elvis music. Dakota was not north or south in her mediocre performance as Lewellen; even though I was hoping Ms. Fanning would muzzle the "Hound Dog" after her 100th rendition of Elvis' classic song. Lewellen's father is an idiotic redneck who was struck by lightning, a feeling I was hoping would happen to the film screen as I was watching David Morse's repugnant performance as Daddy. Her grandmother Grammie (portrayed stupidly by Piper Laurie) is a prejudiced controlling woman whose pathetic behaviors made me want to hope that this grandma would get run over by a reindeer, or any deer for that matter. What in the world made the talented Robin Wright Penn get involved in this atrocious film playing a hideous Stranger Lady and also serving as Executive Producer? It was the wrong Pennmanship for the former Mrs. Sean Penn. Writer-Director Deborah Kampmeier's disturbing and flat film-making pulled in a Non-Oscar Kampmeier Weiner disgraceful status. "Hounddog" has been labeled as the Dakota Fanning rape movie, but I think it's the viewers of this film which were really victimized with a dreadful cinematic assault. *Failure