PRETTY LETHAL
(director: Vicky Jewson; screenwriter: Kate Freund; cinematographer: Bridger Nielson; editor: Richard Smither; music: Paul Leonard Morgan; cast: Lana Condor (Princess), Iris Apatow (Zoe), Millicent Simmonds (Chloe), Maddi Ziegler (Bones), Uma Thurmond (Devora Kasimer), Avantika (Grace), Balazs Megyeri (Saber), Krisztian Csakvari (Artyom), Adam Boncz (Zolly), Michael Culkin (Lothar Markovic), Klara Spilak (Marijana Markovic), Lydia Leonard (Ms. Thorna Davenport), Tamas Szabo Sipos (Pasha), Miklos Beres (Osip); Runtime: 88; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: William Bridley, Mike Karz, Kelly McCormick, Lidiko Kemeny, Piers Tempest; Prime Video; 2026)
“Not only lacks logic but is pointless.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The English filmmaker Vicky Jewson (“Lady Godiva”/”Born of War”) directs this shallow bloody revenge thriller of a ballet company fighting for their lives when trapped in the basement of a hotel with mobsters. It’s written by Kate Freund without showing a love for either ballet or mob pics.
An argumentative but talented L.A.-based young ballet troupe visits Budapest for a prestigious competition. The dancers include the prickly star performer from the wrong-side of the tracks Bones (Maddi Ziegler), the spoiled rich girl and foe of Bones, Princess (Lana Condor); Grace (Avantika), the sermonizing devout Christian; and, the deaf-mute Chloe (Millicent Simmonds) and her protective sister Zoe (Iris Apatow). Also with them is their ballet instructor and chaperone Ms. Thorna (Lydia Leonard).
Their bus from the airport breaks down in the forest before reaching Budapest. The emergency leaves them stranded. But the ballerinas are able to check into the posh Teremok Inn, that’s owned by Devora Kasimer (Uma Thurmond), a former ballerina turned crime boss. She allows gangsters on the grounds and has a son Artyom (Krisztian Csakvari) whose a shit. She also hosts Pasha (Tamas Szabo Sipos), the son of a mob boss, to carry out mob tortures in the hotel.
The ballerinas despite not liking each other must unite to save themselves from the Hungarian mobsters, who want to kill them after they notice strange things going on. The reason for the attack by the mob on them is fully explained in the final 15 minutes, if you’re still watching.
The acting is shaky, the fight scenes of the girls using ballet moves and razor blades taped to their fingers when fighting the drunken mobsters is richly choreographed with theater music, but it still can’t save this terrible film that not only lacks logic but is pointless. I wouldn’t see this demeaning ballet film again even if offered free tickets and paid expenses to the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow.
It played at SXSW Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 4/7/2026 GRADE: C
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