Devil in the Flesh

I really liked this as a piece of late night trashy noir cable junk because it pushed the extremes of bad taste. I saw it late at night and was impressed with the sharp dialog and witty put-downs uttered by its femme fatale protagonist, Debbie Strand (in a wonderfully vampy and campy performance from Rose McGowan). Yes, the set-up is contrived and the outcome is cheesy but along the way I was impressed with the audacity of the film's comic-book nastiness and the sheer determination of the protagonist to get what she wanted. However, what's most disappointing is the end, which merely opens the way for another film, without truly exploring why Debbie Strand did what she did. Another annoying trait in these films is to resolve issues in an unambiguous manner, usually absolving the complicity of the lead male. A simple-minded, formulaic tale saved by Rose McGowan and some witty one-liners. As for the rest, cable fodder.

"Debbie Strand" (Rose McGowan) is a mentally disturbed high school student who has just mysteriously lost her mother in a house fire and has to now live with her grandmother. When she gets there she immediately finds out that her grandmother is extremely domineering and wants to control her life to the utmost degree. Meanwhile, at her new high school she falls in love with one of her teachers named "Peter Rinaldi" (Alex McArther). Unfortunately for her, Peter has a girlfriend by the name of "Marilyn" (Sherrie Rose) and really has no interest in Debbie other than academically. To compound the situation another student by the name of "Meegan Wright" (Krissy Carlson) also has a crush on Peter and Debbie doesn't like the competition. So, faced with difficulties both at home and at school Debbie decides to take matters into her own hands and those who get in her way are in extreme danger. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this type of film has been done before and in some cases in a better manner. However, it still managed to keep my interest for the most part and it does have some good performances by both Rose McGowan and Alex McArther. Additionally, Sherrie Rose and Julia Nickson (as "Anna Nakashi") certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way either. In any case, despite the fact that it followed a standard format and it's certainly nothing special I suppose it deserves a rating of about average-but no more than that.

We've seen it all before -- the troubled, love-struck psychopath who develops a deadly obsession with her hunky high-school teacher. She likes him, he rebuffs her, she kills some people, yada-yada-yada...

Rose McGowan is a hottie. No doubt about that. But even her sleaze-pot sexual energy can't save this dud (the fact that she isn't naked in the film doesn't help either). Within thirty minutes, you know what's happening and how the film is going to be resolved (even worse, you don't really CARE).

If you're in the mood for a student-teacher stalker flick, skip this one and pick up "The Crush" instead.

... if you are a fan of Rose McGowan, then you have to see this movie. If you think you may be a fan of Rose McGowan, then you have to see this movie. If you abhor Rose McGowan (as unbelievable as that sounds to me), then skip this movie!

You see, it's all about Rose McGowan. Devil in the Flesh is a one woman show, and that woman does a remarkable job!

This is not a light-hearted fluff comedy. It is surprisingly dark. Many have compared this movie to "The Crush", starring Alicia Silverstone, and for good reason: both movies portray a young under-age girl pursuing an older guy. But there are a few big differences:

1) The point of view is switched. Varying the point of view can make a big difference in the emotional bent of the story, and who we sympathize with. In "The Crush", the point of view was of Cary Elwes' character (who I might add, gave a disappointingly wimpy performance after seeing him in Princess Bride, but I digress). In this movie, the point of view is that of Rose McGowan, and what a great choice!!! By doing this, we get to sympathize with her, love her, and hate her, all at the same time. We really care what happens to her, and what she does to other people.

2) This movie is a lot darker. Without giving anything away, suffice it to say, Rose really kicks butt in this movie. There is no shortage of bodies. One death in particular, which I won't reveal, had me in anticipation and cheering when it finally happened.

3) If you really look at the two films, "Flesh" is the more plausible of the two, if you care about such things. Alicia's character in The Crush was a psychopathic killer who liked to seduce and play with her victims before dispatching them. McGowan's character is the victim of a chain of physically abusive parents (her mother and her grandmother), who seeks an older man that she can love, and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Yeah, she's evil also, but don't let that bother you.

Because of these points, Devil in the Flesh, should be compared to movies like "Freeway", starring a young Reese Witherspoon. Any fan of this movie will absolutely love Freeway (which frankly is a much better movie despite McGowan's amazing performance).

Don't get me wrong: Devil in the Flesh is not a great movie. It's barely a good movie. But McGowan's presence is enough to transcend all that - she's so cool. That's reason enough to watch!

Ever since the phenomenally weird "The Doom Generation" I've had a wicked crush on Rose McGowan. Her natural bad-girl charisma and sexily shaped chin make her one of the most enticing actresses of her generation. Her starring in "Dearly Devoted" was therefore the sole reason I had for checking out the film, as you can already derive from the DVD-cover that it's a standard, by-the-numbers and rehashed nineties thriller. With its main theme of "dangerously seductive teenage femme fatale", "Dearly Devoted" is similar to "Poison Ivy" (starring Drew Barrymore) and "Wild Things" (starring Denise Richards) and almost identical to "The Crush" (starring Alicia Silverstone). Following the suspicious death of Debbie Strand's mother and her lover in a fire, the seemingly confused teenage girl is put under the custody of her strictly Catholic grandmother. At her new school, Debbie doesn't make a whole lot of friends, but she does fall in love with the hunky literature teacher Peter Rinaldi. It quickly becomes obvious that Debbie isn't your average high school girl, but an obsessive and deranged psychopath who kills in order to get what she wants. "Dearly Devoted" is identical to "The Crush" because the male protagonists go through exactly the same hell. They attempt to befriend their jailbait admirers and narrowly resist all the sexual allusions, but when they actually physically reject them down, both their private as professional lives turn into a living nightmare. "Dearly Devoted" is predictable and not at all suspenseful, but at least it's never boring and the female eye-candy compensates for the unoriginality. The twist-in-the-end is not exactly groundbreaking, neither, but at least it managed to trick me for a minute or so. Rose McGowan was 25 years old for this role in which she depicts an underage schoolgirl, but that's alright, because she looks terrific in all those skimpy outfits. Apparently there's also a sequel, but it doesn't star Rose.