Verführerische Falle

This was an excellent picture with an outstanding performance by Rebecca DeMornay as a a psychotic married to a bigamist. DeMornay's performance as the mercurial Ruth was very convincing, I say this having known people like her personally and professionally. Well Done!

This is not a diamond in the rough. It's also not terrible. Don't go looking for this movie. However, if this movie happens to find you, and you don't have much to do, watching it may not be the worst idea.

The whole picture is very phoned in, but it's not disrespectful to the form of the phoned-in picture. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the best thing about this film is the writing. The acting is competent, but it's nothing special, and the whole thing is shot plainly, like most watchable direct to video, but the writing is just a little bit better. It's unambitious, of course, but it's artful, and it's not too heavily cliched. It plays with obvious symbols and simple tropes, but it does a generally good job of it, and the fact that the story keeps moving in novel directions and does not degenerate into porn or gunplay shows that the writer probably has it in his or her power to write for much better pictures.

There's one or two jumps in the plot, but if you're the unforgiving type, you shouldn't be watching cable TV at 4 AM in the first place. All in all, not a bad movie. Objectively, it can't be said to be of any quality, but it certainly does not offend.

This movie was much better than the mainstream "hand that rocked the cradle." The story and the good acting is what kept me watching this movie. I liked it because all actors had unique characters. Rebecca's character as the lonely housewife whose husband leads a double life, is one that was portrayed very well. Michael Rooker as the manipulative 2 timing husband who tried to fake his own death. And of course the killer who lived next door. This movie was packed with drama, suspense and what I would refer to as dark comedy. I don't mind that this came straight to video. It's not easy for some to watch movies that stay away from the mainstream. I give this movie a perfect score!

Rebecca DeMornay gives an inspired demented performance as one of Michael Rooker's two wives. She is unbalanced right from the git-go and gets progressively more deranged as the film moves along. Mark Rolston is also good as the interested neighbor, drawn into Rooker's scheme to break away from DeMornay. The script which is not predictable, twists and turns towards a surprising conclusion. Why "Wicked Ways" is rated so criminally low on IMDb is a real mystery? It certainly is no "Fargo", but is way better than many of the higher rated potboilers. This is definitely worth checking out. Character development and acting are equally strong, and nicely compliment the unpredictable script. - MERK

My wife and I both really liked this movie. Think of it as a Tom and Jerry or Roadrunner cartoon. It is obviously over the top in believability, but it is FUN to watch. DeMornay's charater's booby traps are straight out of the Rube Goldberg school of complicationicity. Rooker's double-life husband is lifted directly from the letters to Dear Abby and Ann Landers. Throw in the wild card next door neighbor(s) and what do you have? Video Hoo Ha. Ethel (my wife, my name is Ed) and I have rented and rerented it. The plot is as goofy as anything the old Warner Brothers animators could have concocted. We took it as a black comedy the first time we viewed it and, with that in mind, enjoyed it more each time after. (Oh, jeez, did I end a sentence in a preposition?) Think funny, and this film will work for you.