tinome

I first saw this movie as a horror loving kid, and I loved it. But then, as a grownup, I was reluctant to watch it again since so many films I loved as a kid turned out to be junk, after all. Since I'm a big Meg Tilly fan, I kinda wanted to keep my good memories... so I watched it again, for the same reason (go figure).

Well, it was even better than I remembered. Anthony Perkins gives a truly moving performance, and it's an accomplishment in itself considering the fact that it's an 80's horror movie - not to mentioned the legacy of the first. But the actor proposed a completely convincing continuation of the character. And yes, Tilly is quite good; not at all your average damsel in distress. I wish she'd consider a comeback (she was the ultimate wicked step-mom in Body Snatchers).

All in all, a very nice surprise, and certainly no disgrace to the original.

OK, so I just adore this little flop of a movie. The look, the acting (especialy Stone, Bates and Knight) and the screenplay all converge toward a distinctly campy second degree, sometimes close to comedy. Make it black comedy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Clouzot fan; Le Corbeau is one of my all time favorite, and his original Diaboliques, based on Boileau and Narcejac short story, ranks prominently in my list, too. And frankly, I was quite ambivalent about it being remade. And then I heard of the casting (Stone/Adjani), which is a once in a lifetime kinda thing and the choice of giving direction to then newcomer Jeremiah Chechick, still fresh from his well received debut Benny and Joon.

So I told to myself, "Hey, could be worse". But I wasn't entirely convinced. Of course, I didn't know then that Don Roos had penned the laced in acid screenplay with the tongue firmly in cheek.

Stone's Nicole: "You're dead, this is heaven and I'm the Vigin Mary. Can you swallow?" This is one of my favorite line, ever. That Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe homage with Shirley Knight is also priceless.

To appreciate this movie, I think you must be a camp addict, or a gay, or both. One way or the other, the audience for this kind of sophisticated junk seems to be timid, or easily convinced to doubt of its own tastes. Maybe that's why Basic Instinct 2, a very similar outing, flopped. Too bad.

This one's for the camp afictionados crowd (and architecture students, perhaps). Highly funny in a black and/or double-entendre way. Mrs Stone delivers an expectedly fierce performance, while Morrissey maintains a quiet stubbornness on the other side.

I should mentioned that I just loved the black comedy Diabolique (advertising it as a thriller was a terrible idea, in my opinion, with a very broad use of the term "remake" ). Don Roos' script was full of juicy one-liners, gay humor and a definite predilection for form over content. And most of all, Stone went Lee Strasberg-ish (that self-parody ranks in her best outings, I think), improbably dressed in a film-noir-on-acid kinda way. The same applies here, except for the costumes, which are here closer to haute couture.

Like I mentioned in the summary, the movie is also extremely well photographed all around London and shows great locations, old and new (a voluntary contrast), with exquisite lighting.

The story, of course, is absolutely improbable, but I don't think the screenplay was a big issue here...

This is guilty pleasure in all its decadent splendor. I have a feel I'll watch this one again...