Wicked, Wicked

"Wicked, Wicked" was a film that I waited with such anticipation to see at the age of 12 - after seeing the promo trailer on television and the poster in the theater my curiosity was aroused.

I loved films as a child - any film. As long as it seemed like an event. I was not big on classics at the time so my catalog was being developed. I don't think that at the time it was supposed to be a great film.

It was fun however. And later in 1976 - when my parents owned a theater I persuaded my father to get "Wicked, Wicked" as a second feature for "Demon Seed" - it is a fun film and only for the excitement as "Earthquake" has Sensurround as a gimmick - "DUO-VISION" was the gimmick.

See it for the excitement - not for the logging into your classic diary. It does make you laugh and wonder about the time period. Not much different from today - I have walked out on several of todays movie, while sitting through all of "Wicked, Wicked" as a child.

It is fun!!!

I can hardly begin to express what a disgusting, worthless piece of excrement this film is. When you consider how much talent there is in film-making, to know that a major studio (admittedly, on its last legs) funded this garbage makes you want to grab a sharp implement.

Why is it so awful? All right (deep breath):

1. The split screen. It's distracting. It adds nothing to the narrative. It isn't used to make a point (as Tarantino does in Jackie Brown). It's just there as a selling feature.

2. The performances. God help us.

3. The script. God continue to help us.

4. The story itself. Who the hell thought this would be an original idea?

5. The child abuse sequences. So appallingly exploitative, so unworthily sickening, so POINTLESS...I wanted to throw something at the TV.

6. The tacky tone. The sexual puns are puerile beyond belief. The Farrelly brothers would never have stooped this low.

7. The theme song. Still stuck in my head after about 10 years. GO AWAY!!!!

There are plenty of other reasons why this obscenity should be thrown into the Pit of Hell, but I really can't bear to go any further. Every copy of this should be consigned to fire, and everybody involved in it should be taken outside and shot, their bodies burnt, their ashes buried and the whole site concreted over.

If this diatribe persuades people to go and see it, it has failed in its mission. Don't ever employ its maker to do anything again, I implore you.

The least enjoyable bad film ever made. Can I give it a minus score, please?

Wicked, Wicked is unique in that it is shot entirely in DUO-VISION (a gimmick of early 1970's cimena). Brian DePalma used this technique with great success in both Carrie and Phantom of the Paradise. The problem here is that Richard Bare is no Brian DePalma and the story is completely idiotic.

the one saving grace of this film is the moment at which the duo-vision becomes "uni-vision" during the climactic moment of the story. You have to see it to appreciate the greatness of that one shot. Perhaps the director came up with that idea and then made a whole story around it?

Movie takes place at a huge seaside hotel in California. In it handyman Jason (Randolph Roberts) attacks and kills blonde women. He then hides the bodies so they just go missing. The hotel has a security man searching for the people and beautiful Lisa James (Tiffany Bolling) is hired to sing there. She has black hair...but decides to wear a blonde wig which has Jason after her.

This was the first (and last) film shot in "Duo Vision"--basically a split screen used in 99.9% of the film (there are a few shots in the film not using it). It actually works pretty good sometimes. You see a person on one side of the screen and see what he's thinking of on the other. Still, it's just basically a gimmick to sell the film (it didn't work). The story itself is familiar and the killings are pretty non-bloody (this has a PG rating), but the acting itself is actually not half bad and the film kept my interest. Not a camp classic by any means but an OK film with a well-used split screen process. I give this a 7.

With the split screen there are two stories being told with 2 soundtracks. Frequently, the dialogue side is turned down so that it can't be heard over sounds from the other half. It's extremely annoying and reduces any interest in watching the rest of the film.

Was it that poorly mixed for theaters, too, or was this just a bad copy on TCM?

I was also amused by the organist playing some random mood music. We see the sheet music for the piano score for the 1925 PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, but the notes visible in some shots are not the ones being played. It may be legit Phantom music, but who knows for sure?

Other reviewers here have sufficiently summarized the rest of the film.