Mad Monkey

This movie holds your interest for quite a while, with its eccentric and enigmatic characters, atmospheric direction and first-rate acting by Jeff Goldblum and Miranda Richardson (Lisa Walker is kind of weak though, as the nymphet). But eventually it becomes clear that the story leads nowhere. Its "title history" is a giveaway: you can find it listed under either "The Mad Monkey" (unattractive and meaningless - it's only the title of a fictional movie we learn nothing about) or "Twisted Obsession" (more "suggestive" and commercial)....but actually it doesn't matter what it's called, because it ultimately isn't ABOUT anything in particular. (**)

I saw this film as part of a set of cheap-o movies. So far, the films in the collection had been total crap.

Then I dropped this one into the player and did a double-take when I first noticed that the dialog and acting were both good.

The next question that popped into my head was, "Am I imagining things, or is this movie also well shot and well lit?" Followed shortly by, "You know, I think this is actually a good film." By the time it reached the scene where Goldblum started screaming, I was totally sold. What a wicked little movie.

1989 was a bad year for film, so I certainly wish I had known about this one back then.

An excellent movie, but not for everyone. Trueba's tinges of black humour cover a plot of sex, heroin and the not making of a movie. Liza Walker has an astounding performance as a young femme fatale. It's a pity her filmography is so short.

This is a very dark film, with a strange suspense. You really never know where the film is heading. But this is one of its merits.

And yes, in some countries (such as Mexico) unclaimed corpses are given away to medical schools and kept in huge translucid pools of formaldehyde, before they're given to students. Where do you think doctors-to-be get the bodies they train from, 1-800-deathpeople?

Jeff Goldblum is a good actor. He has his typical way and sure enough this movie demonstrates his skills. However, the script is not well made. There is some interesting dialog, but there are many parts that should have been explained in more detail. The Paris scenery hadn't been used to an advantage; it could have taken place in any other city. The rest of the cast was simply poor; it explains why the other actors never hit it big. The worst part of the movie is the story itself; it's quite boring and one had wished a point or moral question would be addressed. The music was very wrong as well. It was out dated, even for 1980, and bad timing. The whole movie fails miserably in delivering a message or story telling. They posted this movie as a thriller, which puts the viewer in a wrong state of mind. It definitely was not worth my time. I voted 3/10.

"Twisted Obsession" is without doubt one of the worst movies that I've seen in a long, long, time. It's obviously an attempt to emulate the kind of movies that Alfred Hitchcock made (the musical score, for one thing, sounds very Bernard Herrmannesque), but it fails in every way you can think of. Jeff Goldblum, for one thing, is extremely miscast, sticking out like a sore thumb and not blending in with the scenery or other actors. Possibly his bad performance is due to the fact that the screenplay is a sorry mess - for much of the movie, NOTHING of serious consequence happens! Things start to happen towards the end, but they are muddled and confusing, so much so that I didn't know what to think when the end credits suddenly started to roll. If you are looking for a pointless way to waste 103 minutes, here's your movie.