Sous le charme du mal

i've always thought zach galligan was a little cutey, especially in gremlins, where he played the lovable doofus. i should have known something was up when the movie started and he was trying to come off as some slick, suave romantic type. WRONG!! he couldn't pull this role off if it was a loose pair of drawers.

the story idea is pretty good, but it just does not work with these wooden performances. even if you're really bored, don't waste your time on this one.

A crazed man obsessed with falling in love stalks the new girl in town in 'Cupid'. We first see Eric kill his girlfriend killing her after she refuses to accept his engagement. They had only just met recently, but being the romantic Eric is, he thought it was appropriate. We then see our leading lady Jennifer arriving in town. She applies for a job at the local bookstore and that's when she meets crazy guy Eric. They talk about the story of Cupid which she knows of (and he is obsessed with), and they start dating. We also meet Eric's insane sister Dana who is madly in love with him. In order to capture Jennifer's heart, Eric will have to go through Dana and a few others to reach his goal.

I really enjoyed this thriller/horror flick. It was pretty fast paced, and I never lost interest throughout the entire thing. I thought the acting from Zach Galligan and Ashley Laurence was strong. Mary Crosby was particularly great as the disturbed sister of Eric. It was strange to see Galligan play crazy after his good guy role in the Gremlins series. The story is pretty good as it explores a bit of the story of Cupid and Psyche.

I'd check this one out if you can find it. I got it on VHS years ago, and I don't believe it's on DVD as of yet.

7/10

Of course, it does! Stepfather, brilliantly performed by Terry O'Quinn. Here we have almost the same story: he can't live without love and respect (luckily he can live without family with children). Here Eric Rhodes (Galligan) kills his girlfriends if they are "strange". By the way, there are some scenes familiar to me too. For example the episode when Galligan struggles Laurence's ex-boyfriend with a telephone cord (not exactly like in Stepfather 2). Then he takes him to the hotel and he hangs him and types a short letter in Notebook. No doubt, they have borrowed this scene from Stepfather, part two. And in general that's an average thriller, which contains some promise and well-done performances.

A big disappointment. With Zack Galligan, from GREMLINS, I expected to see more. However, not all his fault. Story was trite and not a surprise. Doug Campbell's direction was pretty good. But the story was just plain awful. Really, killing off all those people, and no one sees him? Come on. And such a looker he was. Why did he have such a hard time finding a girl? Hard to believe this handsome fella had to go to the lengths he did to find true love.

And his lady love was a lot to be desired. Ashley Laurence had one expression throughout the movie. Lips slightly parted and a vacant stare in her eyes. She acts like the world is going on outside her brain but she's not aware. Funny, when she gets cornered in the attic she suddenly has all this fire and brimstone. Sorry, didn't buy it. I had no sympathy for her. In fact was sorry she won out in the end.

Mary Crosby, cast as the incestuous sister to Galligan, gave a surprisingly different and interesting performance. I liked her in this. Usually cast as the innocent girl-next-door type, she turned in a very fine performance, in spite of some hideous lines. Also such a waste to see Michael Bowen in a small role. I like this actor.

So, I give this silly film a 3 because I respect Galligan, Crosby and Bowen's talents.

A brother (Zach Galligan) and sister (Mary Crosby) with a past incestuous relationship have a current murderous relationship. He murders the women who reject him and she murders the women who get too close to him.

I watched this film because I was craving some Zach Galligan, and it was an added bonus to have him co-starring with the wonderful Ashley Laurence (a nice person and an under-appreciated actress). Sadly, this was not his best role, and I think he may have played up the creep factor just a big too much. (I get that he needed to be creepy, but it seems like it built up too quickly, without really showing off the romantic side first.) Mary Crosby was excellent, and I wish I had known who she was before going into the viewing. (I never watched "Dallas", which seems to be her claim to fame, besides being the daughter of Bing Crosby.)