Obsession fatale

"Debbie Strand" (Rose McGowan) is a mentally disturbed high school student who has just mysteriously lost her mother in a house fire and has to now live with her grandmother. When she gets there she immediately finds out that her grandmother is extremely domineering and wants to control her life to the utmost degree. Meanwhile, at her new high school she falls in love with one of her teachers named "Peter Rinaldi" (Alex McArther). Unfortunately for her, Peter has a girlfriend by the name of "Marilyn" (Sherrie Rose) and really has no interest in Debbie other than academically. To compound the situation another student by the name of "Meegan Wright" (Krissy Carlson) also has a crush on Peter and Debbie doesn't like the competition. So, faced with difficulties both at home and at school Debbie decides to take matters into her own hands and those who get in her way are in extreme danger. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this type of film has been done before and in some cases in a better manner. However, it still managed to keep my interest for the most part and it does have some good performances by both Rose McGowan and Alex McArther. Additionally, Sherrie Rose and Julia Nickson (as "Anna Nakashi") certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way either. In any case, despite the fact that it followed a standard format and it's certainly nothing special I suppose it deserves a rating of about average-but no more than that.

... if you are a fan of Rose McGowan, then you have to see this movie. If you think you may be a fan of Rose McGowan, then you have to see this movie. If you abhor Rose McGowan (as unbelievable as that sounds to me), then skip this movie!

You see, it's all about Rose McGowan. Devil in the Flesh is a one woman show, and that woman does a remarkable job!

This is not a light-hearted fluff comedy. It is surprisingly dark. Many have compared this movie to "The Crush", starring Alicia Silverstone, and for good reason: both movies portray a young under-age girl pursuing an older guy. But there are a few big differences:

1) The point of view is switched. Varying the point of view can make a big difference in the emotional bent of the story, and who we sympathize with. In "The Crush", the point of view was of Cary Elwes' character (who I might add, gave a disappointingly wimpy performance after seeing him in Princess Bride, but I digress). In this movie, the point of view is that of Rose McGowan, and what a great choice!!! By doing this, we get to sympathize with her, love her, and hate her, all at the same time. We really care what happens to her, and what she does to other people.

2) This movie is a lot darker. Without giving anything away, suffice it to say, Rose really kicks butt in this movie. There is no shortage of bodies. One death in particular, which I won't reveal, had me in anticipation and cheering when it finally happened.

3) If you really look at the two films, "Flesh" is the more plausible of the two, if you care about such things. Alicia's character in The Crush was a psychopathic killer who liked to seduce and play with her victims before dispatching them. McGowan's character is the victim of a chain of physically abusive parents (her mother and her grandmother), who seeks an older man that she can love, and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Yeah, she's evil also, but don't let that bother you.

Because of these points, Devil in the Flesh, should be compared to movies like "Freeway", starring a young Reese Witherspoon. Any fan of this movie will absolutely love Freeway (which frankly is a much better movie despite McGowan's amazing performance).

Don't get me wrong: Devil in the Flesh is not a great movie. It's barely a good movie. But McGowan's presence is enough to transcend all that - she's so cool. That's reason enough to watch!

I really liked this as a piece of late night trashy noir cable junk because it pushed the extremes of bad taste. I saw it late at night and was impressed with the sharp dialog and witty put-downs uttered by its femme fatale protagonist, Debbie Strand (in a wonderfully vampy and campy performance from Rose McGowan). Yes, the set-up is contrived and the outcome is cheesy but along the way I was impressed with the audacity of the film's comic-book nastiness and the sheer determination of the protagonist to get what she wanted. However, what's most disappointing is the end, which merely opens the way for another film, without truly exploring why Debbie Strand did what she did. Another annoying trait in these films is to resolve issues in an unambiguous manner, usually absolving the complicity of the lead male. A simple-minded, formulaic tale saved by Rose McGowan and some witty one-liners. As for the rest, cable fodder.

If you've seen more than a handful of thrillers, you will almost certainly have seen this plot line before; it's just the basic stalker theme only set in a school. This idea has been used in many movies previously, and was also the main theme in the excellent 'Wild Things' that was also released in 1998. Devil in the Flesh is a very low key film and actually feels like a TV movie at times; yet despite this, it does at least manage to stay entertaining enough for it's ninety minute duration, which is quite an achievement when you consider how unoriginal it is. The plot focuses on a young girl named Debbie Strand. After her parent's house burns down in mysterious circumstances, she is sent to live in a different town with her religious grandmother. She also has to start a new school and gets that same locker every new girl in American school gets (the sticky one that needs a man to come over and punch it). Anyway, it's not long before she starts to develop a crush on hunky English teacher Mr Rinaldi, and she'll stop at nothing to get what she wants.

I have to admit that I have a track record of enjoying low key thrillers like this one, and for what it's worth; Devil in the Flesh is not too bad. It does suffer from a poor script that fails to flesh out it's central characters properly and doesn't contribute a logical narrative, so at times the film just seems to jump from one thing to next without a lot of cohesion. There's also a fair few clichés on display too, which is somewhat annoying and tiresome. On the plus side, the acting is rather good. Rose McGowan was one of my main reason for tuning in and she does the bitchy weird chick thing very well. Starring opposite is Alex McArthur as her crush who also performs well in his role as well as well as Peg Shirley as the overbearing grandmother. The plot moves along at a steady pace for the first half and gets going properly in the second, albeit a bit too fast at times. There's a twist towards the end which is both highly predictable and very unbelievable. Overall, this is a long way from brilliant; but it has a few good elements and there's worse films of this ilk out there.

My buddy Oscar has been on my butt for months to get me to watch this film... and I protested saying it looked stupid. Well, I finally saw it. It wasn't that bad, but it was stupid. I'd give it one star. Rose McGowan (Jawbreaker, Phantoms, Scream) plays a psycho-teen who is basically a poorly written Norman Bates. It's basically a bad POISON IVY rip-off, without the nudity and sex to keep it halfway interesting ;) The violence is far more graphic, too, making this one a candidate for the "slasher film" genre. It's predictable throughout. I'd love to say that McGowan does well in the role, but at times she appears over-the-top and hammy, so I can't even give her credit for great acting. I've seen countless B-movies which were far better and had better actors. This one looks like a bad attempt to cash in on McGowen's somewhat celebrity -- or her connection to Marilyn Mansun. Stupid.

It's too bad, too. Actor Alex McCarthur (Kiss the Girls, Conspiracy, Ladykiller) has been in a long list of B-films, and does great. He was good in this one, too... but he couldn't save it.