Obsession fatale

We've seen it all before -- the troubled, love-struck psychopath who develops a deadly obsession with her hunky high-school teacher. She likes him, he rebuffs her, she kills some people, yada-yada-yada...

Rose McGowan is a hottie. No doubt about that. But even her sleaze-pot sexual energy can't save this dud (the fact that she isn't naked in the film doesn't help either). Within thirty minutes, you know what's happening and how the film is going to be resolved (even worse, you don't really CARE).

If you're in the mood for a student-teacher stalker flick, skip this one and pick up "The Crush" instead.

Rose McGowan plays an abused teen who murders her mother and father in an arson fire, then she's sent off to live with her bickering grandmother which only worsens her. Finally McGowan develops a poisonous disposition by knocking off her grandmother and anyone else who gets in the way of her crush on her writing instructor (Alex McArthur). I was glad the directors made this film with a message that abused children are scorned the rest of their life and therefore the pattern showed how the attitude of revenge is taken out on everyone in society. And Rose McGowan was she stunning or what! She was just the right actress for this role her beauty, always did provide an evil eye also. Hey just think any female must be a little crazy to be called Mrs. Manson. Devil in the Flesh is a great film for all of you late night TV watchers to view highly recommended.

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.

I'm not sure what it is that makes me like this movie so much, because as I said it is rather cliche, but I don't think it makes the film bad just because the script isn't totally original, because let's be honest, nothing is original nowadays. I loved The Crush and think Miss Silverstone is a talented actress, but her appearances itself is too sweet for you to actually believe she was psycho, Rose on the other hand has established herself as a, let's say "doomy" actress and she knows how to throw those "f*ck off" looks around perfectly which made things a little more realistic. She basically carries the film, of course that's what she was supposed to do... if you love Rose you definitely need to rent this one or watch out for it on HBO because personally, I think it's cool and one of her better movies.

P.S. -- Skip that dreadful sequel!

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.