Love Object

Oh, Kenneth, Kenneth, Kenneth (Desmond Harrington). What a loser. Hiding in the closet to listen to your neighbor have sex when the new girl (Melissa Sagemiller) is just as lonely as you. Step up there, boy, and get some action.

Kenneth decides to try something different. A $10,000 plastic doll. Yep, they are real (On sale at http://ultradolls.com/).

Kenneth's relationship with the doll reflects his real feeling for Lisa (Sagemiller), and soon he has enough nerve to make a move. But, as things progress with Lisa, he starts imagining that his doll is jealous and, after a bad night with Lisa, he takes a drastic and horrible step.

This is when things gets really weird, and exciting at the same time. He snaps completely and just when we think he is toast, he manages to have heaven intervene and save him. I can't say more than that without giving away the plot, but it certainly was well done.

Rip Torn was great as his boss, and Udo Kier played an excellent role.

Looking for more from first time writer/director Robert Parigi.

Love Object is a truly unique piece of horror. It's an unsettling film about a lonely guy who takes an unnatural liking to a "real doll." It's basically an ultra-realistic blow up doll...and very creepy I might add. But, when Kenneth falls in love with the new girl at work the doll does not take the news so well. I really don't want to go into the plot details here because the movie is kind of a slow burn that only works once (I've went back and watched it again and it's just not as interesting the second time). The ending is still fantastic though. What makes it work so well are the performances of Desmond Harrington and Melissa Sagemiller. Harrington is one brave actor; not at all afraid to just go for it. I can't imagine too many actors tackling this role. And Sagemiller is really putting herself out there as well. Rip Torn and Udo Kier put in some fun character work too. I recommend viewing Love Object at least once to see there are still good movies being made that don't get a wide theatrical release. A word of warning to the director though: people HATE alarm clocks and the sound that they make. I take away some points for the use of alarm clocks.

In Los Angeles, the loneliness and efficient technical writer Kenneth Winslow (Desmond Harrington) is challenged to write three long technical manuals in a very short period. His boss Novak (Rip Torn) assigns the temporary typist Lisa Bellmer (Melissa Sagemiller) to help him in the task. In the office, Kenneth's colleagues show him an expensive rubber sex doll called "Nikki" in Internet, and Kenneth decides to buy it. When Nikki is delivered, the snoopy manager of his building becomes curious with the huge package. Kenneth reads Nikki's manual and uses the image of Lisa to give a sort of "personality" to the doll and he starts practicing kink sex and becomes obsessed with Nikki. Meanwhile, Lisa feels out of place in the office, Kenneth helps her and they get close to each other, having a love affair and the disturbed Kenneth gets rid off the doll. When Lisa finds Nikki's brochure in the volume one of the manual, the world of the twisted Kenneth falls apart and Kenneth becomes completely deranged with tragic consequences.

"Love Object" is an excellent weird tale of loneliness, obsession and horror, with a great screenplay and direction and a potential cult-movie. The dark story has a touch of David Lynch inclusive with some bizarre characters, like Kenneth and the owner of the sex shop. Desmond Harrington has a stunning performance developing perfectly his deranged and scary character. The extremely gorgeous Melissa Sagemiller is also great in the role of the insecure temporary employee that feels uncomfortable in the company with her colleagues. The surprising conclusion is a plus in this highly recommended movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Olhos da Morte" ("Eyes of the Death")

Love Object received an incognito release a few years back, and this is unfortunate as what we have here is a film that takes a very basic idea (albeit one that I've not seen used before) and crafts and inventive and somewhat frightening little film out of it. The only film really similar to this that I can think of is Lucky McKee's oddball gem 'May', which seems to be gaining more and more fans all the time; and this makes Love Object's releasing all the more unfortunate, as this is a film that could definitely win itself a dedicated cult following. The film focuses on Kenneth Winslow - he's an everyday guy with an everyday sort of job at a place that prints instruction manuals. His life takes a turn one day when his co-workers introduce him to Nikki - a lifelike doll on sale on the internet for a whopping $10,000. He decides to buy the doll, and after becoming acquainted with it - quickly falls in love. However, he's also starting to get on with his lovely female co-worker...and this 'upsets' his $10,000 plastic love object, leading to the emergence of a strange love triangle.

Going into this film; I was worried that the plot might not be able to stretch the running time - but there's enough else going on to ensure that Love Object doesn't become boring. The production values are high considering that this obviously wasn't a big budget film, and the acting is also rather good. The central performance is delivered by a shy looking Desmond Harrington, and he has good chemistry with his female co-star, Melissa Sagemiller. To the cult fan, however, the most interesting performance in the movie comes from Udo Kier - and while he's not really given the opportunity to make a big mark on the film, it's always good to see him. Rip Torn also plays a part, and along with Kier; makes the movie more memorable. Director Robert Parigi gets the audience into the film because the people in it are largely very realistic; the leads aren't overly good/bad looking and they don't have unlikely jobs, so the film is easy to get on with for normal people who have never spent any time with a sex doll. The film seems like it should have a point...but if there is one, I couldn't detect it. "Don't have sex with a rubber doll" is about the best I can do on that front. However, the film is interesting throughout and ends with a good twist...so Love Object definitely comes recommended.

This movie goes into a little visited horror neighborhood: the realm of the creepy living mannequin. Up to this point, the best examples of this type of thriller would be Woody from "Fear" and "Pin" but Robert Parigi manages to deliver a more complex story than either of those films.

This creepy flick has a wonderfully depraved sensibility and seems to be marching to the tune of Roman Polanski's "Repulsion". Acting is solid throughout, and even Rip Torn seems restrained from his normal cartoonish antics. Rather than going for jump scares, this movie goes for a slow build of dread and suspense. There are a couple of good cringes in the movie, and it's definitely worth a watch.