Doppelganger

Such a strange, strange film, but sadly not in a good way. "Doppelganger" is an odd, sensual supernatural horror feature, which is well produced and slickly catered for (it's irresistibly slick). It's a great opening… strikingly seductive but brutal where it has Barrymore's real life mother portraying in her mother on screen. There's obviously money behind it, especially during the climax scenes with a special effects / make-up FX extravaganza. It's a WTF moment. While it might look good, there's no denying how ridiculously silly the story becomes (like some sort of parody) and the acting (mainly the support; Leslie Hope and Dennis Christopher) is overdone. Drew Barrymore is the star, but looks all out of place in the role and George Newbern as her lead comes off bemused more often. The concept isn't bad, but the hollow plot lacks cohesion and involvement in what turns out to be nothing more than unintentionally hilarious in its b-grade shadings and a disappointing smokescreen by the end.

Avi Nesher's diabolically duplicitous 'Doppelganger'is arguably one of the 90s more unjustly neglected horror curiosities. A deliriously De Palma-esque psychodrama about the increasingly bizarre misfortunes of pretty, Holly Gooding (Drew Barrymore). Our Hitchcockian heroine, dramatically flees New York, awkwardly setting up house with guileless, good-natured writer Patrick (George Newbern). Their sweetly burgeoning relationship thwarted by the evilly erotic manipulations of, Helen's homicidally stab-happy, sinisterly stalking, dark glasses-sporting doppelganger.

This tantalizingly twisted body horror oddity is luridly festooned with Noirish tropes: shadowy F. B. I. Creeps: an abusive, scar-faced patriarch, skeevey psychiatrist, gory matricide, and a psychologically-spawned, polymorphously perverse sibling. These sordidly scheming protagonists creepily conspire against Helen's earnest hope for a new life in L. A.! No one could accuse, Nesher's phantasmagoric freak-out of subtlety, as, perhaps, his engagingly erratic shocker's strengths reside in the sensually skewed presence of sinuous scream dream, Drew Barrymore. Barrymore's exquisitely cherubic features, and enthusiastically unfiltered performance, are not without considerable charm. The gruesomely gunk-flinging, gelatinously gooey, KNB FX-laden finale is the deliciously crimson cherry atop this winningly eccentric 90s creature feature!

The good? Acting by the "Nice Guy" writer, Newbern, is great. Drew Barrymore's sultry little dances and always seductive scenes. Plot twist will probably surprise you. The bad? Early in Drew's career...look to Ever After and Wedding Singer if you want better acting. Special Effects are stuff I could do with enough silly-putty and Jell-O mix. The ugly? A lot of the plot isn't needed. Could have been wrapped up in a TV show slot, and it indeed felt rushed at the end with a "bad-guy explains his whole evil plot" sequence.

It's good for a laugh, and good to waste some time, but don't be too critical of it. It's more of a confusing B-Movie trying to be a REAL movie than anything.

The stage curtains open ...

"Doppelganger" isn't the best psychological horror movie I've ever seen, but there is something about it that peaked my morbid curiosity to continue watching it right up to the very end. And then, even when you think you've got it all figured out, you don't - they give you one more eye-popping final scene that you won't soon forget.

The movie starts off setting the mood right away. A woman is attacked mercilously and murdered by a knife wielding woman who very much resembles our main character, Holly Gooding (played by Drew Barrymore). Then we cut to the immediate future where Holly is looking for a place to live and meets her new roommate, Patrick (played by George Newburn) when she responds to his ad in the paper. As he gets to know her, he learns the dark secrets behind her family and that she believes she is being followed by her doppleganger, who is performing horrendous deeds. When her own institutionized brother's life is threatened, she decides to take maters into her own hands. Things aren't all as they seem - or are they?

Drew Barrymore never looked better and sold her character, though she's had better turns in other movies. George Newburn filled his role and did his job. I thought that the best performance came from Leslie Hope, who played Patrick's very candid, high-strung friend, Elizabeth. I loved her in this movie. The soundtrack is a product of its time with a sensuous dance scene involving Drew swaying hypnotically to the rhythmic beat, running her hands up and down her body.

"Doppelganger" isn't a bad movie. The one thing that I really liked about it, is that it doesn't sell out with some B. S. ending. At first, I thought it was going to, but then the real fun starts to happen - and I liked it. It pretty much covers all the bases when it comes to horror. It is a guilty pleasure and worth the watch at a solid 6 stars out of 10.

This movie holds your interest and keeps you wondering, up until an ending which will make cry out "Oh boy!". It's so gruesome and far-fetched and off-base that it's positively ludicrous. On the plus side, Drew Barrymore burns up the screen with a much steamier performance than the one she gave in "Poison Ivy", and the "good guys" are unusually likable (in an unforced way) for a horror film. (**)