Fascination

Someone probably should have told the producers/directors of Fascination that a thriller is, by definition, supposed to be thrilling. Instead, this movie contains one of the funniest opening sequences ever: a buff older dude goes out for a swim, then on his way back to shore, a wave knocks him into a rock, his head hits with a big CRACK, and he drowns. Opening credits roll, with the unintentionally funny "Based on a screenplay by ..." two writers getting a chuckle out of me. Especially when it was followed by "Written, Produced and Directed by Klaus Menzel". Anyway, old dude's wife quickly remarries, throwing her son (Kangaroo Jack voice Adam Garcia) into a bit of a tizzy, which is only resolved when he meet new hubby's daughter, and they get their sex on. A series of unlikely events happen -- the best of which is Garcia and his lawyer buddy exhuming the former's father to perform a toxicology test -- and Garcia's suspicions of the new husband keep mounting. Like many other movies I have watched recently, this would probably make for an enjoyable enough afternoon on TBS/TNT/USA/etc. I honestly think that movies like this need to have their monotony broken up by commercials. Interestingly, this was not a made-for-TV move, but rather an MGM-financed $5,000,000-budget big-screen flop that opened on 10 screens nationwide and grossed a lot less than its budget. How much less? 1/10 would've been nice, but not even close. There are some sexy sex scenes though, so it's not all bad -- Alice Evans is a babe wicked stepsister. I would give it a 3.5 basically for that, but the end of this movie totally blew (even following what came before it), and right before the credits roll there is a joke (I assume it's a joke!) ad for Garcia's character's first album, ballads based on his pseudo-incestuous relationship with his sister. That brings this movie into solid 2.5-3.0 territory -- IMDb says 3.7, so hey!

I gave this film the vote of 4, basically for its music, otherwise it felt like watching some cheap Australian soap...

I could not see any clever twist in Fascination. It was one disaster after another with two absolutely opposite endings ...

The film was patchy with all sorts of obvious conspiracies loosely arranged to get something together.

Yes, an unhappy wife, a seemingly disloyal husband, an affair and behind all a mastermind to use people's emotions for personal aims are all we have seen before and we all know about the thin line between love and hate.

All the way through this movie I watched scenarios that I had seen before on other films and so I had this sense of Deja Vu all the time.

I give the film a10 for the acting by all principle actors, for its production values, beautiful locations, excellent cinematography and for the unusual storytelling, which made me, discuss the movie with all my friends. I just saw it a second time. It still kept me on my toes, and I discovered many things I overlooked the first time. I highly recommend it to all friends of Hitchcock who was the best in mixing suspense and romance into a potent combination of erotic chills. He also used elements of the film noir even though none are core examples of noir movement. "Fascination" also has those plot twists, surprising performances and a wonderfully ambiguous, sexy femme fatale in Alice Evans. - Also, I predict that Adam Garcia will be a superstar soon. Every girl younger than 25 loves to see him on the big screen...

maybe, too many. and the sex appeal of Adam Garcia as the most important ingredient. inspired choice in the first part, strange in the other. because the new revelations about characters, the ambiguity as instrument of suspense are good points but not in the case of lost of sense. because all becomes only improvisation. each actor does the best. this fact is obvious but the fundamental obstacle is the script. because the relativity of emotions, confessions are a kind of hammer against the first story. and the coherence is lost. sure, it is a thriller. but the rules of genre are more subtle. it has the mystery as basic instrument of atmosphere. but something important missing. the love story becomes confuse. the body of Adam Garcia could not supply a thin script. so, isolated scenes about mourning, sadness, revenge and love from a kind a broken puzzle.

Adam Garcia shirtless, Jacqueline Bisset and Stuart Wilson, a script which many holes, fragile links between scenes and beautiful landscape. love stories so confusing than is not easy to understand the purpose. and ambition to create a thriller. the best thing - the good idea who remains only the roots for the film . result - good intentions. and that could be enough in this case. the worst fact is the absence of an axis. the film seems be result of improvisation. no precise plot, not a coherent story. only crumbs of revenge who seems be remind about Hamlet, a confuse plan and the poor Alice Evans as cardinal. a film for the fans of genre.