Paranoia

This movie is somewhat suspenseful. Larry Drake plays a psycho who stalks Brigitte Bako, an actress who's best known for being naked in all her movies. He stalks her over the internet which is a new twist.

Paranoia is the type of film people either love or hate. It's slow, it's talky, it's cheaply made and quite frankly it's a little bit strange. All part of the appeal, in my opinion.

Jana Mercer has become a recluse after a psychopath (Larry Drake -- who else?) broke into her home and murdered her entire family when she was a child. Now grown, Jana returns to her childhood neighborhood just as the loony is inexplicably paroled.

This is a movie that's rich with back-story and stagy dialogue. Jana is a fully realized and fleshed out character, admirably played by b-movie vixen Brigitte Bako, who comes off a little wooden but mostly BECAUSE of the character she's portraying. Larry Drake is a b- movie pro who gets to elegantly spout off a slew of creepy dialogue. The movie's got some oddball stuff going on which seems to be in reference to other things (Dick Van Dyke Show, witchy stick, gafilter fish, etc.), though almost 15 years after I first saw the film, I still don't get all the inside jokes. And did I mention the ending packs a wallop of a twist?

If you skimmed this review and think the film might be up your alley, it probably is. Unfortunately there are no DVD special features, which sucks because it's the type of film which would benefit from insight from the writer/director.

I enjoy finding offbeat titles at the video store. Most that I find are pretty bad in the horror market. This film isn't Shakespeare, but Larry (DR Giggles) Drake is fun to watch. ** 2 stars. Give it a look on a rainy day.

I rented the film Paranoia expecting a much better film. I felt that the plot was very weak. I expected a scary thriller and this movie did not scare me in the least. I did think the acting was good but the plot was terrible. I did, however, enjoy the line that was something like "Do whatever you want Jana...I have some Chinese food that's getting cold." I also thought the big black guy that was only in two scenes was interesting. What was his purpose?

This movie is a big joke. First off, the acting is horrible, the look of the movie--it has the look of a very VERY low budget movie. The actors are miscast horribly. I could go on for days. Anyhow...the movie is fake. I mean, you have a girl named Jana who is the only survivor when her entire family is killed by a serial killer. We see this happen, and then we see her much later in life. She lives alone in an apartment, and usually stays locked up during the day, all paranoid and stuff...only contact with the outside is when she has her online therapy sessions with a female doctor. She is supposed to be this woman who was so traumatized, and her life is totally screwed up because of what happened. Does she act paranoid and mentally unbalanced like she should? Nope. She pretty much acts like a normal everyday person...she works out of her home as an architect and designer, but she goes out at night to meet with some guy she's working with. All alone in New York City, I think...and she's fine going out at night all alone. No way. Not only that, but she meets some guy who says he lived two houses down from her when her parents were killed, and the day she meets she tries to have sex with him...lets the guy into her apartment right away, etc. She should be untrusting of people...she even tells the guy herself that she can't ever trust people...yet she lets the guy in her bed the first day they see each other after 20 + years. Yea right...

The serial killer, who is now in prison, contacts Jana from prison. Funny thing--I never knew they gave prisoners laptop computers with internet access and fax machines. Wow! Anyhow...the guy contacts her, and she freaks out because of it...so she calls the corrections agency and they say--oh he was only sentenced to twenty years. 20 years for 3 murders? Wrong. The funny thing is, when Jana calls--she was surprised to see how much time he had left in prison. If her family was murdered, don't you think she would have known how long he was put away? It goes on from here--and it gets dumber and dumber.

This movie is horrible. If you ever see it in the rental place, STAY AWAY! I hate this movie so much, I think I;m going to contact the writer, and tell him to leave Hollywood, and do it quickly! .05/10