Estranha Obsessão

A lot better than your average low budget thriller. This had plot twists that I didn't see coming. Kim Delaney was so beautiful then. I first fell in love with her when she played Jenny Gardner on "All My Children." Her soap experience stood her in good stead for "damsel in distress" roles such as (partly) this. She is, of course, still beautiful, but her character in "NYPD Blue" is so much harder edged, that she comes off a bit less so in that part. Anyway, this is a pretty good film for one that no one's ever heard of.

I have a strong suspicion that producer Roger Corman, upon seeing the huge success of the major studio movie FATAL ATTRACTION, rushed this movie into production. This may explain why that, even for Roger Corman, this is an extremely tacky production. Even on DVD, the movie's visuals look so bad that you would swear this was made in the early 1970s and kept unmaintained on a shelf for the next fifteen years. There's bad sound (a couple of times when a car door slams shut, you don't hear anything!), bad continuity from shot to shot, and sets and furnished actual rooms looking hastily set up and constructed. You even clearly see the shadow of the boom mike on the ground in one shot! But even if the movie had better production values, it wouldn't help that much. The acting by all the leads is lacking passion, coming across instead as bland and lacking real emotion. But the script really drops the ball. After a while, the movie stops trying to build terror, and almost forgets the character of the drifter in the second half of the movie! Projects like this explain why Corman's movies soon after stopped getting theatrical releases.

This was not outrageously wild or gory or intense but it keeps up a consistent suspense level. Kim plays her role well. She proves herself to be pretty ballsy under fearful circumstances so I respected her and I respected her as a hard-working professional.

There seems to be a blue color scheme in some of the scenes. Kim's wardrobe is well-chosen. The outdoor restaurant with the picnic tables and the bikers seems an apt, realistic locale. Kim's apartment is stylish, austerely furnished in New Mexico Native American style. So the movie has a certain amount of flair.

The concluding twist works adequately well. This low-key thriller was fairly enjoyable.

Most of us enjoy it when we find a "small", non-big-budget film that surprises us with its adept use of limited resources. "The Drifter" is just such a movie. It is filled with 1980's stylistic touches, and the big hair, moral freedoms, etc., that let you know right away that you have returned to that time zone. So what? Movies, for the most part, are products of their age and we should not hesitate to enjoy them as such, despite some reviewers tendency to slash away at any film (and call it dated) that dared to celebrate its "current sensibilities".

"The Drifter" focused on its stalker theme and managed to do so with panache, plot twists, suspense, and ensemble acting that carries the viewer happily forward. There is a well done sense of unease that permeates the setup and then culminates with violent, frightening moments that cause the flick to bear repeating. This film is a good one to share with folks who appreciate when a "small" film over-delivers. Whatever you do, make sure you rent or buy this little thriller. If you catch it in edited form on television you will miss the "kick" from the plot twists and wonder why some of us admire it so much.

Driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Julia Robbins (Kim Delaney) picks up a hitchhiker (Miles O'Keefe) and has a one night stand with him. Back in the city, he soon turns into a stalker and starts calling her non-stop, which is bad news because she is in a relationship with a lawyer (Timothy Bottoms). This was one of the thousands of erotic thrillers unleashed after the success of Fatal Attraction (1987) and writer-director Larry Brand (who also plays a cop) does a nice job of turning convention on its ear by having the handsome O'Keefe as the unhinged, spurned lover. There are several twists in this one and Brand pulls them all off well. He would also make a Poe film for Corman (Masque of the Red Death) and a similar thriller (Overexposed with Catherine Oxenberg).