Snapdragon

This movie is like a poor mans "Basic Instinct", that tries to be an erotic thriller but just doesn't ever quite works out well as one. "Basic Instinct" inspired a lot of movies like this during the early '90's but none ever reached the same level of brilliance.

For a thriller it just isn't a solidly enough written one. Its story is quite predictable really and it's build on some unlikely plot lines and developments. The movie therefore also never gets tense to watch and its soft erotic elements also don't exactly help to make the movie any more exciting, despite the presence of Pamela Anderson at her prime.

Pamela Anderson had only just got fame for her "Baywatch" role at time she was starring in this movie. It's a serious acting attempt from her, in a more serious role and movie but luckily she soon discovered for herself that she just wasn't made for this sort of stuff. Now days he is mostly appearing in cameo comedy roles. None of the actors really impress to within this movie, which is more likely due to the quality of the script and the capacity of the director as well, who is mostly responsible for directing lots of Power Ranger episodes and movies. Every now and then he tries a serious directing attempt but he has yet to succeed really.

The movie is mostly being a dull and dragging one, which is due to its predictable script for most part. Also the visual look of the movie makes it look more like a made for TV movie but this is something more '90's movies suffer from.

4/10

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Regardless of one's personal feelings about the notorious Ms. Pamela Anderson, it would be foolish IMO to deny that until about 1996 she was an incredibly beautiful woman. Her face was comparable to Brigitte Bardot's, and her body was (or at least looked) more natural and well-proportioned. She has a couple of fairly hot sex scenes in this movie, however they are cut pretty short. "Snapdragon" as a whole seems to have many elements of a solid B-movie (including a female serial killer and Oriental mythology), but the execution is off-target: the pacing is stagnant, there are too many dull stretches in the middle, and the payoff isn't much of a surprise. Others have compared this film to "Basic Instinct", but it reminded me more of Drew Barrymore's "Doppelganger"; unless you are a hardcore Pamela Anderson fan, check out that one instead. (*1/2)

Despite its two top billed actors being Steven Bauer and Chelsea Field, when Snapdragon was released back in the early 90's it was clearly being promoted as a Pamela Anderson vehicle. Pretty unsurprisingly because this film captures a young Pammy at an early stage in her career and she looks absolutely delicious it has to be said. The film is an erotic psychological thriller, a sub-genre that was particularly popular in the early 90's. It concerns a series of murders that appear to involve a female killer who dispatches with men during sex at the point of orgasm. Meanwhile, a police psychologist becomes involved with a young amnesiac woman who suffers recurring dreams of murder.

As a thriller this one is definitely lacking in the suspense area. The murder scenes are all pretty steamy and well shot but there is no build up to speak of and the subsequent investigation doesn't really generate much in the way of thrills or intrigue. It's unfortunate that the film is lacklustre in these areas but it definitely is serviceable enough and the plot-line never gets boring. But where this one definitely scores is from an erotic point-of-view, where it is a noticeable success. I, personally, am a big fan of femme fatales and pneumatically buxom women, while I do find Anderson extremely attractive so it's perhaps no surprise that I got a kick out of Snapdragon. There were a series of scenes sprinkled throughout featuring a naked Pamela in action, they were very sexy and did not disappoint. I don't think that you can ask for too much more from a Pamela Anderson vehicle to be perfectly honest. For what it's worth the best acting performance came from Chelsea Field, who is also kind of cute as well.

This movie tries hard to ride on the coattails of Basic Instinct, and it almost succeeds, but the incompetent direction keeps it from a fun level of B-movie goodness. For an erotic thriller, it actually gets the erotic part right but lacks the rest.

The young Pamela Anderson looks great and her scenes are worth it but everything else is very dull. The plot is dumb, the dialogue is bad, and it might have all been amusing if the acting wasn't so dry. It's filmed like a typical boring made-for-TV production from the era but at least the sex scenes are good.

Even with the subpar story, this could have been a fun and silly b-movie romp if there was more effort on display. As it stands, there's just not enough it does right.

I've always been a sucker for Femme Fatale films, and this could have been an extremely good one, but falls flat. Two of this B-grade thriller's biggest problems are it's complete lack of any suspenseful action and intrigue and it's pitiful budget. The performances aren't bad, but I hate how Pamela was undeniably exploited and underused in her role as a blonde beauty with amnesia. A few interesting themes are used to give the film a cheap feeling of mysticism, but definately nothing substantial.