Whispers

boring flick is lame and stupid all around with lame script poor execution and rotten acting did not help this lame flick it bounces unevenly between thriller and horror and does neither very well avoid * out of 5

I actually saw the movie before I read the book. When I saw the movie I was upset because I wondered why Dean Koontz had made such a bad book/movie. The movie was confusing and didn't have a flow at all, it was choppy and made me want to throw a rock at the TV. I couldn't connect with the characters at all, so i didn't care about what happened to them(normally I love the characters because I can relate to their personality or problems). Then I read the book and loved it. I often re-read the book, and the movie is collecting dust. I wish someone would make a Koontz movie that follows the plot of his books, then the movies wouldn't suck so much. DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE UNLESS YOU NEED TO WASTE MONEY!

Given the incredible popularity of Dean Koontz's books, it amazes me that no-one has managed to turn any of his bestsellers into a hit movie; more than a handful have tried, but Koontz adaptations are, by and large, pretty lousy. Whispers is no exception.

I've read quite a few of Koontz's books (albeit, not this particular one), and the man spins a great yarn, so I doubt very much if he is to blame for this film's mediocrity. No... I blame director Douglas Jackson, who is clearly more at home working for the small screen, his film lacking in style or genuine thrills, and the film's star, Victoria Tennant, who is undeniably attractive, but isn't a great actress: she's been pretty terrible in everything that I have seen her in (even All Of Me, a film I adore).

Tennant is her usual wooden self, starring as author Hilary, who is terrorised by a psychotic man called Bruno Clavel (Jean LeClerc), who believes that the writer is his mother reincarnated. Chris Sarandon plays caring cop Tony who investigates and discovers the shocking truth behind Bruno's insanity (I don't want to give too much away: the perverse plot twists are the film's only redeeming features).

Delivering tepid scares, a smattering of nudity (brief side boob from Tennant, but mostly from her body double), and very little blood, Whispers is another dreary Dean Koontz dud.

My review was written in December 1990 after watching the movie on Live video cassette.

Direct-to-video release "Whispers" is a superior thriller, with potential as a sleeper success in the home video market. Name of novelist Dean R. Koontz co9uld be a boost.

In a field glutted with predictable would-be chillers, Canadian made pic delivers a truly novel storyline and a very satisfying payoff.

Steve Martin's wife Victoria Tennant is well-cast as a patrician writer who's attacked in the opening scene by Jean Leclerc, a rich guy she met briefly. The police, led by Chris Sarandon and his sexist partner Peter MacNeill, take a lackadaisical attitude until a second attack occurs and Leclerc is killed by Tennant in self-defense.

With plenty of intriguing details and foreshadowing, film evolves into a maybe he' a vampire picture, as Leclerc returns to wreak havoc. Explanation of what's really going on is offbeat and ingenious. In fact, if this film had received a theatrical release, it would probably have been advertised with a "Don't reveal the ending" warning like such classics as "Diabolique".

Often in satin lingerie, Tennant is an ideal lady in distress while Leclerc has the rugged good looks to personify her nemesis. With old-age makeup on, Canadian actress Jackie Burroughs is terrific in a single scene as a former brothel madam recounting the story of Leclerc's boyhood. It's a perfect example of how to inject exposition without boring the audience.

Finale explains the film's title as the chirpings of cockroaches in an extremely gruesome scene.

Try to imagine a Lifetime movie and an afternoon soap combined into one. How Koontz allowed this mess to happen is beyond me. Stay away.