What it lacks in direction, it makes up in poor dialogue

stephan-9

I'd say this film was poorly directed, except I'm not sure any attempt was made to actually direct it.

Cindy Sherman is a good photographer, and as such the shots which are framed as moving photographs are well art-directed (in particular, the David Lynch rip-off psychedelic gathering of the souls of the victims), but that (and the Marc Ribot style song over the closing credits) is about the only good thing about this film.  Otherwise, technically as well as artistically, this film is deeply flawed.

Carol Kane's performance is at times overwrought and at times dull, while the rest of the cast phones-in the expected flat, B-grade horror film acting job.  None of the lead characters are at all engaging, and the attempt at garnering sympathy for the horrendously pathetic Dorine is a failure in light of how successful the film is at making her both despicable and irritating.  The emotionally charged scenes are so awkward as to immediately break any momentum the film had managed to gain and leave you feeling embarrassed for the filmmakers.

All in all, this film went direct to video for a very good reason, and unless you're doing a "Bad Horror Movie Marathon" I'd say it's best left collecting dust at your local video shop...

score 1/10

stephan-9 1 December 2002

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0427818/