Ted Barnes (Randy Speares) spots a painting of him done by a woman named Arlene Bellings (Georgina Spellings) in which was a portrait of her late husband as Ted himself finds out that he was adopted due to a dark history on this woman.
He reunites with her at her mansion but something isn't right about her and seems to be overly jealous on his wife Evie (Linda Blair) as she slowly gets sick from possible food poisoning at her place in which Arlene has a deep and dark twisted secret thinking that her son is her husband returing from the dead and will do anything to try and keep him to herself even if it means killing others around him.
Things seem overly interesting when we spot the lead male character Ted Barnes spotting a painting on him as well as later on at the art museum with zooming in camera shots on him as well as Arlene Bellings spotting one another as this grabs your attention. Also we spot numerous cheesy discussions with the people there while talking about the paintings. It just seemed a little too set out whenever we watch these moments.
Yet we spot a perfect and strong situation when Arlene tries to get aquainted with Ted and discussing to him that he's her biological son as well as him getting fierceful towards her which can be hard to watch on someone trying to be nice and the other acting negative. It worked in well here for what we will later unravel in the story.
We spot a discussion with Ted talking to his Mother asking about if he was adopted in which the scene tried to look emotional but however this seemed to be a bit over the top while we watch it and becoming a bit cheesy too having a hard time taking this moment seriously even if this moment tried so hard in order to do so.
We spot many corny moments when Ted and Evie go to the mansion and a party happens and greeted by the maid Crystal which was hard to be taken seriously and roughly done to top it all off as well. Also there's strange moments when Arlene acts clumsy talking to them which seemed too plotted out at times.
There's some cute moments later on when the three of them sit on a couch and Arlene shows them their cat which seemed pleasant to watch all of this as well as a mysterious moment later on when Evie feels sick on what she ate which makes you wonder if Arlene is slowly poisoning her.
There's a perfect dark setting on Ted spying on Arlene when she goes to her own graveyard in which she goes crazy and spitting on someone's tombstone in which this had a perfect creepy feel to everything and what we might expect from this woman later on which was a nice horror drawing card too.
There's also a situation with Crystal trying to act lustful towards him which seemed to work in okay even if it was cheesily done but adding more flavor to a twisted tale without a doubt as well as a good shot on Arlene spying on this too.
However there is a nice and peaceful discussion between both Ted and Arlene outside adding a nice peacefullness to what they're talking about.
Also we spot a moment when Ted and Evie are about to leave to go to a hospital as this makes you wonder whether or not they will actually leave the place as well as good discussions with Evie telling him that Arlene seems jealous of her which also draws in well that this woman seems a bit deranged and works in well along with a near jumping moment when a dead body falls on the ground which was someone who worked for Arlene as this makes you wonder if she killed her due to this adding more horror flavor as well as mysterious and thrilling moments.
We spot a nice intense moment with Evie suddenly feeling more intense and sick which seemed to grab your attention as well as spotting Arlene wearing a party dress dancing around with Ted and acting crazy which also looked psychtoci to watch and done in a decent fashion too. Plus a perfect disturbing moment when we spot her about to kill Evie with great slow motion moment and slow speaking crying out with Ted drugged adding perfect elements on him being helpless to save her.Definetely has a psychological feel to all this.
Plus a good close up shot on Ted waking up with the camera zooming away spotting him tied to a bed with Arlene trying to feed him and making out he's her fiancee which certainly looked perfectly twisted especially when he's crying and screaming at her as well as the wicked things she does to him making out she's punishing him as this looked fairly powerful in some spots and cheesy in others like what we've seen already in the story. The horror was certainly coming into the story this time apart from the thriller. Plus perfect painful situations when we spot her breaking his toes which definetely gives you a creepy feeling to this as well slowly doing things to him so he will be helpless to escape if he unties himself which looked clever on a maniac doing all of this.
There's also a moment when she seduces him and when she pulls down his underwear there's a cheesy camera shot moving away to reveal his naked crotch as this was roughly done and I was thinking that it's typical for a film not to show male frontal nudity.
Some great situations when people like the police or his parents come to check up on her and him trying to find someway to let them know he's there and in trouble which was another nice psychological feel to all this as well.
Some perfect vengeful moments when Ted nearly frees himself and tries to hurt Arlene as you have a bad sinking feeling though that he's not gonna win at all.
Alot of these torturous moments that we've spotted so far seemed a little too longing.
Cheesy shots on his parents trying to investigate on the mansion with an inshot on Arlene hiding in side and following their moves as well as holding back a door or nearly about to cut someone's hand for reaching in a window which keeps you in suspense wondering if she will do so.
We spot some perfect struggling situations with the parents battling against Arlene which offers perfect horror here looking perfectly intense as well as spotting Ted acting like a hopeless wimp too as you think that this dude really is a weakling. Also good moments when we think that Arlene is dead and then we all know in a horror flick that the killer isn't dead yet which needs to have more action in the story before this suddenly happens. Alot of these moments were a little overly long as well.
Then there's the ending which looked creepy showing a vengeful moment taking place at a beach when things seem back to normal as you start to think to yourself that this is a possible nightmare which is often a traditional moment on a psychopath that we may all think is dead and returning from the grave. It works in cheesily well.
Bottom line is that this film is categorised as a suspense/thriller but it's a horror as well just slightly in a similar genre like Psycho for instance. By what we see you won't disagree with me. It's very average and a little uneven sometimes going around in circles with nicely twisted and disturbing situations. It's a bit overly long and lacking while we continue to watch the film.
The acting was a bit uneven with some of the people here as I will try to review this out as best I can. Former porn actress Georgina Spelvin (Arlene Bellings) seemed to do not too bad by having a good obsessive and crazed behavior as well as coming across okay by seeming deceivingly caring but sometimes gets too carried away by doing all of this. She however acts convincing as someone who acts very strange in her presence. Also does okay by acting crazy shouting out obscene language at a graveyard throwing it out big time but at times this was a bit over the top. Seemed to do well when she dances around the floor acting silly and crazed as well as acting vicious whenever she gets violent in certain scene's with her crazed speaking too. Plus really gets into the insane adrenaline when she starts to attack others showing a nice horror to her part in the film.
Randy Spears (Ted Barnes) was another former porn actor as he seemed to do pretty well in his role as he offers some nice aggressions in one scene of the film getting short with someone which looked good and natural. Also does well getting into a pleasant conversation as well which also shows off pretty good here. Does a good job by getting irritated one one segment as well as doing a great job crying out in terror during a tragic moment along with coming across believeable while acting drugged too. Also does a perfect job screaming out obscenities and crying out showing a nice powerful emotional type of attitude here. Plus was great while screaming in pain when he's tortured. As well as coming across perfectly while acting drugged out of his head and being perfectly low on energy which made him seem believeable as if he was really like this as well as acting perfectly expressionless and out of it. He for sure showed a great versatality acting like a total wimp in the flick. Probably the best in the cast here.
Linda Blair (Evie Barnes) knew her stuff pretty well as she does a good job in one part of the film acting ticked and getting demanding as well as coming across as perfectly happy and romantic in another scene too which she really brought to life a great deal here. She does a good job while starting to feel sick and really studying this moment perfectly well along with showing a perfect freaked out attitude when she acts sicker as well as doing a great job freaking out when she gets attacked and acting helpless showing a perfect intense attitude while we continue to watch this.
Troy Donahue (Jack Barnes) seemed a little mediocre in his part of the film but not terrible. Seemed to do well with his serious concerns in certain spots as well as really getting to the point in other moments. Also shows some decent energy while struggling against his attacker as well as doing well struggling in pain while trying to fire a gun which he really got into the situation a fair deal.
Carolyn Van Bellinghen (Wanda Barnes) seemed to need some acting lessons in certain spots as she was too over the top at times like a scene where she gets emotional discussing a deep and dark secret as she was getting carried away quite a bit and not coming across as natural like she was supposed to have been. Yet does well acting anxious and scared when she gets attacked and does well with her blocking while fighting against her attacker showing off nice energy here. So she wasn't all that bad.
Christina Veronica (Crystal) was the worst in the cast as she acted way too silly while getting too eager and excited when she talks to the main actor in the film just getting way too carried away in what she does here and instead of coming across as mysterious seemed comedic but in a bad way. Also she acts lustful in one segment which is also too over the top as she didn't study this role too well within what she did here. Oh well not everyone was meant to make it.
Christina Veronica opens up her blouse and her breasts are revealed.
Georgina Spelvin pulls down her top while her character is about to fornicate revealing her breasts.
We spot some nice composing in which we hear some mellow piano playing in certain spots mainly for a psychotic moment when things seem still at the same time which suited in fairly well here. Also there's alot of high pitched icy synthesizer playing and having a nice windy effect to it all which adds the creepiness to the story along with low wavy deep sounds too making this sound perfectly spooky too. We also hear some nice strings playing to top it all off. All of this was put together by Joey Mennonna
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