Is this a horror movie? Usually, if I ask that question, it means a movie is not a good choice for the October Horrorshow. Just because a movie has horror elements in it, does not make it a horror movie. A case in point, much disputed, is The Silence of the Lambs. I do not think of that as a horror movie. I think of it as a thriller, or a police procedural. Sure, when Hannibal Lecter rips someone’s face off and wears it, that’s horrific. The iconic character Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre wears someone’s face, and there’s no doubt that is a horror flick. But the use of horror in Silence is in service to the story, and not the purpose of the story. Continue reading “October Horrorshow: Dead Mail”
Tag: Psychological Thriller Flick
Shitty Movie Sundays: Double Exposure
From the murky realms of Hollywood anonymity comes Double Exposure, the 1982 film by writer/director William Byron Hillman. Basically a remake of an earlier Hillman film called The Photographer, Double Exposure is a psychological thriller wherein a fashion photographer, Adrian Wilde (Michael Callan), is plagued by dreams of bloody murder. Not his murder, mind. Rather, the brutal slayings of young models in his employ.
Are these dreams buried memories of his actions? Adrian doesn’t know, and neither does his shrink (Seymour Cassel). But, as bodies continue to pile up, Adrian can no longer deny that he might be a murderer.
In between, audiences are treated to the cringy relationship Adrian has with his stunt-car driving brother, B.J. (James Stacy), and some of the worst detective work ever placed on film.
Here’s what I mean by that.
Adrian and a young, eager model go to a secluded location for an ad shoot, and Adrian then kills the model. Only, he wakes up after and the audience sees it has all been a dream. But, soon after, two detectives right out of a shampoo commercial, Fontain and Buckhold (Pamela Hensley and David Young), arrive at a real murder scene that is identical to Adrian’s dream. This happens multiple times. Okay, so Adrian is killing these women while they are on a scheduled photo shoot, one that the models’ agencies would know about. And yet, cops are baffled until late in the film. That’s some shitty filmmaking. Continue reading “Shitty Movie Sundays: Double Exposure”