Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 8, 1994 TAG: 9410290003
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"Killer Looks" begins with a believably kinky premise. To spice up the marriage, Phil (Michael Artura) has his wife, Diane (Sara Suzanne Brown), tease and lead on strange men. Then when she has these guys right where she wants them, he interrupts, pretending to be the outraged husband.
Their little game is going fine until they run into Mickey (Len Donato), who's more than willing to play by their rules. At the same time, Phil wants to go farther. If the filmmakers had stuck with that idea and followed those three characters (and their obsessions), this might have been a four-star wonder. For the most part, the acting and production values are excellent, and the first half of the story generates some suspense. Unfortunately, the film gets sidetracked with irrelevant soft-core fantasy stuff involving glamorous lesbians and the like. At their worst, those scenes verge on unintentional comedy and the whole thing runs out of steam well before the story is over. So it goes.
Fans of video originals have doubtlessly noted that star Sara Suzanne Brown is one of the busiest women in the business. Her name and face seem to appear on half the new releases that show up in the store these days. I spoke to her briefly about this film and her career at the VSDA convention last July.
She's a Georgia girl who went to Hollywood and landed very small "pretty girl" parts in big movies like "The Last Boy Scout" and "Ricochet." Six months later, she got a supporting role in a silly little video comedy. When "The Bikini Carwash Co." became a hit, she was on her way.
"In a casting flurry I was doing a film about every four to six months," she said. She credits her success to humor - i.e., not taking the work too seriously - and "having a good working relationship with the production companies that do the hiring and production of these things."
She said that the erotic side of "erotic thrillers" really is pure illusion.
"Filming those scenes is difficult, very technical. If you were," she went into a breathless Scarlett O'Hara voice "carried away by the moment you wouldn't get half the shots the director needs. It would be a waste of money, and that's not smart."
Like most people in home video, she'd like to be working in theatrical films and on television, but she understands the business. "Entertainment is entertainment, and if children's theater paid the bills, I'd be doing it."
"Stormswept" is just such a bill-payer, though it may be a while before you get a chance to see it. The film is an independent production; written, directed, edited and co-produced by David Marsh, and (for now) distributed by Marsh Entertainment Group.
All right, with those credits, you're thinking grainy color, laughable acting, shoestring special effects - but that's not the case. This is your basic Southern Gothic soft-core horror comedy.
It begins on a familiar note with six crew members of a film production company trapped by a thunderstorm in a haunted Louisiana mansion. An unspeakable crime occurred there years before. Now, an evil, sexually charged spirit pervades the place and a mysterious blonde (Kathleen Kinmont) has set up housekeeping in the basement. An early establishing shot of a spider walking through an ornate chandelier sets the mood, and the rest of the film pretty much lives up to it.
Some of the scares are conventional dark-and-stormy-night stuff, but there are enough inventive moments to keep your interest. The rest of the cast seem to be enjoying the material.
The result is a good-looking film that's a lot of fun. Horror fans have seen much worse. When they'll get a chance to see "Stormswept" is still in question, though. As of this writing, the film may be picked up by one of the larger video outfits or it might be distributed independently.
In either case, the release will be reported here when it happens.
New releases
The Paper *** 1/2
Starring Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Randy Quaid. Directed by Ron Howard. MCA/Universal. 112 min. Rated R for strong language, some violence.
There are a lot of reasons to see this one - it's intelligent, fast-paced, filled with good characters in interesting situations - but Michael Keaton's winning performance in one of his best roles is the key. He leads an ensemble cast in the story of 24 frantic hours in the life of a New York tabloid. Even those who could not care less about the newspaper business will be won over. One of the year's best.
The Inkwell *
Starring Larenz Tate, Joe Morton. Directed by Matty Rich. Buena Vista. 110 min. Rated R for strong language, sexual content.
This comedy about a black teen-ager's coming of age in 1976 is so clumsy it's embarrassing. It attempts to combine pathos, period nostalgia and humor, and fails miserably on all counts. The serious scenes ring false. Several historical details are flat wrong and the comic bits are bizarrely overdone. The writer had his name removed from the credits and no one can blame him.
Back Beat ** 1/2
Starring Stephen Dorff, Ian Hart, Sheryl Lee. Directed by Iain Softley. PolyGram. 98 min. Rated R for nudity, sexual content, strong language.
Here's a curious piece of work - a finely crafted period piece with an attractive cast and a terrific soundtrack. If only it had a story. Writer-director Iain Softley's background in commercials and music videos is obvious, and he uses that visual sense to recreate the early days of The Beatles and the world of 1960-62. But the thin plot concerning the relationship between John Lennon and Stu Sutcliffe, who played with the band briefly, doesn't amount to much.
The essentials
Killer Looks ** Imperial. Imperial. 97 min. R-rated and unrated for sexual content, nudity, strong language, some violence.
Stormswept *** Marsh Entertainment. 94 min. Unrated, contains nudity, sexual material, strong language, violence.
by CNB