Robert J. Maxwell
This one, David Keith, is an antiques vendor and schlepper who for some reason is killing 30-ish successful women by plastic-bagging them, then dressing them, grooming them, and posing them in the position of antique dolls. Kelly McGillis is an ex-medical student, a graduate in fact, who was Keith's first victim but managed to escape his clutches before being turned into a dead doll. She has an MD from Texas but, after spending some time recovering from her trauma, she is now an ordinary homicide cop in Houston. (Sure.) The plot. Well, you already pretty much know it by now, I presume. A number of women turn up dead in peculiar ways. The police have to figure out if there is a link between the killings. There is. Then they have to figure out the particular theme this serial killer is using. Usually phrased as, "What do these women have in common?" In other movies of this genre -- and it IS a genre unto itself -- the killings are based on puzzles from Alice in Wonderland, or replications of previous high-profile serial murderers, or a drawing of a pentagram on a map, or -- I think there's one based on a game of tic tac toe. Or was it hopscotch? One forgets after viewing a dozen or so examples.McGillis does alright by her role, although she hasn't much in the way of range. (It's hard to imagine her getting stoned and enjoying herself.) And she has one of those cases of asthma or whatever it is that disable her at critical moments, a momento of her earlier abuse. She is intense enough, though, and that's about all that's required of her. Moffet, or whoever plays her partner Detective Cirillo, seems to have only one key on his instrument. It would have been a more interesting movie if he'd been the heavy. David Keith has the juiciest part, an outwardly charming, inwardly explosive, sadistic madman. What a scuzzball he is, trying to spoon feed pecan pie to one of his victims before offing her. He gets a bit of exercise because he's required to change personae from time to time. Bruce Dern, gone gray and losing his hair under his cowboy hat, has played numerous psychotic heavies and if he'd been a few years younger would have done fine as the heavy in this movie as well. He's hardly on screen, though.There's nothing original in this flick. I'm beginning to yawn when the finale begins with the lone female investigator breaking into the murderer's darkened house and creeping around with a flashlight whose beam reveals spooky objects and ominously closed doors. It worked okay for a while but has now become redundant, after "Silence of the Lambs" and any number of other examples. Other boilerplate scenes include the fight between the investigator and the maniac. The investigator is armed but has the gun knocked out of his or her hand. A shot of the pistol skidding along the floor. A shot of somebody's hand grasping for the weapon just out of reach. To my knowledge, this sequence was first used in a motion picture in the year 1798.You know something, though? It's bad enough that these plots always involve the murders of young women, but this film has a drawn-out and especially execrable scene in which the murderer, Keith, teases one of his tied-up, terrified victims. The victim knows she's going to die and so do we, but we must sit there and watch David Keith try to pamper her and then throw a fit of pique when she refuses to eat his goddamn home-made pie and then plastic bag her while she screams and wiggles. At whom is this scene aimed? What I mean is, who will enjoy seeing something so brutal and disgusting? It's not necessary to our understanding of either the plot or the character. Casting decisions must have been given about 5 seconds of thought. The first killer we see, being sentenced in a Texas court, is a big, hulking, ugly, sneering brute who spits at Inspector Kelly McGillis. How much more interesting if he'd been a little mouse. David Keith, the killer-in-chief, has always been cast as a weak, perennial loser. The uncooperative sexist detective on the Houston PD is a fat guy with a mustache and no neck who could have won the blue ribbon as prize hog at the Texas State Fair. Well, looking at the donut instead of the hole, the formula wouldn't have been reused so often if there weren't something workable about it. And there IS one well-written, if overacted, scene at an outdoor flea market in which Keith almost, but not quite, lures a beautiful blond customer into his web. If it's late at night and you find you can't sleep, you might give this a try. Either it will act as a distraction from your distress or as a soporific. Both ways, you win something.
sludgehound
As prior detailed review puts it, this is a bit of a sleeper. Admit that catching it on cable now with the ongoing serial sniper in D.C. area in mind. Well, yuck, this has a bunch of connections! White big box truck (not an Astro van but there were early D.C. reports of a while box truck). Film baddie works a circle route of victims. Snatcher not shooter. But same patterns even the film mention of God complex and increase in frequency of attacks. This baddie does key on a 'type' tho. Less random than D.C. Very creepy but yes this film does hold one's interest with the well played sense of everydayness. Good performances. Bad guy is always such a tricky role to cast and play. This one does it. Not the over the top thing of Hannibal so even more icky for real. Give this a try if comes your way and it's your thing. Helps if you enjoy CSI, Law and Order type shows. Gets a little overheated but the soul of film is intact.
