The Age of Commercialism

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"Love Object" is one strange movie. The film is about a man named Kenneth (Desmond Harrington, "Ghost Ship" and "Wrong Turn"), who is a lonely copywriter whose dull life basically revolves around work. He has no friends, and no woman in his life. As he becomes more and more lonely, some coworkers show him a postcard of a real-life rubber sex doll. They laugh it off as a joke, but Kenneth is curious. He visits the company's website, and custom orders the 10 thousand dollar Nikki doll, forming it to look similar to a new coworker Lisa (Melissa Sagemiller, "Soul Survivors") who he has his eye on. But his new life with this silicone doll begins to get a little disturbing, as his growing relationship with Lisa begins to interfere with he and "Nikki". He begins to lose his mind, thinking that "Nikki" is stalking him, following him around work, etc. This begins to interfere with his work life, and his boss becomes agitated. But when Lisa discovers about Nikki (after Kenneth mutilated the doll), she calls it off. But Kenneth isn't up for that, and he plans on keeping Lisa forever and ever and ever.This was a surprising little thriller that caught me completely off guard. This film boasts a decent cast, Desmond Harrington pulled off the psychotic torment well, and Melissa Sagemiller is a large step up from her lackluster 2001 horror film "Soul Survivors". The film shifts genres very well. The first half of the movie is like a bizarre, twisted love story between a guy and a rubber doll. But by the beginning of the second half, it is established just how crazy Kenneth has become, obsessing over the doll, treating it as if it were an actual girlfriend. While it may sound funny, it was actually quite bizarre. The doll itself was eerie enough, especially during Kenneth's hallucinations about it attacking him and such. Horror fans who enjoy fast paced, all out gore flicks won't enjoy this so much, you have do be able to tolerate a slow building movie. But in the second act there is surely some horrific torture moments that will please horror fans. The ending of the film was actually pretty clever, I thought it was pretty uniquely done. And no, it isn't a twist ending. It's just the way that the entire finale played out.Overall, "Love Object" is a more dramatic horror/thriller movie, with good acting and an original story. It's no slasher flick by any means if that's what you were expecting. People who enjoy fast, straight to the point gore films may find this a little boring, but if you like a good thriller that has a relatively slow build (but contains a good ending), this is perfect. 7/10.

"Love Object" is a nice thriller/horror film.**SPOILERS**Kenneth Winslow, (Desmond Harrington) a technical writer at a large firm, is assigned to a special project that no one else wants. His assistant, Lisa Bellmer, (Melissa Sagemiller) causes him to become behind in his work, and a visit to a friend to get his head on straight puts him in connection with a company that makes life-size sex dolls. When it arrives, it changes him around and he manages to get back the spark in his work. As Kenneth and Lisa start to form a friendship outside of the office, he gets the paranoid feeling that the doll at home is jealous of his relationship with Lisa. Starting an actual relationship with her, she finds out about the doll, and it all comes crashing down.The Good News: This is actually a better film than it's roots give it. While on the surface it appears more like a drama, it actually manages to shift styles quite competently. It manages to change from several different styles with ease, and while one of them is on display, there are still qualities and examples of the others woven in together. When the tone becomes all-out horror later on, it becomes a more straight-forward horror tale and it gets some great moments in. A thrilling parking garage scene gets some good scares in, mainly due to it's placing in the film. The angles and shadows work just as well as the placing, but it still gives off some good creeps and jumps. A lot of what goes on in the third part is mainly due to the old-school use of sound effects and off-screen noises used to add creepiness and uncertainty as to what is happening. Those are really effective methods used to invoke a sense of unease in viewers, and the fact that they are put into a modern film is a nice change of pace to see. When the violence arrives, it's enough to satisfy the more traditional horror fans, with a mostly excellent torture sequence that is pretty short but gets the point across about it's intentions.The Bad News: There is a lot of dramatic moments and themes in here, and for the more hard-core horror fans that like it straight, this can turn into a pretty dull film. There is really not a whole lot going on in the beginning and middle of the film. The horror comes in at the end, which means that it needs a large amount of patience to get there. It's possible, as the story is pretty clever and there are some individual moments in there worthy of keeping interest in the film, but it takes a while to set everything up and get to those moments.The Final Verdict: If it can make a tighter first half, this might be a better film. It falls much clearer into the thriller category than out-right horror, it still gets enough gruesome moments for most horror fans. If you like more dramatic moments mixed with your horror, then give this one a rental. Those that prefer a faster pace with more obvious horror might want to exercise caution with this one.Rated R: Doll and human Nudity, Violence, Language and continuous off-screen sex sounds

Oddball movie directed in a low-key manner. Starts out as a drama, but turns into a psychological horror film. However, dark humor runs rampant through the film, but it is handled in a well orchestrated way, never ruining the impact the film tries to get across to the viewer. Many films these days stumble when they try to tie dark humor in with serious subject matter. A seemingly average joe falls in love with the new girl at his meandering office job. He buys a life-size sex doll that he models after her. He has sex with it, watches movies and dines with it. Soon, average joe and living girl start a relationship, and he starts to believe that the sex doll is getting jealous. A series of lengthy events then take place, involving the living girl finding out about the sex doll, the death of the doll, the average joe trying to turn the living girl into the doll, and the average joe coming out as the good guy in the end. Udo Kier gives us another irritating performance, but Rip Torn is fun to watch. I liked this movie. It's pretty fun and original considering the rubbish horror we have been getting served the last 10 years. Low on blood and gore but features a lot of style and imagination. Will probably be either a hit or miss in the avid horror viewers book. Three Stars.

LOVE OBJECT is a very cool, original film. Basic premise: Kenneth works at a company that writes owners manuals for products. He's the best in the biz but he has a big project coming up and his boss (played by the legendary Rip Torn) gets him an assistant. Kenneth doesn't want an assistant but the boss-man insists, and it turns out the assistant is kinda hot, so after a while, Kenneth doesn't mind quite so much. In fact, Kenneth starts to date the assistant, but Kenneth isn't all-together in the head. He buys a "real-life" sex doll to act out his fantasies on, and eventually the doll starts taking over his life, including talking to and stalking him. It just gets weirder from there, building to LOVE OBJECT's pretty cool climax. This is a strange little film that hasn't really gotten enough credit. It's well acted, kinda creepy, and very original. There's no real gore to speak of, so those looking for ultra-violence can pass this one up. But for something different, give this one a shot. This film kinda reminds me of the film MAY, in the fact that they're both small, strange films that most people either really like or really don't, with not much middle-ground. Personally, I like both and recommend taking a look at LOVE OBJECT 8/10