People are voting emotionally.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Brian De Palma has often come in for some flak over the years, his penchant for sticking tight to Alfred Hitchcock thriller formula has been the source of much consternation in certain quarters. Yet when you view something like Peter Hall's Never Talk to Strangers it rams home just how welcome it is to have Hitch like thrillers at least done well!Rebecca De Mornay is a troubled shrink who whilst dealing with the mind games of a serial killing loony (Harry Dean Stanton), meets sexually charged Latino guy (Antonio Banderas) and indulges in passions unbound. Then she starts to get very unwelcome presents in the post...The erotic thriller has been well trodden, and will continue to be so for sure, so it feels a little churlish to decry Hall's movie for coming off as a weak willed imitator of previous purveyors of the sub-genre, but this blend of Silence of the Lambs meets Sea of Love - cum - Dressed to Kill - cum Fatal Attraction etc etc just comes across as a cheat. And that's because it is!The makers know this and try to hide their ridiculous folly behind eroticism as the two lovely looking headlining stars get sweaty and wet, indulging in sexual play that's as powerful as the surroundings (Banderas lives in a loft apartment resplendent with metal cage and wrought iron doors). But, or should that be butt? The mystery element is weak, the suspense equally so, while the back story of De Mornay's father (a key character) is hopelessly under developed.Then there is H.D. Stanton, stealing every scene is he is in, quid pro quo indeed, yet he's hardly in the film, which ultimately proves to be a tragedy as the plot hurtles towards its implausible and risible revelations. Red herrings come and go as quickly as Becca and Tony's underwear (the continuity editor should have been sacked along with the writers because of one scene BTW), and even though Pino Donaggio scores the music with customary swirling qualities, this just comes off as a piggyback tactic...This is a poor thriller in spite of two very committed and visually attractive perfs from the leads - and of course Stanton's knowingly sleazy turn. Seek this out only if you think Body of Evidence is in the upper echelons of erotic thrillers. 5/10

This Thriller was received poorly on it's release, this is unfortunate as I found much to like here.Firstly I liked the main musical score running throughout the film and the Director was quite clearly going for a Hitchcockian feel, which only partially succeeds though. The chemistry between the leads is excellent and the scenes containing both DeMornay and Banderas are the strongest and most watchable. I have to say I did not think Harry Dean Stanton put too much effort into his part as he was not all that convincing and Dennis Miller was just plain irritating. Len Cariou was okay as DeMornay's father, but really the two leads are the main focus and the main reason to watch this. The love scenes although a bit lengthy were stylishly made and did not detract from the film, the ending although a bit of a stretch was at least surprising and acted fairly convincingly (although I am no shrink).So although being far from a classic I certainly thought it was far from being the worst thriller. I would rate it above the Meg Ryan effort "In The Cut" & Ashley Judd's "Twisted" along with Sandra Bullock's "Murder by Numbers" to name a few. My rating 6.6 out of 10

I've been trying to think of a word to describe the main characters in this movie, and the best one is incongruity. A macho-looking Puerto Rican named Tony (Antonio Banderas) dressed in a leather jacket with big silver rings on most of his fingers turns out to be a wine expert and an ex-cop with a great sense of fun and takes his sex either kinky or romantic. An up-scale psychiatrist named Sarah (Rebecca DeMoray) is evaluating a murderer, Max Cheski (Harry Dean Stanton) for Multiple Personality Disorder while she goes through extreme moods shifts. She falls for Tony, who doesn't seem to be her type, yet ends up being the perfect guy to help her with her sexual repression and problems with trust.This movie doesn't quite work as a thriller. It's poorly written and directed. Too many thriller clichés like the over-use of camera shots, quick cuts, and blaring, screeching music at "shocking" moments. There are a number of stalker suspects - is it Tony? Neighbor Cliff? Dad Henry? Cheski? Yet I never believed any of them to be credible suspects. At no point was I ever on the edge of my seat worried about her being with any of these so-called suspects.The clues, at least, are nicely woven in. Although it makes a sartorial and editorial error when it gives us a clue about the real stalker - the film unwittingly rules out one of the suspects, yet keeps on trying to make us believe he's one of them. I had a sense of who it was by the end. Although I found things about it distasteful and not well presented. I was surprised a couple of things, so I didn't guess the entire ending beforehand.I found DeMoray's acting go from passable to over the top at times. The only one who actually makes this movie watchable is Banderas, who manages to do some good things with the poor material he's given. When the film wants to be an erotic thriller, he's the one, not surprisingly, who gives it the eroticism it wants, not DeMoray. Not that they lack chemistry, but she's not as up to the job as he is. When the film wants light, fun romantic moments, he's the one brings them to the film. When the film wants serious dramatic tension, Banderas serves it up. Sometimes, DeMoray either seems to lag behind him or goes over the top in an effort to match him.In spite of it's flaws as a thriller, once you know what's really going on and watch it again, it makes for a decent drama (as long as you ignore the annoying overdone "shocking moments.") Second time through lets you actually understand the whys about things. Unfortunately, most people aren't going to want to watch this thing a second time.

Rebecca De Mornay can be a fascinating beautiful actress but as for the parts she's given to play,if you cannot say something nice...De Mornay portrays a woman who had terrible traumas as a child with a father she can hardly stand now that she's a grown up and has become a -of course brilliant- shrink.She has an affair with Banderas ,whom we suspect of being (ouch!how original!) a serial killer.Sometimes she recalls Banderas's mother-in-law Tippi Hedren's character in "Marnie" .But I wouldn't count on it:Hitchcock died twenty-four years ago ,and a lot of regents desperately try to replace him .Here the director pulls out all the stops to make a thriller with an unexpected end,but that ending is so far-fetched it is absolutely impossible to buy it.The movie includes the obligatory "conversations with a serial killer" in the "silence of the lamb" tradition,murders (human beings and cats),split personality,and open ending in case the crowds should call for more.Apparently they did not,and they were right.