Sick Product of a Sick System

Did you people see the same film I saw?

As Good As It Gets

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

In it's early part, you know you've seen films like this before, which brought one film to mind, Harry Hamlin's 1990's Deceptions. But then this well constructed and stylish thriller, thrills over and over again, many times over. By it's preview, or cover, which you'd find in the ill appropriate horror section, of your video store, you'll look at this film, misjudgingly as a slasher pick, which it isn't. Jaclyn Smith, an angel who at one time in the 80's was voted, most sexiest woman (I remember that shot with her son) is perfect, as done solid by the rest of the cast, especially Mitchum who provides the killer twist, where I really like James Franciscus as Smith's lover. The story basically has Smith, as a tortured soul of a wife, who's copped the brunt of ugly verbal abuse (though no physical abuse is implied) and ridicule by hubby (who you really get to hate, and want to see dead) where you really sense Smith's pain, and frustration, and before you know it, she's an accessory to his murder, but then Smith's hell gets worse, with more bodies turning up in a freezer. In it's early part, I found the film in a nothing happening kind of land, say to films like Somebody Killed Her Husband, where some suspender moments were thrown in, like in that roadblock scene, where at first, Smith's car won't start up again, where she's en route to getting rid of one of her bodies, but boy was I mislead. The shower scene will stay with you, where Mitchum, has really got his s..t together, you kind of admire him, in spite of his corrupt intentions. We view in a CU, we really didn't need, with the after affect it has, on a burnt bodied smith. It's music score, one I really liked, to me is unforgettable. Highly recommended, for thriller fans, you won't be disappointed by this nice little oldie.

"Nightkill" was an attempt to make a modern take on the classic noir movies of the 1940s and 1950s. I say "attempt", because the end results are somewhat disappointing. In fairness to the movie, I will say that the movie never commits the ultimate cinematic sin by being boring, and it's always welcome to see Robert Mitchum. But it's often a strange movie - the husband is bumped off very quickly, and the love interest soon after exits the movie instead of sharing the subsequent problems that come up for the female lead. Also, there are long chunks of the movie when essentially NOTHING of serious consequence is happening. The other big problem with the screenplay is that while it tries to deceive its audience, most people watching will be able to guess most (if not all) of the twists and revelations that happen near the end fairly quickly. Though the twists and revelations that happen don't answer ever question viewers will have piled up in their minds up to that point. In short, the movie is a noir tale for those who have never seen one before in their lives, and who happen to be VERY forgiving of cinematic shortcomings.

SPOILER!!!!! I have just finished watching this film and I was very impressed. I collect Jaclyn Smith's films and most recently acquired this one on DVD.The story took all sorts of interesting twists. Was Wendell dead? Was Katherine (Jaclyn) being set up?I was hooked, and it was remarkable how everything came together. As soon as I saw Donner (Robert Mitchum) putting on gloves near the end, it clicked. We had not seen Wendell's face when apparently he was chasing Katherine but that added a air of mystery at the time, not seeing the 'dead' man's face.Robert Mitchum played a very good phoney detective.This is a rare occasion that nothing major is overlooked in the plot that the victim could have done differently. Katherine did nothing too irrational and didn't seem simply stupid at all.Jaclyn was a pleasure to see, especially knowing she made this film while "Charlie's Angels" was still in production. However, the downside, the moment when she had to display extreme emotion, (I'm sad to say) were sometimes cringe-worthy, the worst was when she was runnning round the house shouting for who she thought was Wendell to come out. But this was required for the role I guess, a very distressed woman. However, when she discovers Steve's body in the place of Wendell's, the film makers choice to make it slow motion with music and no sound of gasping, shrieking or crying was extremely sucessful in my opinion, it worked a lot better, the expressions on Jaclyn's face spoke for themselves easily!And the previous review about having to watch this is a second time is true, I look forward to that in a few months time, noticing the pieces being scattered to come back together later. This isn't Jaclyn at her best, but an excellent thriller with the bonus of featuring Jaclyn.

A very murky thriller. On the first viewing, I swear you won't be able to tell what's going on until....the last five minutes or so. This may be one of those mysteries that require a second viewing to fully understand how everything adds up. Good acting, though, both by Robert Mitchum, as a cunning detective, and by Jacklyn Smith, who's quite convincing as a woman involved in an increasingly threatening situation, with nobody to rely on in the whole world. (**)