One of the worst movies I've ever seen

One of the best films i have seen

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This movie is PATHETIC and BORING!. Kilmer and Mornay are stiffer than concrete. the plot is ridiculous--nothing but the worst caricatures and uninformed stereotypical behaviors ever portrayed in a film. the illogical events in the film are untenable--e.g., having sworn to protect the young virgin, the young detective then leaves her alone in the dark park, to be subsequently attacked, even though he knows the murderer is still at large and supposedly in the park! Moreover, it is factually untrue that the "murderer" could have committed this crime, as this species is completely vegetarian and non-violent towards humans unless directly attacked. Check out writings by Birute Galdikas if you have any doubts.It is shameful to perpetuate such outdated notions about a fellow primate that is on the verge of extinction because of humans.

When the basic story of a film is good, you naturally want to like it. But, sometimes, about half of the way through, you realize that it hasn't lived up to expectations. Edgar Allan Poe wrote a fantastic tale, no doubts there. But this film is sadly misguided.Several factors contribute to this. First, David Epstein's screenplay effectively rips all the subtlety out of the source material. Second, director Jeannot Szwarc makes absolutely no attempt to film this in a way that takes advantage of its low budget and venue. Finally, the casting is utterly random. Accents and nationalities are thrown together with total abandon.In spite of all that, some the cast members manage to put in good performances. George C. Scott (as Auguste Dupin) is really excellent, with great command of his dialogue. Naturally, he is miscast, but acts as if he is in a far better film. A very young Val Kilmer (as Phillipe) is good, but has almost nothing to work with. He too, is miscast, though the main reason I originally watched this. Ian McShane is certainly entertaining, but his character has no subtlety.After the acting, there's little to say. The only quality the film has left it owes to its source material. This might have been acceptable for an original script, but as a badly adapted story, it is simply disappointing.The editing seems haphazard at points, either that important scenes were removed, or never filmed. Dupin's realization of the culprit is never explained, nor the contents of his newspaper ad, or any of his deductive process for that matter. Phillipe's process of discovering Adolphe's unfaithfulness is also never explained.Finally, the intelligence of the script dips considerably by the final scenes. I won't elaborate, but they have all the brains of a 1950s horror B movie. Really weak.RATING: 6.2 out of 10

I checked this out last night from our Library. I was more than a little surprised by how good it was. I hadn't read Rue Morgue since I was in 6th grade, so I didn't remember the plot. This seems to have upset a few people, since apparently the movie didn't follow the plot of the original story. I truly enjoyed it and if hadn't been for the segways I wouldn't have known it was made for TV. It looked great and is by far one of the best made for TV movies I've ever seen...especially given that it was made in 1986. George C Scott is always such a presence on screen. If you get a chance please watch in on VHS instead of TV with all the commercial breaks. You could probably find it at a library..if you live in a metro area.

It isn't terrible, but it's just another mediocre TV movie in spite of the cast and story (the Poe story is ridiculous, but it's fun). The story lurches along until the last 15 minutes, when it falls flat on its face. The ending is abrupt, leaving major story threads flapping in the breeze, and the clumsy attempt to surprise the 1 in 100 viewers that hasn't heard the plot of the Poe story is very distracting. There is also a subplot involving a feud between the detective and the police commissioner that is totally unnecessary. Finally, the cinematography is occasionally muddy. On the plus side there is the good cast and the locations are very attractive, so it's tolerable.