Those Bedroom Eyes

(A Kiss to Die For, Fatal Obsession, Leon Ichaso, USA, 1993)

One of the best aspects of being a cinephile in the video and DVD eras is in discovering numerous, unheard of B movies that try their damnedest to concoct a captivating mixture of various plots, genres and styles from nearby blockbuster successes.

Even the Australian release title of Fatal Obsession – one of several repackagings it has received around the world – is a desperate, hopeful attempt to lure viewers of Fatal Attraction (1987) and Basic Instinct (1992).

This curious combination of Vertigo (1958), Last Tango in Paris (1972), Sea of Love (1989) and a topical telemovie on schizophrenia, stars Tim Matheson and Mimi Rogers, and is directed by Leon Ichaso.

Basically, any movie which, in its first five minutes, features a fat, rich capitalist being killed in his bathtub by a mysterious leather-clad dominatrix, followed by a psychology professor saved from suicide on a moving train by a femme fatale murmuring "Surrender to the moment!" – is absolutely OK by me.

MORE Ichaso: The Fear Inside, El Cantante

© Adrian Martin June 1993