Dir: Dennis Dimster
Star: Josh Holloway, Nastassja Kinski, Jeff Fahey, Hudson Leick

One of the benefits of having a psycho in your movie, is that they can do anything necessary for the plot and it’s okay. They’re psycho, y’see: so if they don’t behave rationally, or in the way a normal person would, it makes perfect sense! There’s certainly a prime example of the species here, in Sean (Holloway). He’s locked up in the loony bin after having come perilously close to killing his last girlfriend. But working with his shrink, Dr. Phil (Fahey) – seriously, the psychiatrist’s name is Phil Cross – who has been financed by Sean’s rich father, he’s deemed sane enough to be released into society.

Here, I’ll also mention there are two types of movie psychopaths. Type A are the creepy ones, about whom you can immediately tell something is wrong immediately: the Norman Bateses. Then there is Type B, the suave and charismatic manipulators: the Patrick Batemans.  It’s the latter category into which Sean falls. And, hey whaddya know. he immediately ends up working for Dr. Cross’s wife, Linda (Kinski), who runs a movie production company. For what are the odds that he would casually run into her partner, Julia (Leick) at a coffee-stand and charm her into offering him a job? Actually, if you’ve seen many of this kind of thriller, you’ll know the answer is, “about 100%”.

You’ll also be unsurprised to learn Linda’s marriage is on shaky ground, she suspects her husband of having an affair, and thinks Phil is only staying with her for financial reasons. Something something trust fund. It’s not long – pausing only for a gratuitous shower-scene, but more on this aspect in a bit – before she and Sean are conducting a torrid affair. However, for Linda at least, this comes with a large side-order of guilt, particularly after she realizes Phil wasn’t having an affair at all, and all his skulking around was cover as he secretly bought their dream cabin. So she decides to end the relationship, which does not sit well with Sean, causing the “psycho” aspect of his nature to kick in.

You may be detecting some cynicism in the above, and not without cause. However, it isn’t entirely without merit, since there’s at least one twist which I honestly didn’t see coming. I probably should have, as it’s necessary to the plot, yet the scripts keeps that revelation on the back burner until almost the very end. The finale does require the other aspect of cinematic insanity mentioned earlier. Some of Sean’s late choices appear to be ones apparently mandated by the script-writer, rather than flowing naturally from the situation and/or his character. But it’s alright, ‘cos he’s a psycho. And you know what they say: “He who sets the psychopath, gets the psychopath.” Ok, just me then.

The cast aren’t bad, even if none of the roles require much more than stock genre tropes. In addition to Kinski, a particular bonus for me was Hudson Leick, whom I recall being very fond of, back in the days when she played the uber-villainess Callisto in Xena: Warrior Princess. Nothing quite as gloriously OTT here; though let’s face it, hard to top lines like, “Such a pretty day for a blood bath,” appropriate though it might have been. Holloway, in an early feature role, well before becoming known for Lost, does the charming madman thing effectively enough. Fahey’s role isn’t as significant as his billing might appear, and we never do address the elephant in the room. You’re married to Nastassja Kinski; what could possibly have gone wrong?

This seems cut from much the same cloth as Blind Terror, also from the same year, in which Kinski also hooked up with the wrong guy. And with the exception of some gratuitous nudity, this could equally well have played on television. Speaking of which, the obligatory quota of flesh is met, both through the shower-scene mentioned above and several sequences of Linda and Sean bonking. Except, it appears not to be Kinski at all, but more likely a body double, going in particular by the obvious way her face is never shown in those shots. It’s rather disconcerting, and since these scenes aren’t necessary – they appear perfunctory to the point of contractual obligation – you’re almost left wishing they hadn’t bothered. Note: the image on the sleeve of NK with her hands tied above her head does not appear in the film. Though bondage fans may be impressed by the fairly detailed knotwork when Sean ties up Julia. Maybe he has a touch of OCD as well.

Kinski’s performance is decent enough, putting over an aura of paranoid vulnerability that’s reasonably effective. It’s odd that the film is supposedly told from Sean’s perspective, as the final shot makes clear, yet it is not consistently so. Aspects are also revealed, of which he’d have to be completely unaware, such as Julia’s shifting doubts as to her husband’s fidelity. It seems she’s the character with which the audience is supposed to empathize, yet Dimster wants the illicit thrill of associating with the cold, dead heart of Sean as well. I would definitely say he falls short of managing to pull that feat off, and he would have been better trying to have his cake or eat it.

But the basic plot did a fairly good job of sustaining my interest for 90 minutes, and if you’re looking for a low-budget flick along the lines of Fatal Attraction, you could certainly do much worse. It’s not exactly ambitious; there are hardly more than half a dozen speaking roles in the entire film. Yet knowing your limitations is one of the important aspects of straight-to-video work, and wisely, the makers here remain inside what’s available with their resources. The money apparently was spent mostly on a solid cast, and they probably help to elevate the (frankly, tired and over-familiar) material, beyond what it deserves.