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Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

good back-story, and good acting

A different way of telling a story

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

In other words: pure Paul Verhoeven. This sophisticated black comedy is not for the easily offended, but it made me laugh out loud on several spots ("if she gets a fourth one, they can play bridge!"). Verhoeven is one of the few directors who can mix horror and comedy so effortlessly (this was the main virtue of his otherwise disappointing latest feature, "Elle"). This is the movie that got him the ticket to Hollywood, and it's very easy to see why; it's probably the most entertaining erotic thriller of the 1980s (along with Brian De Palma's "Body Double"), just like the thematically similar "Basic Instinct" is probably the most entertaining erotic thriller of the 1990s. *** out of 4.

This film functions like an intricate puzzle. its visuals and class give away to an incredibly well written plot ..don't want to give much away, but this is the definition of ART HOUSE horror! Suspenseful and Cerebral, you'll love pacing together the hints. The horror scenes are no joke and they remind me of 2 other great horror films, SUSPIRIA and DON'T LOOK NOW. Maybe its because they were shot in Europe, maybe its because they're all artistic and visually stunning, maybe because there's a lot that stays in the mind even after the film ends, or maybe because they don't quite give away the story and instead let the viewer figure it out, or maybe its because its just a a great movie just like those 2, either or its an EXCELLENT Film. Final Grade, A-

Let's just not mince words about this, I think Verhoeven would prefer it this way. Because even though he intended this as a kind of farce set up for the critics, the thing has genuine appeal for most people.It is no longer dangerous as might have been felt to be at the time, no longer quite an insane stylistic bravura. Since then we've had Cronenberg and Lynch, who delved deeper and subverted more slyly. Since then Verhoeven has delivered more biting satires. And if you insist on some ironic appreciation, prior to this we had Polanski and the Italian giallo, where you could read the feverish psychosexual histrionics as your own campy rendition knowing that you were not simply playing at the hands of a smarmy filmmaker.So what is left is a kind of update on Les Diaboliques. The caveat: how much of the lurid sexual fantasy that we're caught into is being hallucinated by the imaginative writer and how much of it actually true. Old news for '83.Piled on top of that we have deliberately overcooked religious symbolism, synchronous overlaps from Hitchcock and noir, and the film world conspiring to assist the nightmare unfold as we dreamed it would.Of course all these things, as well as the many faces that Verhoeven has used to subvert America when he was finally invited over on the strength of this, the filmmaker employs as cruel whims he can lift and put back in place.It is a tight construct, proof of his penchant for cinema all else aside. The writer begins to imagine a narrative around him as soon as the camera is set on him, and centered around this woman holding it. From his end, he is conspiring from inside that narrative to manipulate for sex that escapes him. Of course he soon discovers that he is just another play actor at the hands of a cruel maker; it happens with the discovery of film footage shot by her, shot by Verhoeven in just the way to make us imagine along with this man more sinister plots around the pictures.Of course it's the whole idea that we're none the wiser by the end about the maker's intentions filming these bits. Verhoeven's farce is that where we zealously imagined depth and connection, there might be none outside our feverish ramblings to interpret.It's a fine film, but since then we've had Cronenberg and Lynch where this ploy is one of many on the nature of reality. This is styled to be oblique but is easy to read, with few rewards for doing so. It is sex with all the animated writhing but none of the passion that penetrates deep.

Jerome Crabbe has the lead role in this movie. I saw this movie 6 times and I still am not tired of it. This movie is similar to Flesh + Blood in some ways. Gerald Soetman is a great writer. He wrote all of Paul Verhoeven's Dutch films. Paul Verhoeven is one of the greatest directors. I have seen all of his movies all except for Showgirls. My Mom does not like him so much but I disagree. I think all of his films are a ride to watch especially Total Recall and Basic Instinct. Jerry Goldsmith did some of his movies which include Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Hollow Man. I wish Jerry Goldsmith never died. Dutch films are different but still enjoyable.