Guilty as Charged

This is a strange film. It is a black satire that reminds me of a cross between Roger Corman's "Black Scorpion", Wes Craven's "Swamp Thing" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Family Plot". The casting is eclectic with Rod Steiger, Lauren Hutton, Heather Graham, Isaac Hayes and Zelda Rubinsten and deserves an A. The acting, however, is uneven and gets a B. The story (we've been here before) is a C. Not much of the budget is on the screen. With better production values it would have been a very interesting movie. As it is, the production values gets only a D.

The look of the film is that of a poor man's direct-to-video. That's too bad. With more texture to cover the obvious staleness of the story (ex: Tim Burton's "Batman") this could have been a remarkable film. Still, it's worth a look even if it never reaches it's potential. I don't know if you can blame the budget or the director, but it just misses. Still, certain moments do transcend the film's problems. Rod Steiger, Isaac Hayes and Heather Graham make this film worth a look even if in the end it is a disappointment.