I remember I saw Wicked, Wicked on TCM many years ago and was extremly bored. So I just felt for watching it again. It's a weird production and it's even weirder to see the proud MGM-lion roar in the beginning. The concept with it is the not so amazing "Duo-Vision", tagline "Duo-Vision. No Glasses - All You Need Are Your Eyes" - which is just that you are forced to see 99,99 percent of the movie in splitscreen! This might sound interesting in theory, but you just get bored watching within one-two minutes.
The story is nothing to write home to mum about either. Jason is a lonely electrician at seaside hotel (the same in The Stuntman by the way). But of course he has some serious issues with his dead mother and likes to cut up blonde women in their room and embalm them in the attic. Just a basic psycho-rip off. Nothing wrong with that, but it would have been less annoying without the "Duo-Vision". David Bailey is the hero, an ex-cop doing job as some kinda of security supervisor at the hotel. Of course he get's a chance to bang a couple of the ladies to.
I'm sure that Wicked, Wicked could have been a decent little seventies-slasher if the just skipped the splitscreen. The location is nice, some of the actors is good (especially Randolph Roberts as Jason) and the gore is more graphic than I remember it be - and here the movies always go to fullscreen, so we can see the knifes flashing in our faces. This touch, and refreshing after being cross-eyed after watching to much soap-style storyline.
There's a couple of good scenes to (the one when the lonely Mrs Karadyne tells the story of her life, and the other side of the screen shows the real story for example) and the cinematography is great. It even has a groovy theme-song, performed by the leading lady Tiffany Bolling. But it all falls one thing...
... the tension is completely gone when you see what's gonna happen in the other screen. You know that the killer is hiding in just that place, you know that someone is outside the door, you know that something is gonna happen. And voilá, everything that's thrilling and exciting is gone. Just two screens telling a boring story.
And yes, if this was released on dvd... and would buy it the same second it's out. Isn't it... Strange, Strange?
4 comments:
Oh no, not this again!!!!!!!! :)
Now we just need you-know-who to show up and we're set for a "grand" reunion.
Wostry & Jack: Haha, I'm prepared! ;)
I really enjoyed this film. It's not perfect, but I thought the Duo-Vision was very interesting and made me think more. Since you are seeing two screens at once, the filmmakers use this to their advantage giving you pieces of the story. Very interesting to watch. Thank you, Richard Bare for creating this film. It deserves a place in film history.
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