Customer Reviews

In the Heat of Passion [VHS]

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Writer/director Rodman Flender's wannabe film noir, executive produced by Roger Corman, has a clever idea that only surfaces at the end. Sally Kirkland plays a wealthy unhappily married woman who begins an affair with actor/mechanic Nick Corri, but things turn sour when Sally's husband walks in on them and is killed in a struggle. The innocent/guilty widow is hardly new and apart for some late editing pans the only things that distinguishes the treatment is the noticably silent soundtrack and the puppyish performance of Corri. Flender tries to balance the age difference between Corri and Kirkland by presenting her as a sexpot, and Kirkland's willingness to be exposed like this seems either to be an act of bravery or career desperation. Employed as a psychiatrist, Kirkland gets to deliver the movie's howler to Corrie, with "Have you completely lost your mind? This is my office", and while it's difficult to determine whether her little girl voice is either to suggest innocence or ineptness of skill, it's certainly unwavering. Flender occasionally embarasses himself with the odd tilted expressionist camera angle, two silly car chases, and illogical staging of the struggle for the gun which eventuates in the husband being shot, however there is the expectation of overheard lovemaking which is not met. Look quickly for Lisa Kudrow wearing long black hair in a restaurant bathroom scene.

More twists and turns than the cyclone at Coney Island, and hot, hot heat. I love this movie. I had to see it twice because it "got me." If you like twisty surprising thrillers like "The Usual Suspects," check this out (it's better than that one even).