Customer Reviews

Wicked [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

OK, so it has Julia Stiles in it. That may turn a lot of people off. Or maybe on. This was one of her first rolls and it was a direct-to-video semi-hit back in 1998. It's an amazing film and watching it last night, I had to write this review.

WICKED is a movie where nothing is what it seems.

14-year-old Ellie Christianson (Julia Stiles) lives to run away. In fact, she has a suitcase just for that. She never does, always giving up her fight. She always fights with her mother Karen Christianson (Chelsea Field) who's having an affair with deadbeat loser neighbor Lawson Smith (Patrick Muldoon). She seems to only get along with her dad, Ben (Billy Moses) and little sister, Inger (Vanessa Zima). One day, Karen is bludgen to death with a mask (part of the comedy and tragety masks) in her own home, in a gated community. All fingers point to Ellie who never liked her mother much and is always getting into trouble. Ellie was always the Daddy's Girl and a confessed favorite of her father's. So she decides to take over where her mother left off, wearing her clothes and cooking for her family. After she seduces her father, she thinks that they will be together forever. But when former maid Lena Anderson (Louise Myrback) decides marry Ben to get her green card, Ellie gets the idea that she should try to run away again....

The review seems short but I can't write much without giving anything away.

WICKED is a very visual movie. Spetacular colors are used in several scenes. Before the murder, everything around the house is completly white. Making the viewing of blood a lot more shocking and graphic.

RECCOMENDED TO FANS OF:
Dressed To Kill (1980)
Wild Things (1998)
Poison Ivy (1992)

CAST
Julia Stiles..............Ellie Christianson
Louise Myrback..........Lena Anderson
Billy Moses..............Ben Christianson
Chelsea Field.......Karen Christianson
Vanessa Zima.......Inger Christianson
Patrick Muldoon............Lawson Smith

Linda Hart.........................Mrs. Potter

THE MOVIE: 3.5/4

THE PICTURE QUALITY is a 9.5/10. There are some specks that appear briefly. However it's in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen which drags in an extra point for the rebounds.

THE AUDIO QUALITY is Dolby Surround 2 channel while the box states there is a 5.1 channel on the package as well. 8/10

THE SPECIAL FEATURES are trailers for several movies including this one and filmographies (no doubt to show off what Stiles has been in)

SUBTITLES: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Thai.

When I went to the video store there was only 1 copy to rent on DVD. No tapes whatsoever. Obviously we're not talking about an A class movie here. Anyhow, it took me about 3 weeks to catch before it was in. Me being a Julia Stiles fan as well as enjoying dark/disturbing films I was fairly enthusiastic about seeing it. When I put the DVD in the machine i wasn't surprised there were little or no special features (filmographies and a few trailers). The movie itself is about a dysfunctional family in which both parents are committing adultery and the eldest daughter, Ellie (played by Stiles), has much tension between her and her mother, Lena. She turns to her father, Ben, for affection, in turn, creating a power struggle with Lena for control over him. The marriage then begins to fall apart. In a heated argument Lena threatens to run off with their two daughters. The next morning while Ben is at work and the daughters at school she is murdered. At this point a detective is introduced and starts a murder/mystery plot; although when I was watching it my attention was more closely tied with the control between Stiles' relationship with her father. She tries to fill the motherly role that's missing from the household. As her father pulls away she acts more and more like his wife. Of course he realizes their relationship can't continue as is and begins seeing his lover (whom he had been with during his marriage) again. As the movie continues you'll find out who killed Lena and add to that a delightful twist in the end. I think most people watch the movie and see a B thriller with poor taste. I'm not surprised as there are a few very controversial elements to it. Even still, I found the cringing moments gutsy and Ellie's development entertaining. You get to watch Ellie start as "daddy's little girl" and turn into an insecure control freak much like her mother was. ...

This movie features Julia Stiles playing a posessive teenager who turns into a domineering young woman with the Electra-complex after her mother's death. She is posessive of her father which whom she becomes obsessed with later on in the movie. As far as the plot, it takes on many facets which do not fit right for the theme of the movie. Through the protagonist's eyes, you can see how far away reality becomes, and eventually how she is corrupted through the events following her mother's death. At times, the incestual overtones made me queasy, and the end was sort of expected due to the lack of definition to the characters. Sometimes during the movie, one could get the feeling that it was more of a who-dun-it film than anything else. Although disturbing and dark to watch, there are not any scenes of nudity, just the adult situation, language, and violence content. Hope this helps.

When I went to the video store there was only 1 copy to rent on DVD. No tapes whatsoever. Obviously we're not talking about an A class movie here. Anyhow, it took me about 3 weeks to catch before it was in. Me being a Julia Stiles fan as well as enjoying dark/disturbing films I was fairly enthusiastic about seeing it. When I put the DVD in the machine i wasn't surprised there were little or no special features (filmographies and a few trailers). The movie itself is about a dysfunctional family in which both parents are committing adultery and the eldest daughter, Ellie (played by Stiles), has much tension between her and her mother, Lena. She turns to her father, Ben, for affection, in turn, creating a power struggle with Lena for control over him. The marriage then begins to fall apart. In a heated argument Lena threatens to run off with their two daughters. The next morning while Ben is at work and the daughters at school she is murdered. At this point a detective is introduced and starts a murder/mystery plot; although when I was watching it my attention was more closely tied with the control between Stiles' relationship with her father. She tries to fill the motherly role that's missing from the household. As her father pulls away she acts more and more like his wife. Of course he realizes their relationship can't continue as is and begins seeing his lover (whom he had been with during his marriage) again. As the movie continues you'll find out who killed Lena and add to that a delightful twist in the end. I think most people watch the movie and see a B thriller with poor taste. I'm not surprised as there are a few very controversial elements to it. Even still, I found the cringing moments gutsy and Ellie's development entertaining. You get to watch Ellie start as "daddy's little girl" and turn into an insecure control freak much like her mother was. So maybe it's not worth shelling out for your own copy but certainly worth paying the $2 - 3 to rent. Hope this was a helpful review. :)

I admit: the only reason I rented this movie was because of Julia Stiles' picture on the back of the DVD cover, looking unspeakably sultry and irresistible. I expected "Wicked" to be a cheesy B-movie, and it is. However, it's a good one at that; I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

"Wicked"'s main plot revoles around a highly dysfunctional family in that morass we call the American Suburbia. The mother is mysteriously murdered one morning, and there are a variety of suspects like a good B-level whodunit movie, with even a cheesy detective included. However, as the father's oldest daughter begins to reveal the true depth of her obsession with her father by gradually seeking to replace her deceased mother, the murder because somewhat of a sideshow.

Julia Stiles smoulders like never before as the über-sultry, forbidden jailbait sex-goddess obsessed with her father. She eerily dons her mother's gowns, cooks for her father, and eventually seduces him (who could resist? Honestly?) Eventually Ellie (Stiles) becomes increasingly more obsessed and evil as she gets into a power struggle with Lena, her father's new girlfriend. Julia Stile's performance, and the unfolding of the plot, is both grandly disturbing and breathlessly exciting to watch. The movie leaves you feeling very uneasy. The director obviously tried to go for a more dark comedy tone, but I was just disturbed period.

...

I remember first seeing this film at its premiere in the Sundance Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I won't revisit plot points that other reviews go into here, but I will say that it's a rather infectious twist of murder/mystery/thriller/comedy(in a fashion) about a situation dwelling in the realms of the Electra complex.

The fact that it makes you laugh at times almost halts you into thinking: "Should I laugh at this?"

After the movie, I met Julia Stiles at the front of the theater and congratulated her on such a gutsy role. She smiled and thanked me. Little did I know that she would move on in her movie career! If you're reading Julia, GOOD FOR YOU!!

It's not your run-of-the-mill Hollywood flick...I should say, THANKFULLY IT'S NOT. There are definitely no formulas at work here.

Enjoy!

This must of been done earlier in Julia Styles career because you can tell the age difference compared to more recent work. The story revolves around JUlia Styles as a bratty teen. SHe hates her Mother (and the Mother Hates Her) HEr sister gets everything she wants, and they have a nanny who is a little to perky. Her only sanctuary is when her father comes home in which case she is in some form of paradise.

Teh story begins when the father returns home from another business trip. He brings gifts and for JUlia it's a make-up kit. She loves it. She tries it out, and does a surprisngly good job of it but the mother won't allow it. Ironically enough the mother ends up dead later that morning. You pretty much guess she did it but one would possibly lose an idea or two in the crime scene.

After that JUlia starts to change. She becomes more like her mother and it goes way to far, until the very wicked ending that you would not have guessed (trust me).

IT's obviouse that people who see this will brush it off. DOn't. There is a decent film in here worth looking into if given half a chance.

Okay, I've read some of what my fellow reviewers have said about this film and some are wrong. Folks, you may not want to believe this, but there really are people out there like this. Yes, there really are cheesy detectives and there really are kids like the Julia Stiles character, Ellie. As a matter of fact, Ellie resembles a highly developed RAD diagnosis. They are manipulative, they are obsessive, and they have no empathy. They can kill without a care if it suits their plan.

You may laugh at this film, as reality through Ellie's eyes can be so absurd that it's funny, but overall, the film has more truth to it than you may want to admit.

this is what happens when you live in a gated community....
this essentially character driven narrative is a compelling mind- blower of a film. it is deeply disturbing in nature and i think this may have had more to do with why people are rating it poorly than they think. it is easy to be deeply disturbed and pass a negative judgement on the film without giving it a chance. it has some sociologically profound things to say, even though it can be cheesy and b-movieish at the same time. the cinemetography is nevertheless breathtaking as is the psychoanalytic, reverse oedipus-complex type theme. the effectiveness of the suspense and cinematography make up for the few holes in the characters and occassional silliness. also look for the greek drama metephors.

I am a great fan of Julia Stiles and she really keeps your
interested in this film. All through it her excellent acting
ability comes across and the ending absolutely blows you away.