Slick thriller that capitalized on Lowe's bad boy publicity. Spader befriends Lowe after the latter comes to his aid in a barroom, and soon finds the creep controlling his life; to describe any of the twists would ruin the surprises in the story. Hanson keeps the film moving along at a
quick pace and makes the most of the shifting point of view and weird morality of David Koepp's screenplay.
A curious mixture of styles, BAD INFLUENCE is a Hitchcockian homage (particularly its second half) that's also reminiscent of more recent films including AT CLOSE RANGE and the Koepp-scripted APARTMENT ZERO. Spader is most effective here, and Lowe has finally found his niche as a junior league
Richard Gere. The tension between the two is well handled and yet never quite explained, which adds to the mysterious "feel" of the movie and gives the characters a sexually ambiguous edge. leave a comment
