Suspense master George (THE VANISHING) Sluizer does what he can with this provocative but overlong meditation on criminal psychology and media ethics, an ironic melodrama about the transference of guilt between a method actor and the serial killer who feels validated by the actor's
impersonation of him on TV.
Bobby (Stephen Baldwin) lands a role on "Crimetime," a reality-based show featuring reenactments of current crimes, as the "stocking killer" who is currently terrorizing London. The egomaniacal actor sees the role as an opportunity to wow the world with his undiscovered talent. Neither he nor the
show's producer, Millicent (Karen Black), comprehend the repercussions of glamorizing the stocking killer, actually a TV repairman named Sidney (Peter Postlethwaite) with an invalid wife, Thelma (Geraldine Chaplin). Cruising bars, Sidney flatters his female prey into a false sense of security and
then quickly strikes; as a souvenir, he cuts out the left eye of each victim. Bobby's growing curiosity about the madman irks his costar/girlfriend, Val (Sadie Frost), who views the TV show as a gig, not a thespian mission.
After seeing Bobby's impersonation of him, which has made the actor an overnight sensation, Sidney begins calling him, volunteering inside crime info. Then, after studying videotaped copies of "Crimetime," Sidney begins making himself over in Bobby's more suave image. The actor-killer symbiosis
unravels when Sidney loses his control fantasy after one victim fights back. When the rattled Sidney takes a temporary vacation from his serial killing, the TV ratings drop, and Bobby even considers doing his killing for him. As his sanity begins to fragment, Bobby actually trolls a bar and picks
up a potential victim. However, it's Sidney who skulks in the background and murders the woman after Bobby leaves. Luring Bobby to his home, Sidney points out their similarities and then provokes Bobby into putting him out of his misery. With his doppelganger removed and no official finger of
suspicion pointing at him, Bobby makes a big enough splash with his Sidney performance to crash the Hollywood movie scene; the question remains, how much of Sidney's personality festers inside Bobby.
Sluizer's facility for unnerving audiences is offset by a script that goes from illustrating how the media influences society's darkest obsessions to merely cataloguing the many parallels between the two characters. Overstuffed with extraneous scenes of Bobby arguing with his girlfriend, glib
parodies of tabloid TV, and unnecessary fantasy sequences, the story line loses momentum. Another liability is Baldwin, who does a better job at conveying Bobby's grotesque ego than he does with his gnawing misgivings about turning into his evil character. What's missing in this competent but
superficial rendering is a sense of Bobby's terror. Postlethwaite is genuinely and believably eerie as a pathetic working-class bloke whose boxed-in existence pushes him off the deep end. Even though we realize that he truly enjoys his sadistic spree, we feel pity for him; our conflicted response
demonstrates the depth of Postlethwaite's amazing acting. (Graphic violence, sexual situations, extreme profanity.) leave a comment
