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Snapdragon
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An amnesiac (Pamela Anderson) who experiences flashes of
torture, slavery and prostitution in her Oriental childhood. A cop (Chelsea Field)
who, obsessed by the sexual pathology of serial killers, brings a little rough
stuff into her own relationships. A psychiatrist (Steven
Bauer) who gets rather too involved with the problems of his patient (the
amnesiac) and his lover (the cop).
Snapdragon has all the right
ingredients for a stirring erotic thriller.
This
low-rent version of Basic Instinct (1992) plunges viewers into a whirlpool of dream sequences, red herrings and
hysterical outbursts. Gene Church's script runs with the basic idea of so many
early ‘90s thrillers: zeroing in on those moments when seemingly rational,
law-abiding citizens fall prey to deadly desire or just plain curiosity.
Soon
enough, the official reports filed by these unhinged individuals start to
resemble encyclopedic dissertations on every exotic perversion under the sun.
Director
Worth Keeter develops a suitably lurid style for this material: askew angles,
gaudy red lighting, candles and curtains everywhere. Those video buffs and pop
sociologists particularly drawn to tales of female serial killers will find Snapdragon a minefield of telling images
and allusions.
Rarely
has a movie been so single-mindedly fixed on the vision of women-on-top during
lovemaking – or invented such an ingenious means of murdering the guy on bottom
at his moment of climax.
© Adrian Martin October 1994 |
