Takes an interesting premise demanding gentle, contemplative treatment, and cruelly abandons it for sick slasher stupidity. Brendan Fraser plays a stuttering, sheltered man-child who knows nothing about the world except what he's been taught by his religious fanatic parents. After he watches them die in a Branch-Davidian type incident, he wanders into the care of a beautiful outcast (Ashley Judd) who lives in the woods with her volatile, mute boyfriend. He struggles to reconcile his overwhelming attraction for the openly sexual woman with his parents' harsh, judgmental teachings.
Some early scenes are effective, but it soon becomes obvious that the director, Philip Ridley, doesn't know what he is trying to say. He goes for horror, he goes for camp, for dark humor, for arty symbolism - none of it works. It's an amateurish effort all the way around and there is some stupendously bad dialogue as well as bogus, completlely unbelievable confrontations. (I was particularly amused with the way Fraser at one points dangles his arm and index finger like Elvis and "ominously" declares something like "Now it's time for a walk in the dark."
Working with Ridley's shallow, dim-witted script; Fraser obediently gives a shallow, dim-witted performance. He overacts atrociously. Ashley Judd is radiant as always and ultimately the film is nothing more than an excuse to put her in situations where the camera can adore her.
Some early scenes are effective, but it soon becomes obvious that the director, Philip Ridley, doesn't know what he is trying to say. He goes for horror, he goes for camp, for dark humor, for arty symbolism - none of it works. It's an amateurish effort all the way around and there is some stupendously bad dialogue as well as bogus, completlely unbelievable confrontations. (I was particularly amused with the way Fraser at one points dangles his arm and index finger like Elvis and "ominously" declares something like "Now it's time for a walk in the dark."
Working with Ridley's shallow, dim-witted script; Fraser obediently gives a shallow, dim-witted performance. He overacts atrociously. Ashley Judd is radiant as always and ultimately the film is nothing more than an excuse to put her in situations where the camera can adore her.