I have high regard for this film which marked the screen debut of Alicia Silverstone as a teenage Bunny Boiler - Adrian, a gifted and precocious, albeit very disturbed, 14 year old girl. Her parents rent out their guest house to Nick who has a new writing job in a prestigious magazine. Adrian is infatuated with Nick and she is a sexual aggressor, bringing him to a romantic spot and trying to kiss him. Nick realises the gravity of the situation and completely backs off from what he thought was a platonic relationship. Adrian goes out of her way to make Nick's life unbearable. She strips so he can see her, bashes up a car he has been restoring, erases all of his work from his floppy disks and spies on him having sex with his girlfriend Amy. Adrian goes as far as stealing Nick's semen from a condom, inserting it inside of her and claiming she has been raped by him. How is Nick going to inveigle his way out of this problematic situation? Can he prove Adrian is a nutter? Alicia Silverstone is very good indeed in her Psycho-Lolita role which demands that she be coy and sweet one minute and a murderous harridan the next minute. It was a very auspicious start to her career. Cary Elwes' role as Nick was a pretty boring one to fulfil but Elwes manages to inject some energy into it so we can sympathise with his plight as Adrian begins to systematically ruin his life. He is a lot better in this film than he was in Saw. The climax to the film, although a bit predictable, is full of thrills and I enjoyed Adrian's fate. Though I must say - the film is devoid of plot twists and other devices to maintain our interest. Alan Shapiro's direction skills are adequate but do not particularly excite. Most people would call the film trash, but Silverstone's Bunny Boiler turn makes it entertaining to watch as she goes from one dastardly deed to the next. I loved it.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
