Le démon au coeur

Ever since the phenomenally weird "The Doom Generation" I've had a wicked crush on Rose McGowan. Her natural bad-girl charisma and sexily shaped chin make her one of the most enticing actresses of her generation. Her starring in "Dearly Devoted" was therefore the sole reason I had for checking out the film, as you can already derive from the DVD-cover that it's a standard, by-the-numbers and rehashed nineties thriller. With its main theme of "dangerously seductive teenage femme fatale", "Dearly Devoted" is similar to "Poison Ivy" (starring Drew Barrymore) and "Wild Things" (starring Denise Richards) and almost identical to "The Crush" (starring Alicia Silverstone). Following the suspicious death of Debbie Strand's mother and her lover in a fire, the seemingly confused teenage girl is put under the custody of her strictly Catholic grandmother. At her new school, Debbie doesn't make a whole lot of friends, but she does fall in love with the hunky literature teacher Peter Rinaldi. It quickly becomes obvious that Debbie isn't your average high school girl, but an obsessive and deranged psychopath who kills in order to get what she wants. "Dearly Devoted" is identical to "The Crush" because the male protagonists go through exactly the same hell. They attempt to befriend their jailbait admirers and narrowly resist all the sexual allusions, but when they actually physically reject them down, both their private as professional lives turn into a living nightmare. "Dearly Devoted" is predictable and not at all suspenseful, but at least it's never boring and the female eye-candy compensates for the unoriginality. The twist-in-the-end is not exactly groundbreaking, neither, but at least it managed to trick me for a minute or so. Rose McGowan was 25 years old for this role in which she depicts an underage schoolgirl, but that's alright, because she looks terrific in all those skimpy outfits. Apparently there's also a sequel, but it doesn't star Rose.

Rose McGowan plays an abused teen who murders her mother and father in an arson fire, then she's sent off to live with her bickering grandmother which only worsens her. Finally McGowan develops a poisonous disposition by knocking off her grandmother and anyone else who gets in the way of her crush on her writing instructor (Alex McArthur). I was glad the directors made this film with a message that abused children are scorned the rest of their life and therefore the pattern showed how the attitude of revenge is taken out on everyone in society. And Rose McGowan was she stunning or what! She was just the right actress for this role her beauty, always did provide an evil eye also. Hey just think any female must be a little crazy to be called Mrs. Manson. Devil in the Flesh is a great film for all of you late night TV watchers to view highly recommended.

We've seen it all before -- the troubled, love-struck psychopath who develops a deadly obsession with her hunky high-school teacher. She likes him, he rebuffs her, she kills some people, yada-yada-yada...

Rose McGowan is a hottie. No doubt about that. But even her sleaze-pot sexual energy can't save this dud (the fact that she isn't naked in the film doesn't help either). Within thirty minutes, you know what's happening and how the film is going to be resolved (even worse, you don't really CARE).

If you're in the mood for a student-teacher stalker flick, skip this one and pick up "The Crush" instead.

... if you are a fan of Rose McGowan, then you have to see this movie. If you think you may be a fan of Rose McGowan, then you have to see this movie. If you abhor Rose McGowan (as unbelievable as that sounds to me), then skip this movie!

You see, it's all about Rose McGowan. Devil in the Flesh is a one woman show, and that woman does a remarkable job!

This is not a light-hearted fluff comedy. It is surprisingly dark. Many have compared this movie to "The Crush", starring Alicia Silverstone, and for good reason: both movies portray a young under-age girl pursuing an older guy. But there are a few big differences:

1) The point of view is switched. Varying the point of view can make a big difference in the emotional bent of the story, and who we sympathize with. In "The Crush", the point of view was of Cary Elwes' character (who I might add, gave a disappointingly wimpy performance after seeing him in Princess Bride, but I digress). In this movie, the point of view is that of Rose McGowan, and what a great choice!!! By doing this, we get to sympathize with her, love her, and hate her, all at the same time. We really care what happens to her, and what she does to other people.

2) This movie is a lot darker. Without giving anything away, suffice it to say, Rose really kicks butt in this movie. There is no shortage of bodies. One death in particular, which I won't reveal, had me in anticipation and cheering when it finally happened.

3) If you really look at the two films, "Flesh" is the more plausible of the two, if you care about such things. Alicia's character in The Crush was a psychopathic killer who liked to seduce and play with her victims before dispatching them. McGowan's character is the victim of a chain of physically abusive parents (her mother and her grandmother), who seeks an older man that she can love, and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Yeah, she's evil also, but don't let that bother you.

Because of these points, Devil in the Flesh, should be compared to movies like "Freeway", starring a young Reese Witherspoon. Any fan of this movie will absolutely love Freeway (which frankly is a much better movie despite McGowan's amazing performance).

Don't get me wrong: Devil in the Flesh is not a great movie. It's barely a good movie. But McGowan's presence is enough to transcend all that - she's so cool. That's reason enough to watch!

I really liked this as a piece of late night trashy noir cable junk because it pushed the extremes of bad taste. I saw it late at night and was impressed with the sharp dialog and witty put-downs uttered by its femme fatale protagonist, Debbie Strand (in a wonderfully vampy and campy performance from Rose McGowan). Yes, the set-up is contrived and the outcome is cheesy but along the way I was impressed with the audacity of the film's comic-book nastiness and the sheer determination of the protagonist to get what she wanted. However, what's most disappointing is the end, which merely opens the way for another film, without truly exploring why Debbie Strand did what she did. Another annoying trait in these films is to resolve issues in an unambiguous manner, usually absolving the complicity of the lead male. A simple-minded, formulaic tale saved by Rose McGowan and some witty one-liners. As for the rest, cable fodder.