Malicious

I was startled that this film has been ripped so mercilessly apart here, because I've always found it quite engaging. Years after it was released another filmmaker liked it enough to put huge chunks of it in "Swim Fan," which doesn't hold a candle to this original. I found Molly Ringwald quite chilling and felt that Patrick McGaw, playing a true innocent, broke my heart. Indeed, I think that McGaw almost singlehandedly SAVES this movie, because at least SOME of us care about him and the mess he ends up in after having hot (but oh so foolish) sex in Ringwald's car with her. Alas, she's a master manipulator and knows precisely which buttons to press to get what she wants, and later when McGaw's character suddenly gets a spine and begins to fight back, it becomes a race to see if he and his sweet girlfriend will survive Ringwald's lethal lunacy. I jumped at the chance to replace my VHS copy of this with the DVD and have never regretted it.