Special Effects

"Special Effects" follows a filmmaker who murders a naive, wannabe actress in his New York City home. After, he cons the woman's ex-husband into appearing in his film about her life and demise, attempting to recreate her murder with a lookalike actress.

Larry Cohen is alternately considered an auteur and utter hack depending on which critical circles you ask, and I frankly have not seen enough of his work to make a judgment call. That said, "Special Effects" is a bit of a tiresome thriller that juggles some interesting ideas surrounding self-reflexivity and voyeurism, but as a movie, never quite satisfies.

Part of this is due to the screenplay feeling lopsided and disorienting, and Eric Bogosian frankly does not make for an effective or menacing villain. The lack of threat and any sense of true danger legitimately strips the film of suspense, which is ironic given Cohen's clear admiration for Hitchcock. Zoe Lund's performance here is effective as Elaine (the second actress who becomes a vessel for Bogosian's replication of reality), but her turn as the naive Texas woman who first meets her demise is laughably bad. Brad Rijn is a serviceable and handsome leading man, though his chemistry with the other actors feels shaky. Like with most of the film, the pacing and tone of the finale is bizarre and feels rushed and slightly sloppy, though it is ostensibly the only moment where Cohen seems to ramp up toward something daring.

In the end, "Special Effects" feels like a lost opportunity. Its core thematic ideas are intriguing, but the execution is half-witted and feels quite sloppy at times. Save for Lund's turn as would-be-dead-girl-number-two and some time capsule photography of 1980s Manhattan, there is frankly not a whole lot to praise here. Worth a watch for hardcore genre fans, but that's about it. 5/10.

I'm a really big fan and admirer of writer/director Larry Cohen. Are cult, horror and exploitation fanatics even fully aware of all the things he did?!? Cohen co-created the super successful Blaxploitation genre, with milestones like "Bone", "Black Caesar" and "Hell up in Harlem". He also invented the bizarrely uniquely and blackly comical monster trilogy "It's Alive", as well as several other imaginative and unforgettable horror gems like "The Stuff", "Q – The Winged Serpent" and "The Ambulance". Larry Cohen is also a very versatile and experimental director who even tried out religious thriller ("God told me to"), werewolf comedy ("Full Moon High") and political biography ("The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover"). But I'll also tell you what Larry Cohen is not, though … He's not Brian DePalma. Cohen penned it down for himself to direct, but here's one script he maybe should have donated to De Palma… With its convoluted plot and an ambiance reminiscent to "Blow Out" and "Obsession", this film is straight up the alley of Brian De Palma and he presumably would have done more with it. "Special Effects" is a very Hitchcockian thriller about a flamboyant but failing NY movie director who goes berserk whilst seducing an aspiring young actress and strangles her on camera. He – Chris Neville – dumps her body on Coney Island but after meeting his victim's desperate husband he develops the brilliant idea of turning is crime into a movie! He casts the husband as the naive culprit, an unknown look-alike as the willing victims and he even hires the investigating police detective as counselor. Half dark satire and half serious thriller, "Special Effects" is overly talkative and quite often too dull. In sheer contrast to Cohen's other films, there's very little violence and bloodshed in this movie, but the two murder sequences that are shown are quite unsettling and macabre. Practically all characters are hateful and unidentifiable, even the ones that are supposed to be likable ones. I'm not a fan of Eric Bosogian, but he's ideally cast as the megalomaniac director, who lives in a bizarrely decorated loft full of flowers and ugly relics. Zoë Tamerlis stars in a double role, as the strangled actress and her dead ringer, but doesn't impress in either of them. Tamerlis is considered a cult heroine by many exploitation fanatics, but apart from her sole legendary role in Abel Ferrara's "Ms. 45" and dying far too young she didn't really accomplish a lot. Who knows, perhaps the whole "aspiring actresses dying whilst trying" premise was Larry Cohen's own personal tribute to Dorothy Stratten who tragically died at the age of 20 in 1980. Like Tamerlis' character in the beginning of the film, Stratten also was a naive and overly enthusiast young beauty who surrounded herself with the wrong men. By getting murdered at such a tender age, before her career even properly started, she became more famous and legendary that an actual long-running career ever could have made her.

"Special Effects" is a thriller that delves into the darker aspects of Hollywood, where reality and illusion collide. The film tells the story of a megalomaniacal movie director, Neville, who murders a young actress and then casts her husband as the patsy in a film about the crime.

While the premise is intriguing, the execution falls short. The film's pacing is slow, and the acting is uneven. Zoe Tamerlis's performance is particularly cringe-worthy, making it difficult to watch her scenes without wincing.

However, Eric Bogosian and Brad Rijn fare better, bringing some much-needed depth to the film. Larry Cohen's direction is also noteworthy, as he attempts to emulate the style of Brian De Palma.

Despite its flaws, "Special Effects" is a thought-provoking commentary on the darker side of Hollywood. The film's exploration of the blurred lines between reality and illusion is both fascinating and unsettling.

Overall, "Special Effects" is a mixed bag. While it has its moments, the film's poor acting and slow pacing make it a chore to sit through. However, fans of Larry Cohen and those interested in a behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood's darker side may find it .

It seems like Larry Cohen was trying to emulate DePalma with this ambitious, but poorly realized knock off of "Body Double." Some nice sets and decent shots cannot change the fact that Zoe Tamerlis is the WORST actress ever captured on film. If you thought Bo Derek or Pia Zadora were bad actresses, then after seeing Zoe in THIS, those ladies will look like Kathryn Hepburn and Meryl Streep by comparison. Usually poor acting isn't too much of a distraction if the material is good, but every time Tamerlis speaks it is painful. Eric Bogasian and Brad Rijn fare much better. Larry Cohen has made so many great movies, mostly in the 1970's, which seemed to be his decade. Interestingly he made another film the same year as "Special Effects," called "Perfect Strangers," which is actually MUCH better than this one. Strangely it's not nearly as well-known, probably due to the fact that it isn't flashy, and loaded with sex and violence. You do get plenty of that in this film. My advice is to skip this one and seek out "Perfect Strangers" instead. This movie gave me a headache, and I feel like i lost some brain cells in the process.

Eric Bogosian of "Talk Radio" fame stars as Chris Neville, a hotshot young filmmaker. His career is going downhill fast, so he decides to try something unusual. He films himself murdering aspiring starlet Mary Jean (the late Zoe Lund of "Ms. 45" cult stardom), then proceeds to make a movie telling Mary Jeans' sad life. Swept into the filmmaking process are Mary Jeans' husband Keefe (Brad Rijn, "Smithereens"), and the detective (Kevin O'Connor, "Let's Scare Jessica to Death") investigating the case; the detective quickly gets stars in his eyes. Neville actually finds a young woman who's a dead ringer for the murdered actress, also played by Lund.

There is a good idea here, about satirizing the entire movie-making business, and showing what happens as real life and reel life blend together. It's written and directed by low budget movie icon Larry Cohen, so you know that he will come up with some interesting material, and movie moments. (It IS intriguing to think what a filmmaker of Brian De Palmas' sensibilities could have done with this!) It's a good blend of art and trash, with a little bit of sex and shots of the beautiful Lund baring her body. It's also a marvel of art direction: dig that garish studio and townhouse in which Neville does his dirty work. Perhaps the most entertainment value arises out of O'Connor enjoying his "technical adviser" capacity and becoming fixated on receiving the appropriate credits. Given that Neville is such a smarmy character, you watch and keep waiting for him to get his just desserts. Michael Minard supplies a fun electronic score that unfortunately is used a little too much.

The performances are fine. Lund has a field day in her dual roles. Bogosian is superb as the creepy director. Rijn, O'Connor, Bill Oland, H. Richard Greene ('Mad Men'), and Steven Pudenz offer fine support.

The most striking image of all: Neville standing on a floor completely covered with headshots. (Among those he thumbs through is one of Dustin Hoffman as "Dorothy Michaels" in "Tootsie".)

Seven out of 10.