HEXED
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Running Length: 1:33 Rated: R (Language, nudity, sexual situations)
Starring: Ayre Gross, Claudia Christian, Adrienne Shelly, Norman Fell Director: Alan Spencer Producers: Marc S. Fischer and Louis G. Friedman Screenplay: Alan Spencer Music: Lance Rubin Released by Columbia Pictures
Matthew Welsh (Ayre Gross), a clerk at the Holiday Palace Hotel, is a dreamer who has trouble keeping straight the line between fantasy and reality. His life takes a turn for the bizarre when Hexina (Claudia Christian), the world-famous model, checks into the hotel. Through an elaborate ruse, Matthew manages to lure her back to his apartment for a night of wild, uninhibited passion. Unfortunately for him, sex isn't the only thing Hexina gets him involved in. Matthew soon learns that she also has a thing for knives and guns.
Occasionally, small-budget comedies with relatively-unknown actors can be charming and entertaining (witness 1992's THE CUTTING EDGE with Moira Kelly and D. B. Sweeney). HEXED is not such a film. While it obviously cost little to produce, and offers Norman Fell as its best-known name, "entertaining" is about the last word I would use to describe it. Offensive, humorless, and tiresome are more appropriate adjectives.
While comedies are not generally known for advocating a social agenda, HEXED is reprehensible in the attitude it presents. Originally scheduled for a 1992 release, it was temporarily shelved after the Los Angeles riots. The reason is obvious: a scene where uniformed police officers beat an unarmed man. Designed to parody the Rodney King incident (with the line by the white victim of "I'm a Republican" supposedly providing the irony), it's unclear why this moment wasn't relegated to the cutting room floor--its presence is disgraceful. Only the most twisted mind will find humor in lampooning such an event.
On top of that, the film's attitude toward blacks is disturbing. The sole black character in HEXED is a valet who is portrayed as being stupid and selfish. In no scene is he presented in a positive light. While an injustice like this might go unnoticed in other movies, attention is drawn to it by the aforementioned parody of the King beating. I won't go so far as to charge director/ writer Alan Spencer with racism, but he is guilty at least of insensitivity.
HEXED is yet another in a long line of supposed comedies that doesn't contain a single humorous line. The placing and intent of the jokes is obvious, but they're all so juvenile that even the easily-amused will discover little to make them laugh. Most TV sitcoms serve up better fare. This film did not elicit one chuckle from me, and that's rare for even the most lame of movies.
As a satire, HEXED is no more successful than it is as anything else. There are quick visual references to BASIC INSTINCT, FATAL ATTRACTION, and a number of other slasher/exploitation films, but none of these are memorable or amusing. They lack teeth and wit.
Finally, a word should be said about the performers. They deserve to be in a box-office bomb. They have no range. It's a fair indication of how intolerable they are to say that Norman Fell's performance is among the most credible. Claudia Christian does a fine job by the standards of high camp, but even her die-hard fans would be hard-pressed to justify sitting through ninety minutes of this dross simply to listen to her screeching lines, and watch her making faces and strutting around in a black leather mini-skirt.
It's curious that HEXED was released to theaters in the first place. It's the kind of movie that, on those occasions when it gets filmed, usually goes straight to video. From the reception it got from the pitifully small crowd on "opening night", it won't take long to reach there. This review is a warning not only to miss it on the big screen, but to give it an equally wide berth when it's available for the smaller one.
Rating: 1.9 (F, *)
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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