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Dom Robinson reviews

Wild Things

They're dying to play with you.

Distributed by

Entertainment In Video

Cat.no: EDV 9034
Cert: 18
Running time: 104 minutes
Year: 1998
Pressing: 1999
Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
Chapters: 12 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
Languages: English
Subtitles: None
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
16:9-enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: No
Disc Format: DVD 5
Price: £15.99
Extras : Scene index, trailer, featurette

Director:

John McNaughton

Girls in Prison, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Mad Dog and Glory, Normal Life

Producer:

Rodney Liber and Steven A. Jones

Screenplay:

Stephen Peters

Music:

George S. Clinton

Cast:

Ray Duquette: Kevin Bacon

Apollo 13, Criminal Law, Diner, A Few Good Men, Flatliners, Footloose, JFK, Murder in the First, National Lampoon's Animal House, Picture Perfect, The River Wild, Sleepers, Tremors

Sam Lombardo: Matt Dillon

Albino Alligator, Drugstore Cowboy, Frankie Starlight, In and Out, The Outsiders, Rumblefish, Singles, There's Something About Mary, To Die For

Suzie Toller: Neve Campbell

The Craft, 54, Scream, Scream 2, TV: Party of Five

Kelly Van Ryan: Denise Richards

Starship Troopers, Tail Lights Fade, The World is Not Enough

Ken Bowden: Bill Murray

Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2, Groundhog Day, Kingpin, Little Shop of Horrors, Mad Dog and Glory, The Man Who Knew Too Little, Quick Change, The Rutles: All You Need is Cash, Space Jam, Stripes

Tom Baxter: Robert Wagner

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, The Pink Panther, The Player, The Towering Inferno, TV: Hart To Hart

Wild Things is an intriguing pot-boiler of sex, lust, revenge and money down in the Everglades of Blue Bay, Florida. A high-school guidance counsellor Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) is framed for rape on two counts with the school's sexiest students, Suzie Toller (Scream queen Neve Campbell) and Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards, the latest Bond girl).

On Dillon's side is attorney Ken Bowden (an excellent performance from Bill Murray) who gets him off the charge, but if you think that's spoiling the plot, it's not even the half of it. Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon) and his partner Gloria Perez (Daphne Rubin-Vega) are detectives who go sniffing around after they think there's more to this case than meets the eye, given that Lombardo has previously had an affair with Kelly's mother Sandra (Theresa Russell) and what exactly has happened to the $8½ million of her money?

What follows is a storyline which has more twists and turns than a bowl of spaghetti, as you're never sure to whom Lombardo's affections turn and just when you think you've worked out who the good and bad guys and girls are, get set to change your mind. All seems clear by the end of the film, but then there's some extra scenes you'll view during the closing credits in which... no, I can't say any more.

As you'll see from the screengrabs in this review, there's an interesting scene featuring three of the leads but you'll only see Denise's bristols as Neve Campbell has a 'no nudity' clause in her acting contract.

movie pic

Smoochy! Smoochy!

I have no complaints with the picture quality. It's anamorphic and free of artifacts, with the film itself presented in its original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1. The average bitrate is a middling 4.82Mb/s, briefly peaking over 8Mb/s.

The sound is, once again, Dolby Prologic, not Dolby Digital 5.1 like the American release. George S. Clinton puts on a memorable score and the soundtrack is clean but it plays more for ambience rather than ear-splitting special effects.

Extras :

Chapters :

Like a lot of their recent discs, 12 chapters again and again EiV have provided approximate times for where the chapter breaks occur. This time they're only an hour ahead, but seem to have spawned timings down to 1/100ths of a second !?! Who's putting this stuff together? I wouldn't even have half-a-pint of what they're on! They're also based on the film being 106 mins long just like Deep Rising, when it's actually 104, so work that one out.

Languages & Subtitles :

English only in Dolby Surround but no subtitles.

Trailer and Featurette :

The original theatrical trailer is included as well as a standard 4-minute made-for-TV featurette which combines clips from the film with chat from the cast and crew.

Menu :

The main menu is silent and static, mirroring the front cover with the two girls and options to select a scene, start the film or choose the "extra features".

movie pic

A new use for champagne!

Wild Things will pass a couple of hours better than many films around but won't particularly be one you'll go back to again and again. Also, the Region 1 DVD is much better spec'd with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, an audio commentary and three deleted scenes, not to mention more chapters (28).

FILM	 		: ***½
PICTURE QUALITY 	: *****
SOUND QUALITY		: ****
EXTRAS			: *½
-------------------------------
OVERALL			: ***½

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.

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