Whispers in the Dark (Christopher Crowe, 1992)

One of my biggest secrets (and I have many) is my fondess for mainstream erotic thrillers from 1987 to... whenever that trend ended  in the middle of the 90's. We're talking stuff like Sea of Love, Basic Instinct, Sliver, Jade, Color of Night, Body Double, (I would say De Palma's Dressed to Kill was a precursor in the genre also) and now yesterdays experience, Whispers in the Dark. What's that, you say? I can let you in on a little secret. Until I found it two days ago I never even heard of it, and it still seems to have been a quite big release with a stellar cast and not some cheap direct-to-video production. 

Annabella Sciorra is Ann Hecker, a quite successful psychiatrist working in New York, like every other cool psychiatrist in the 90's. She has a colorful gallery of patients, from the depressed young artist John Castillo (John Leguizamo) to the very complicated sex-maniac Eve Abergray (Deborah Unger). At the same time Ann starts to flirt with a man, Doug (Jamey Sheridan), in the elevator up to her office and slowly she's falling in love, until she... oh, I'm not gonna say anything. But everything ends with suicide, murder, sex and Anthony LaPaglia playing the least lovable cop ever to grace the screen.

Whispers in the Dark have everything I want from a thriller from this time. The actors are excellent, the twists are silly but fun, everything is connected - like always in the world of ridcolous thrillers. I always felt like these kind of thrillers is the American counterpart of the Italian giallos. They often share the same themes of sex and obssession, murder and twists around every corner. Their seldom just another cop-thriller, there's a lot of amateur psychology used to dig "deep" into the characters and yeah, just let them live a little bit. While the characters in this movie is over-the-top on ever level there's still a human touch over them. Sciorra and Sheridan's chemistry towards each other is wonderful, which just adds to the mystery around their relationship. Alan Alda and Jill Clayburgh as Sciorra's older mentors, friends and collegues is marvelous and lets not forget the always awesome Anthony Heald as the alcholic ex-husband of our heroine. 

But lets not forget that Whispers in the Dark is simple entertainment. It really doesn't give us anything new, it's "just" a standard thriller from a time where standard thrillers held such a higher quality. It's easy to see how the filmmakers used the foul language like a treause, spreading a "fuck" here and there, throwing out a few - at the time - controversial lines of dialogue and themes from time to time, not to make it extreme or too much, but still teasing the audience with adult language and forbidden sexuality. 

It's very different today, to say the least.

Not really high on gore and violence, but it has some blood and good tension. This is more of an old-fashioned mystery, lots of people talking, red herrings, a twist or two around the corner. Nothing too dangerous, but still far from the sleepy thrills of the less dangerous TV-movies. I really liked Whispers in the Dark, a fun surprise, a good thriller with cool twists. See it of the actors if nothing else! 

Is there any other mainstream erotic thriller from this period I should see? It seems Corman squeezed out a lot of them for video, but there must be others to? Let me know, give me a hint. I want to see more right now!

Comments

[Megatron]

"One of my biggest secrets (and I have many) is my fondess for mainstream erotic thrillers from 1987 to... whenever that trend ended in the middle of the 90's."

They are still getting made but not as fun as they used to be.....or maybe I´m just nostalgic...?

"We're talking stuff like Sea of Love, Basic Instinct, Sliver, Jade, Color of Night, Body Double, (I would say De Palma's Dressed to Kill was a precursor in the genre also)"

Yeah, I do love watching this stuff from time to time......

"I always felt like these kind of thrillers is the American counterpart of the Italian giallos."

Yeah, there something very gialloesque about them......just don´t why I feel that way about them.

"Their seldom just another cop-thriller, there's a lot of amateur psychology used to dig "deep" into the characters and yeah, just let them live a little bit. While the characters in this movie is over-the-top on ever level there's still a human touch over them."

Yeah, sometimes they dig very deep......you get some great performances but sometimes very weak storyline, plot twists, etc.

"and lets not forget the always awesome Anthony Heald as the alcholic ex-husband of our heroine."

Heald usually brings out the A-game.

"It really doesn't give us anything new, it's "just" a standard thriller from a time where standard thrillers held such a higher quality. It's easy to see how the filmmakers used the foul language like a treause, spreading a "fuck" here and there, throwing out a few - at the time - controversial lines of dialogue and themes from time to time, not to make it extreme or too much, but still teasing the audience with adult language and forbidden sexuality.

It's very different today, to say the least."

Yes and no, something has changed, but from time to time you get something almost as cool as this.

"I really liked Whispers in the Dark, a fun surprise, a good thriller with cool twists. See it of the actors if nothing else!"

I will, this sounds like type of thriller I like watching.

Good review and thanks.

"Is there any other mainstream erotic thriller from this period I should see? It seems Corman squeezed out a lot of them for video, but there must be others to? Let me know, give me a hint. I want to see more right now!"

I don´t know what you have seen.....some of the titles I´m thinking of aren´t mainstream more like straight to video, stuff....hmmm.....you got Spellbinder(1988), Tattoo(1981)with an nice performance by Maud Adams, two films with Mia Sara, Black Day Blue Night(1995), Undertow(1996), Still of the Night (1982)a film with very freudian dreamsequence, Hear No Evil (1993), After Dark, My Sweet(1990), some of John Dahls films, Kill Me Again (1989), Red Rock West(1993), The Last Seduction (1994), Romeo Is Bleeding(1993), Killing Me Softly(2002), 8MM 2(2005)........but I think you´ve seen all these already?

[Megatron]

Fred, I almost forgot.....The Hot Spot(1990)& Dream Lover(1993).

[Fred Anderson]

Lots of interesting titles there, Megatron! Thanks! I will - when I get back from the new TV-project - research them a little bit more! :)

[Megatron]

Fred: There is no hurry here...ahhahhahahahhahah.....but I would like some reviews of them, some you will probably like, others not.

[tobe]

Well maybe i get slashed here now but what about Fatal Attraction(1987)? That must be a erotic thriller? And Disclosure (1994).
Hot Spot is a nice Movie i must say.

[madhadder83]

I am looking for a movie that I caught on tv a long time ago. I am not sure of the plot but I do remember one scene that had a female detective that is sitting on a couch reviewing tapes from the suspects house and she starts getting heated up from the home made sex tape and starts feeling around.