By Don Stradley
It’s hard to say
why the brain trust at Troma decided to release Dangerous Obsession on DVD this
year. Perhaps someone thought the
Esquire network’s recent re-airing of the old HBO Dream On series would create
interest in Brian Benben, who stars in this film (originally called Mortal Sins)
as Nathan Weinschenk, a brash private investigator from New York who gets
involved in a complex murder case involving some transplanted Southern religious
zealots. But even if there is a sudden renewed interest in the Benben catalog,
it’s difficult to imagine that even the most devoted Benben completists would
derive any pleasure from this cheaply made 1989 flick with its clichés and hack
dialogue. I can’t even label this one as
decent 1980’s kitsch.
When
Reverend Park Sung (James Saito) is murdered in his Manhattan apartment,
Weinschenk is hired by rival evangelist Malcolm Rollins’ (James Harper) who
wants to protect his own Manhattan church (‘The Divine Church of the People’).
Weinschenk also ends up protecting Rollins’ lovely daughter (Debrah Farentino),
which adds a little steam to the proceedings. The daughter, you see, has a
complicated sex life, as most women in movies did back in the late 1980s,
whether or not they knew Mickey Rourke or Michael Douglas.
Weinschenk mines
the humor of being a Jew in a nest of bible-thumping Southern vipers. True, the
idea of Southern-fried televangelists setting up shop in Manhattan may have
sounded edgy at the time (this was the 1980s, remember, when Jimmy Swaggart and
Jim Bakker were involved in serious scandals, and TV preachers had become
popular punching bags), but the film is played out in such broad strokes that
any good ideas are quickly crushed by cartoonish acting. Weinschenk, for
instance, has the stereotypical Jewish parents who are oblivious to anything
outside their little household. He also shares
his office with a no-account male relative (I couldn’t tell if they were
brothers or cousins) and there’s even a running gag where the Southern folks
can’t pronounce his name.
If
the Jewish stereotypes aren’t enough, we also get a lot of TV private eye
clichés. As if he’s auditioning for a role in a network cop show, Weinschenk drives a classic 1950s car, and listens
to classic R&B (I’ll give some points to this movie for including a cut of
Jackie Wilson’s ‘No Pity In the Naked City’). He also thinks he’s a real wiseass,
although his level of wit is restricted to lines like, “Nice work if you can
get it.†Benben curses a lot, too, and
while he can drop the F-bombs with convincing venom, he’s still stuck with playing
a wooden character. The Southern stereotypes are pretty thick, too. The Southerners are all portrayed as bloated,
effete, Jerry Falwell types, speaking in
exaggerated, syrupy drawls; if you told me they were all stoned on Quaaludes
during filming, I’d believe you. The perfectly named Brick Hartney has some success
as the slimy Billy Beau Backus, playing his part like a community theater star
vamping for his friends in the front row. Proving that some people know how to get
out while they’re on top, Hartney never acted in films again.
There
are plenty of extras here, but none are about Dangerous Obsession. The extras are
solely Troma related, including vintage trailers for The Toxic Avenger, Return
to Nuke ‘Em High: Vol. 1, Badmouth, Poultrygeist, and Cars3, plus a snippet of
a Troma documentary called How To Sell Your Own Damn Movie, featuring filmmaker
James Gunn discussing the dubious wonders of social media.
For those who enjoy
spotting character actors early in their careers, you’ll find a surprising
number of them in Dangerous Obsession. Anthony LaPaglia has a small role, as
does Maggie Wheeler, who went on to recurring roles on Friends, Ellen, and
Everybody Loves Raymond. Anyone who has
watched TV during the past 25 years will also recognize Peter Onorati, who has
made a career out of playing guys named Angelo or Sal. Director Yuri Sivo and screenwriter Allen
Blumberg have worked infrequently since 1989 – Blumberg has directed a couple
of small projects, with Sivo’s highpoint being a couple episodes of the Swamp
Thing TV series.
On
the plus side, Dangerous Obsession is visually striking, with a sophisticated
use of shadows and silhouettes. That’s no surprise since it was shot by underrated
veteran Bobby Bukowski, whose recent work includes two excellent titles, The
Messenger (2009) and, what is perhaps my favorite movie of the past few years,
The Iceman (2012). Even while strapped
to a no-budget howler like Dangerous Obsession, Bukowski shows the immense
talent that would make him one of the most reliable and sought after cinematographers
of the past two decades. (Hell, he even shot Shakes the Clown!) In fact, I’d only recommend this DVD to those
who want to marvel at how a ham-handed script made on an Ed Wood budget can
feature so many lollipops for the eye. Even the final shot is superb, with Weinschenk and his girlfriend
arguing on a fire escape, the camera pulling back and wheeling around to reveal
a lush New York skyline at what must have been the so-called magic hour. The idea that the evil Southerners are gone
and the New Yorkers can get back to arguing among themselves is trite, but
Bukowski shoots it like he’s practicing for his future.
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