★ 4 / 10
A mostly dull and underwhelming giallo
Trying to meet new deadlines, a photographer tries to keep her assistant's antics in check as she tries to deliver the challenging prompts for work, but when a…
Trying to meet new deadlines, a photographer tries to keep her assistant's antics in check as she tries to deliver the challenging prompts for work, but when a series of deaths strike her coworkers, she tries to solve the identity of the killer and their reason for targeting her before it's too late.This was a pretty middling if occasionally enjoyable genre effort. Among the more likable factors with this one comes from the rather likable sense of style imparted onto the magazine shoots, which brings about a fairly enjoyable futuristic vibe to the presentation. With the idea of everything going through a stylized, slick, and glossy, neon-drenched aesthetic that simply screams as being from that particular time period, it leaves the whole presentation with a wholly memorable and unique atmosphere that comes across quite well. That's only further enhanced by the sense of futuristic sensibilities in the photoshoots, which take on a decidedly unique feeling where the sex and sadism attempted in the posed figures of the modeling shoots are a step away from what's going on during the killer's rampage. The rampant nudity featured not just here but also the constant sexual encounters featured here also manage to focus heavily on the bizarre status and futuristic vibes here, with everything getting a unique vibe and feeling. Outside of this, there's not much to the film overall. The main drawback here is that the central mystery angle is just not that interesting, with the whole thing being quite easy to guess from the outset. Since there's so little time spent on the various investigative setpieces until the end, when far too many have been murdered for it not to make sense, it feels more like a series of vignettes on the sexually-charged photoshoots taking up the majority of the running time, with a few brief interjections to murder someone as a means of breaking up these scenes. While the idea of using their advanced equipment and the different shoots to try coming up with extra clues as a way to help solve the case is a slightly novel touch, this comes across way too late in the film to have much merit against the rest of the scenes featured here, as there's not much about it featured throughout. That goes along with the generally lifeless music-video gloss that goes over the whole film, which, while it all adds a wholly unique atmosphere to the film, doesn't have any kind of energy or enthusiasm as it takes any kind of setpiece and becomes a bizarre form of posing that keeps this into a generally dull and lifeless feature.Rated R: Full Nudity, Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, and sexual scenes.
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Actually worth checking out
bowlsmaclean
This film is packaged as a run of-the-mill sex thriller, however theres a lot more to it than meets the eye. The video box neglects to mention that this is a…
This film is packaged as a run of-the-mill sex thriller, however theres a lot more to it than meets the eye. The video box neglects to mention that this is a sci-fi adventure. The photography is absolutely magnificent, gorgeous, and well thought out. Sureal and surprising. It's everybit a 'Barberella' for the eighties
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★ 6 / 10
Beautifully Shot
laurieanngermann
A fashion photographer's models are being picked off one by one by a deranged redhead who lures them to phony photo shoots and stabs them to death.Obsession: A…
A fashion photographer's models are being picked off one by one by a deranged redhead who lures them to phony photo shoots and stabs them to death.Obsession: A Taste for Fear looks absolutely gorgeous even in its obviously cropped and muddy VHS transfer. It's part giallo and part erotic thriller with a little futuristic Blade Runner vibe throughout. Everything is bright, colorful, and futuristic. Unfortunately, the plot is both too convoluted and sluggish to keep one's interest for much time. You might find yourself nodding off midway through as the film's unlikable heroine tries to seduce yet another person for no apparent reason.
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5.0/10
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