Dream Lover (1994)

Directed by Nicholas Kazan. Starring James Spader, Mädchen Amick, Bess Armstrong, Fredric Lehne, Larry Miller, Kathleen York. [R]

Newly-divorced Spader meets a tantalizing beauty (Amick) who drives him wild enough to recklessly marry and start a family with; the hook is that she’s not who she seems she is, but since she acts so enigmatically, even impenetrably, why would there have been any expectations in the first place? A thriller that’s more about slow-burn intrigue than suspense and jolts, and while it’s admirable she’s not the usual murderous psycho these icy black widows tend to be, her reliance on what amounts to a series of increasingly implausible incidents makes the whole thing fall apart before the laughable logical fallacy of the final scene. Photography and lead performances are superior to the material, given a chilly yet imitative polish by Kazan in his directorial debut (the longtime scribe also penned this work). Premiered at the Rome Film Festival the year prior to its release.

52/100