At a distance in 1998, Wild Things seems to have the
skin of an erotic thriller with sexy teens onscreen ala Cruel Intentions
or Body Shots.But upon closer
inspection thanks to the newly re-released 4K UHD limited edition boxed set
from Arrow Video, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer director John
McNaughton’s film represents another indelible extension of the crime subgenre
with more twists and turns up its reptilian scaly sleeves than an Agatha
Christie whodunit.A cinematic Chinese
Box that keeps shifting in real time before your very eyes, McNaughton’s deeply
Southern fried neo-noir is at once dangerous, sexy and so consistently surprising
as it slithers onward, you feel yourself sitting upright in your seat as this
snakelike tail uncoils.
Student counselor Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) is posited in
the Florida Blue Bay living a life of fortune and luxury when he isn’t fending
off thirsty women young and old.But
when one of the town’s richest students at the local high school, young
seductress Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards), accuses him of rape and her story
is corroborated by the trashy Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell), his world begins coming
apart at the seams…or so it seems?That’s when Detective Duquette (Kevin Bacon) starts poking his nose
around the scene, sniffing out clues and red herrings that start to gradually
unravel a stream of clues that proceed to make the viewers’ jaws drop as double
crossings and secret conspiracies are revealed. A twisty-turning shape-shifting neo-noir about very
figurative “crocodiles” engaged in a vicious fight for survival and conquering,
Wild Things in both theatrical and unrated “sexier” form is an untamed
beast of a movie expertly designed and crafted by a great director working at
the edge of his inspirations.With
elements of the murder-mystery, hints of the heist thriller and tropes of film
noir reworked with a slick new skin, Wild Things will make you throw
your hands in the air as it barrels down its labyrinthine winding road and just
when you begin to think you have a handle on it, another Jack-in-the-Box
surprise pops out and forces you to reevaluate the whole thing while it is
still unfolding.
Visually stunning and lensed in lush panoramic widescreen by
Top Gun cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball, a parallel is formed by the
juxtaposition of the human world and that of the crocodiles lurking around the
mucky swamplands, suggesting nearly every character onscreen is just fighting
for survival and dominance in the wild.Then there’s the film’s score by soon-to-be Austin Powers
composer George S. Clinton who lends the proceedings a kind of deadly allure,
seducing you towards its epicenter before the venus flytrap closes in for the
kill. The ensemble cast across the board is fantastic,
particularly in the drastic shifts characters make throughout.While veteran actors Robert Wagner and
Theresa Russell make welcome onscreen appearances including but not limited to
a hilariously “dramatic” turn from Bill Murray as the counselor’s defense
attorney, the film basically boils down to four characters who seem like
innocent bystanders but in actuality are working with mercurial
motivations.Matt Dillon is a fantastic
actor who exudes both sex appeal and danger and Denise Richards and Neve
Campbell bring to the screen an equally dark allure to their characters, leaving
the viewer never sure if they want to kiss you or kill you.
The film went on to become a critical and commercial success
in 1998, spawning three poorly received straight to video sequels which neither
added to nor detracted from Wild Things’ legacy as an exemplar slice of contemporary
neo-noir. Beginning on the cusp of
distinctly Floridian exploitation before transforming like a chameleon into unexpected
fare, Wild Things finds John McNaughton debatably at the peak of his
creative commercial powers. Finding a
balance between big-screen Hollywood entertainment and distinctly
director-driven crime cinema, Wild Things represents a still highly
unmatched pinnacle of neo-noir and in whichever form you watch it in remains
one of the most startling cinematic yanks-of-the-rug out from under you that
has ever been produced.
