Review by Dragan Antulov
1 star out of 4
For the outside observers white-collar job in big
corporation might look like a perfect embodiment of the
American dream, but in the beginning of 1994 erotic thriller
A WOMAN SCORNED such dream reveals its sinister side. Truman
Langley (played by Dan McVicar) is too aware how tin is the
line between success and failure in the ultra-competitive
dog-eat- dog world of corporate America. When the chance for
promotion comes, it must be pursued at all costs and without
any scruples, even if it means prostituting his own wife
Patricia (played by Shannon Tweed) to the bosses. His
efforts nevertheless fail, a new position is given to Alex
Weston (played by Andrew Stevens) and disgraced Langley
commits suicide. His wife wovs to avenge him and does so by
taking new identity and posing as a French tutor to Weston's
teenage son Robey (played by Michael D. Arenz). She
carefully manipulates her way into the Weston's home and
start using her seductive abilities on Alex, his son and
even his wife Marina (played by Kim Morgan Greene) in order
to turn the family members against each other and make their
lives a living hell.
All those who watched Curtis Hanson's thriller THE HAND THAT
ROCKS THE CRADDLE might have noticed that the film lacked
erotic dimension. This was about to be compensated in this
low budget exploitation thriller that used similar plot but
completely different set of acting talents. This time the
chief villain is played by Shannon Tweed, the queen of 1990s
erotic thrillers, and she puts her physical attributes and
irresistible on-screen charm to the good use. Although the
plot gave some opportunity for the ambitious writers to
explore dark Machiavelian realities of corporate America and
dysfunctional families, the script by Barry Avrich was
simplistic yet adequate for this kind of film and gave
enough material to those who trash elements in modern cinema
(like a woman managing to seduce all members of American
nuclaer family). Unfortunately, the direction by Andrew
Stevens is often messy and the inadequate ending, more
appropriate for different kind of low budget movies, ruins
opportunity for A WOMAN SCORNED to become trash classic of
1990s. This way it could be recommended only to the die hard
fans of Shannon Tweed.
Copyright © 2001 Dragan Antulov
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out of 4
