- Awards
- 27
I know that I don't need to come up with more proof to support my conspiracy theory that DYNASTY is connected with everything in history, but when it happens there's no point in ignoring it.
So, last night I watched Brian De Palma's OBSESSION that came out the same year as his bigger hit "Carrie".
I don't know why it's taken me so long to discover Obsession, at least there's nothing in the story description that would explain that I've actively avoided it.
I simply wasn't aware of it but at the same time I had no reason not to be aware of it. Oh, the paradox of it all.
The first thing I noticed is that Obsession could exist in The Omenverse. Similar vibes, colours and music.
I love this outlandish set piece, a grotesque private graveyard that completely overwhelms the scenery and everyone in it.
That shoulda been mother Carringtons tomb where Blake and Ben could do their soliloquies in season 6.
The tomb is based on a plot-related Italian church that also features in the film and it's even remodelled into a topping on a wedding cake.
There's a big part of the film that looks too leisurely paced and perhaps that's why the second plot which mirrors the first plot unravels too farcically. Not that Hitchcock himself shied away from that type of narrative.
The evildoing is spontaneously confessed without motive or necessity and it doesn't really help.
However, the twist is not in the plot but in the luridness of it all. It's something that could have made me rethink the whole story, something that could have given the film a real edge.
It's just that the descriptive and drawn-out reveal simultaneously sweeps that very shocker under the carpet, and therefore it has no chance to create an horrific or uncomfortable aftertaste.
On the other hand - considering how much the characters had already suffered - a darker ending might have been disproportionately depressing for the average viewer.
I guess it's not unfair to say that the writers had bitten off more than they could chew and it's not surprising that it ended up in a big disagreement.
Back to DYNASTY, I was exclamation-marked to see how much Cliff Robertson resembles John Forsythe. Purely based on appearance he would have been the ideal Ben Carrington, and slimy-villainy-wise John Lithgow could have been an even better choice.
Apart from offering two Bens for the price of one it also deals with the "I want to marry my daddy" as suggested in DYNASTY's first season.
Had Alexis' crash into the river happened in season 8 then it could have been based on BLOW OUT with Leslie Carrington in the Nancy Allen role killed by Sean Rowan (or Ben Carrington by John Lithgow in case he had still been around, although I still prefer my fanfic that he was murdered by Edgar Allan Morell in season 7. I mean, something had to happen in season 7).
Claudia didn't need to die in the La Mirage fire, but instead of the "a candle for you and a candle for me" it should have been "they're all gonna laugh at you!"
Distorded and eerie images of the Dynasty characters - "what have we done besides loving you" followed by an out-of-context laughter in echo style.
Claudia "sees" blood dripping from the walls and the ceiling and she even feels it on her body, and then she snaps and sets the whole place ablaze.
Most of the La Mirage guests die while Claudia walks away in a trance-like fashion and right into the UFO that's waiting for her.
And then I may as well address the issue of Lady Ashley Mitchell and that she shoulda been played by Piper Laurie slapping Alexis the evil whore with a bible. Oh...so perfect.
Gosh! Batman. It's amazing that one movie can fix all these much discussed topics in one fell swoop, thanks to our friend Brian De Palma.
So, last night I watched Brian De Palma's OBSESSION that came out the same year as his bigger hit "Carrie".
I don't know why it's taken me so long to discover Obsession, at least there's nothing in the story description that would explain that I've actively avoided it.
I simply wasn't aware of it but at the same time I had no reason not to be aware of it. Oh, the paradox of it all.
The first thing I noticed is that Obsession could exist in The Omenverse. Similar vibes, colours and music.
I love this outlandish set piece, a grotesque private graveyard that completely overwhelms the scenery and everyone in it.
That shoulda been mother Carringtons tomb where Blake and Ben could do their soliloquies in season 6.
The tomb is based on a plot-related Italian church that also features in the film and it's even remodelled into a topping on a wedding cake.
There's a big part of the film that looks too leisurely paced and perhaps that's why the second plot which mirrors the first plot unravels too farcically. Not that Hitchcock himself shied away from that type of narrative.
The evildoing is spontaneously confessed without motive or necessity and it doesn't really help.
However, the twist is not in the plot but in the luridness of it all. It's something that could have made me rethink the whole story, something that could have given the film a real edge.
It's just that the descriptive and drawn-out reveal simultaneously sweeps that very shocker under the carpet, and therefore it has no chance to create an horrific or uncomfortable aftertaste.
On the other hand - considering how much the characters had already suffered - a darker ending might have been disproportionately depressing for the average viewer.
I guess it's not unfair to say that the writers had bitten off more than they could chew and it's not surprising that it ended up in a big disagreement.
Back to DYNASTY, I was exclamation-marked to see how much Cliff Robertson resembles John Forsythe. Purely based on appearance he would have been the ideal Ben Carrington, and slimy-villainy-wise John Lithgow could have been an even better choice.
Apart from offering two Bens for the price of one it also deals with the "I want to marry my daddy" as suggested in DYNASTY's first season.
Had Alexis' crash into the river happened in season 8 then it could have been based on BLOW OUT with Leslie Carrington in the Nancy Allen role killed by Sean Rowan (or Ben Carrington by John Lithgow in case he had still been around, although I still prefer my fanfic that he was murdered by Edgar Allan Morell in season 7. I mean, something had to happen in season 7).
Claudia didn't need to die in the La Mirage fire, but instead of the "a candle for you and a candle for me" it should have been "they're all gonna laugh at you!"
Distorded and eerie images of the Dynasty characters - "what have we done besides loving you" followed by an out-of-context laughter in echo style.
Claudia "sees" blood dripping from the walls and the ceiling and she even feels it on her body, and then she snaps and sets the whole place ablaze.
Most of the La Mirage guests die while Claudia walks away in a trance-like fashion and right into the UFO that's waiting for her.
And then I may as well address the issue of Lady Ashley Mitchell and that she shoulda been played by Piper Laurie slapping Alexis the evil whore with a bible. Oh...so perfect.
Gosh! Batman. It's amazing that one movie can fix all these much discussed topics in one fell swoop, thanks to our friend Brian De Palma.