Cast: Ayre Gross, Claudia Christian, Adrienne Shelly, Norman Fell
Director: Alan Spencer
Producers: Marc S. Fischer and Louis G. Friedman
Screenplay: Alan Spencer
Cinematography: James Chressanthis
Music: Lance Rubin
U.S. Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Matthew Welsh (Ayre Gross), a clerk at the Holiday Palace Hotel, is a dreamer who has trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality. His life takes a turn for the bizarre when Hexina (Claudia Christian), the world-famous model, checks into the hotel. Through an elaborate ruse, Matthew manages to lure her back to his apartment for a night of wild, uninhibited passion. Unfortunately for him, sex isn't the only thing Hexina gets him involved in. Matthew soon learns that she also has a thing for knives and guns.
Occasionally, small-budget comedies with relatively-unknown actors can be charming and entertaining. Hexed is not such a film. While it obviously cost little to produce (the cast is a collection of no- names and the set design is cheesy), "entertaining" is about the last adjective I would use as a descriptor. Offensive, humorless, and tiresome are more appropriate choices.
Hexed is yet another in a long line of supposed comedies that doesn't contain a single humorous moment. The placing and intent of the jokes is obvious, but they're all so juvenile that even the easily- amused will discover little to make them laugh. Most TV sitcoms serve up better fare. As a satire, Hexed is no more successful than as anything else. There are quick visual references to Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, and a number of other slasher/exploitation films, but none of these are innovative or amusing.
Finally, something should be said about the performers, who, given their obvious limitations, deserve to be in a box-office bomb. It's a fair indication of how intolerable they are to say that Norman Fell's performance is among the most credible. Claudia Christian does a fine job by the standards of high camp, but even her die-hard fans would be hard-pressed to justify sitting through these ninety minutes simply to experience her screeching her lines while making faces and strutting around in a black leather mini-skirt.
It's curious that Hexed was released to theaters in the first place. It's the kind of movie that usually goes straight to video. Judging by the reception it received from the pitifully small crowd on opening night, it shouldn't take long to reach your local Bluckbuster, where it won't even be worth the price of a rental.
© 1993 James Berardinelli