Michael_Elliott Double Exposure (1983) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Adrian Wilde (Michael Callan) is a photographer who is seeing a shrink because he's having very bad nightmares about murdering the women he takes photos of. He tries to strike up a relationship with Mindy (Joanna Pettet) but before long he begins to fear that his dreams are real.DOUBLE EXPOSURE isn't the most successful film that you're going to watch but there are enough good moments in it to make it worth watching. The best way to describe the film is saying it's a cross between the type of thriller that Brian DePalma would make but with the sleaze factor of a slasher. The two go well together and we get some nice performance that help make the film a bit better than it probably deserves to be.As far as the mystery goes, for the most part we're given some suspects and we're made to wait until the very end for the killer to be revealed. I thought the mystery aspect worked quite well, although there are some rather silly moments involving a couple cops working the case. The two of them pretty much just show up every so often whenever the film needs to remind the viewer that the murders are being investigated. What really helps the film is the fact that Callan is so good in the lead role of the troubled man who thinks he might be more damaged that he originally thought. Pettet and James Stacy both add nice support.The film works as a slasher and especially during the scenes where we see the killer talking various women including prostitutes. There's a nice sequence where we see a hooker lure the killer down an alleyway. Director William Bryan Hillman makes the film look quite good but a little more energy and a bit more suspense certainly would have helped things. As it stands, DOUBLE EXPOSURE certainly isn't a masterpiece but it's a mildly entertaining film.

Mark Turner Growing up there are familiar faces you recognize from TV and movies that for some reason always seem to be around and yet never fall into the category of major movie stars. For me growing up in the sixties and seventies there were a ton of actors like this. You'd see them on nearly every TV series around and they offered solid performances but for some reason never found fame and fortune in film. For me Michael Callan was one of those actors. I'd first seen him in film, actually, in one of my favorites MYSTERIOUS ISLAND. But after that it was mostly TV.In the mid-eighties I opened a video store and we stocked our shelves with not just the major releases of the time but with side items as well, movies that went straight to video for lack of interest by major studios or produced by smaller companies for just that reason. These films were often good movies but for some reason overlooked. One of those movies I ordered was DOUBLE EXPOSURE. While I didn't recall much of it from that time I did remember it as being a decent film. Watching it again with this new release I found it much better than I'd remembered.Callan stars as Adrian Wilde, a professional photographer for men's magazines that is having some problems. It seems he continues to have dreams of women being violently murdered in various gruesome methods. At the same time a murderer is on the streets where he lives, killing women much in the same way his dreams show. Not only that the women being murdered the same as well.Unsure of whether he is committing the murders or just losing his mind Wilde looks for help. His brother offers all the support that he can. A stunt coordinator who lost and arm and a leg on the job, he seems bitter but more positive than Wilde. He also gets help from his psychiatrist Dr. Curtis (Seymore Cassel) as well as medication. But the dreams persist as do the murders.Along the way Wilde meets Mindy (Joanna Pettet) and the two begin seeing one another. The fall in love and eventually into bed as well. Wilde is drawn to Mindy and finds her to be one of the only women in his life he truly loves. But with the fear that he may be killing women without knowing it has him take on a guarded approach to her as well. Fearful of losing his mind the truth has to be found.The movie is a nice mixture of slasher film that was popular at the time and giallo which was just being discovered by American audiences around that same period. The killer's point of view seen in many giallo films is there as is the questioning of the innocence of the main character who wants to find the killer. It works well and plays out smoothly by the end of the film.Everyone involved does a fantastic job. There isn't a bad performance here. The cinematography for a low budget film is exceptional. And as with all of the other films they've been putting out Vinegar Syndrome has outdone themselves here with this one offering a restored 2k version from 35mm original camera negative.Extras? Once again Vinegar Syndrome outdoes themselves. They include: a commentary track with Director William Byron Hillman; "Exposing Double Exposure" Interview with Cinematographer R. Michael Stringer; Staying on Task" Interview with Script Supervisor Sally Stringer; an isolated score by Composer Jack Goga; the original theatrical trailer; promotional still gallery; and reversible cover artwork by Derek Gabryszak. All for less than most special editions like this would costs.For slasher fans, fans of 80s movies and fans of giallo this is a movie worth adding to your collection. Not only will you find an enjoyable movie in the genre to watch but you'll get it in the best format possible with the most extras found on the movie. Along with companies like Arrow, Twilight Time and Shout Factory, Vinegar Syndrome is showing that they are a company to be reckoned with when it comes to titles like these. And for fans that's a good thing.

Leofwine_draca Here's something a little different from Crown International Pictures: a giallo-flavoured slasher with a strong psychological angle and a decidedly nasty edge. DOUBLE EXPOSURE tells the tale of a photographer plagued by nightmares in which he kills a string of young and beautiful women, and a real-life series of killings taking place at the same time. Could he really be the serial killer responsible? DOUBLE EXPOSURE feels very much like an '80s-era giallo along the lines of A BLADE IN THE DARK or NOTHING UNDERNEATH. It has an unusually vicious edge to it for a Crown International film; it's not that it's particularly gory - and it's certainly nowhere near as gory as your average Italian giallo - it's just that the murders are ruthless and mean-spirited. Being a Crown film, there's ample nudity if you're after that, along with a very low budget that gives a schlocky look to everything that occurs.The cast give solid rather than unspectacular performances and there are supporting turns for a few familiar faces like Cleavon Little. Michael Callan is pretty good as the weirdo lead, covered in sweat and acting deranged for the most part, although anybody with any experience of this particular genre of films will guess the identity of the killer early on in the proceedings. Nevertheless, DOUBLE EXPOSURE is a breath of fresh air when compared to Crown's typical output (i.e. low budget sex comedies).

Chase_Witherspoon First time I saw this film many years ago, I thought it was a pretty fair slasher film, but on second recent viewing, it's waned a bit - while Callan is okay as the central character, a men's magazine photographer suffering from bizarre and murderous apparent dreams, Jim Stacy as his knock-about brother, maimed in an auto-accident, is perhaps the film's highlight. The switch in dominance between Callan and Stacy's characters is interesting to see evolve, but it's a transition that's made difficult to follow due to the film's erratic narrative. Joanna Pettet gets undressed and even has a "When Harry Met Sally" moment with Callan in the back of his camper-van, as the only woman with whom Callan's emotionally fragile character can consummate.The violence is pretty extreme at times, with sado-masochistic homicide the flavour of the early eighties slasher film getting 'double exposure' here, full-frontal female nudity, mud-wrestling, even Cleavon Little in a minor supporting role as a cranky police chief. It's eclectic. The cast has surprising depth with producer Callan managing to assemble an enviable cast that includes big Bob Tessier as a bar manager, Pamela Hensley as a ball-breaking detective, Seymour Cassel as Callan's shrink, Misty Rowe as Stacy's squeeze, Sally Kirkland as a voluptuous hooker and blink-and-you'll-miss Terry Moore in a flashback dream sequence.Lairy wardrobe, colourful dialogue, pulsating synthesisers and tricky cinematographic effects momentarily distract you, but the narrative is so inconsistent and the editing (or perhaps scene sequence and continuity) so incoherent at times, that it never maintains any momentum. Highly stylised, the bold concepts and loud motifs (not to mention the substantial cast) should have made for a better movie all things considered, and yet, it's still no Brian DePalma psycho-thriller.