Doppelganger (1993)

Director:

Avi Nesher

Writer:

Avi Nesher (writer)

Release Date:

23 October 1993 (South Korea)

Genre:

Horror | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

What if your deepest, darkest desire came to life?

Plot:

A woman (Barrymore) moves from NYC to LA after a murder, in which she is implicated. She is followed by what is apparently her evil alter- ego...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Doppelganger | Obscene Finger Gesture | Los Angeles California | Breasts

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Drew Barrymore	...	Holly Gooding
George Newbern	...	Patrick Highsmith
Dennis Christopher	...	Doctor Heller
Leslie Hope	...	Elizabeth
Sally Kellerman	...	Sister Jan
George Maharis	...	Mike Wallace
Peter Dobson	...	Rob
Carl Bressler	...	Larry Spaulding
Dan Shor	...	Stanley White
Jaid Barrymore	...	Mrs. Gooding
Stanley DeSantis	...	Richard Wolf
Sean Whalen	...	Gas Man
Thomas Bosack	...	Holly's Father
Sarina C. Grant	...	Detective Pouget (as Sarina Grant)
John Cardone	...	Handcuffed Man

Also Known As:

Doppelganger: The Evil Within (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | Germany:18 | South Korea:18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Planet Productions

Goofs:

Factual errors: At the old house towards the end, Dennis Christopher (as the Doppelganger) Jabs Holly with a syringe to knock her out. The syringe is half full of air and half of milky liquid- he didn't get the air out before jabbing her with it. That amount of air in her bloodstream would surely have killed her.

Quotes:

Holly Gooding: We didn't do *anything*, you and I - don't confuse me with *her*!

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Soundtrack:

Waste Waste

Mediocre psycho-horror cliché fest

Doppelganger has its moments, but they are few and far between.

Essentially, this is a grade B blend of pop-psych thriller, ghost story and horror. Drew Barrymore plays a young woman who is haunted by the demons of her past (most of her family has been murdered and she was, in at least one case, the prime suspect), or does she just have a really bad case of multiple personality disorder? George Newbern is her new room mate, and most of the action centers on him.

Newbern's character is pretty sympathetic, and both he and Barrymore do decent work (though not exactly good). The mediocre to (at times) totally horrendous script and the unimpressive directing seem to have combined to sink the rest of the performances into oblivion. Leslie Hope's character is memorable, but so irritating that you will want to forget her.

The plot eventually disintegrates into a bifurcated (one story arc is psychological realism, the other is supernatural horror) outlandish climax which is so badly conceived, acted and photographed that it effectively counteracts most of what value the film had achieved previously.

Overall, the film has the feel of what might expect to be the result of M. Knight Shamalyan's first undergraduate film class. The acting and script for the two leads are just good enough to make you care a little about them - at least until the film derails utterly and completely.

My recommendation - send your doppelganger, but avoid a first-person encounter.