Malibu Eyes (2004) (V)

User Rating:

3.4/10   

Director:

Norman Ollestad

Writer:

Norman Ollestad (writer)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

A stylish, cat-and-mouse suspense story about a young woman's sexual awakening and self-discovery. Alone on vacation in Crescent Bay...

Cast

Mina Badie	...	Michelle
Anita Barone	...	Mayor
Brian Bishop	...	Cabby #1
Courtney Cole-Fendley	...	Hannah
Jay Evans	...	Reporter
Erica Fairchild	...	Lola
Yan Feldman	...	Limo Driver
Emily Ann Graves	...	Young Hannah
Christopher Ives	...	Samuel
Rebecca Klingler	...	Hannah's Mom
Michael Massengale	...	Detective
Alex Nesic	...	Vincent
Laura Otis	...	Nicole
Amy Raasch	...	Mrs. Lott
Joe Sacco	...	Brad

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Visionbox Pictures

Don't waste your time

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The illustrious Dr. Gore, who loves B-movies, has already done the descriptive honours for this flick, and thanks to him for his honest appraisal.

'Malibu Eyes' is not really a 'B' movie, but more a curious piece of C-plus silliness that toys with the potentially interesting premise of voyeurism being a two-way street.

Hannah, a lovely 18-year-old, is alone in a Malibu beach house, and finds cameras of various kinds lying about. She then starts videotaping practically everything she sees on and off the beach until she realizes that someone else is videotaping her. Oooohhhhh, scary.

As Dr. Gore has pointed out, this is pretty boring voyeurism. The producers must have been looking for a PG rating while pretending, on the DVD cover, that it's NC-17 stuff. There is one flickering scene -- about a second -- of a wayward female nipple in profile, and that just about does it for the nudity.

This is a clunker because it doesn't really go anywhere with its Rear Windowesque premise. The reciprocal spying-on-Hannah turns out to be a non-threatening non-event. So you have to ask: what was this flick all about? From what I can gather it's this: when you spy on someone else, be careful that someone else is not spying on you. Or, how about this: an observation on the unending voyeurism that is rampant in our society. If you spy on peoples' private lives, they have the right to spy on you. This has been done before in movies, but it's still a terrific premise. Unfortunately, it wasn't developed in this movie.

And, oh yes, 'Malibu Eyes' is also a half-hearted examination of Hannah's sexual awakening to the sins of the flesh, both male and female. This has only been done roughly eight million times since movies were invented.

I really liked Courtney Cole, who plays Hannah with a lovely sweetness. But one glaring goof by the director (or whomever): she awakes after a night's sleep with full makeup, including perfectly intact eyeliner and glossed lipstick. Nice trick if you can do it. The credibility factor went out the window with that one, and made you wonder about the filmmakers: don't they know that people NOTICE these kinds of things?.

Here's a good rule of thumb with a DVD cover: if it LOOKS like it's loaded with steamy sex, it probably isn't. This cover has a secondary female character (a sexy black woman in a bikini no less) embracing a studly guy on the beach. This strongly suggests you're going to see people doing the nasty all over the beach. Shame on the producers and director for what amounts to false pretenses. And avoid this flick with extreme prejudice.