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TOMCAT: DANGEROUS DESIRES
aka
DANGEROUS DESIRES
Rating: ½
Canada. 1993.
Director/Screenplay – Paul Donovan, Producers – Robert Vince & William Vince, Photography – Peter Wunstorf, Music – Graeme Coleman, Special Effects Supervisor – Garry Paller, Special Effects Prosthetics – Tibor Farkas, Production Design – Lynne Stokewich. Production Company – Entertainment Securities Ltd/Saban Entertainment/Den Pictures.
Cast:
Richard Grieco (Tom), Natalie Radford (Imogen), Maryam d’Abo (Jacki Eddington), Sean Orr (Dr Dale Brampson), Serge Houde (Dr Pace)
Plot: Geneticist Jacki Eddington is having a relationship with the dancer Tom. Tom came to her with a severe motor disability but she was able to save him by giving him a genetic implant using feline DNA. She now becomes increasingly concerned about him as the emergence of feline traits starts making Tom devious and deadly. He kills Jackie and then sets out to seduce fellow dancer Imogen, killing off rivals for her affections.
This Canadian-made feature could have been interesting – it tries to be one of the moody, up-front erotic thrillers that sprang up following the success of Basic Instinct (1992). It intriguingly blends Basic Instinct with a genetic engineering theme. But this is the sole novel idea the film has and one that ends at about the point of its novelty conception. Alas the genetic engineering angle is of no real relevance to the story – in fact all the cat DNA serves to do is provide Richard Grieco with is an illogical fear of water. (And surely a cat’s fear of water has nothing to do with its DNA, but a lot to do with simply it not liking getting its fur wet). And for all that the DNA matters to the story, Grieco could have could be a simple ladykiller in a by-the-numbers psycho-thriller.
The film has no real plot. All it seems to spend its time doing is having Natalie Radford unsure whether she wants Grieco to seduce her or not. There is nothing else that really happens up until the climax where he pursues her through a lumberyard. And even that which does happen is vague and seems to have been slung together without any idea of what people were trying to achieve.
The film also has the misfortune to cast Richard Grieco, the teen heart-throb of tv’s 21 Jump Street (1987-92) and Booker (1989-90). Grieco is one of the new generation of teen heart-throbs whose celebrity rests entirely on their looks. As an actor he is incredibly bad. The scenes of him chasing Radford and attempting to threaten her at the end come out as unintentionally campy. One scene where he pretends to have been stabbed by a victim leaves one unsure whether he is meant to be dying or laughing.
Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2012
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