Falling in love is exhilarating, exciting, a roller coaster of emotion that flings you back and forth, up and down, and round and round until you can barely breathe.

Love is crazy.

People in love are crazier.

Venus (heh) (played by Alexis Kendra) is an exotic dancer with a yearning for something more in life. She takes ballet lessons, and enjoys the comfort and stability of her new photographer boyfriend, Brian (Woody Naismith). It’s apparent from the start that something is a little off with Venus, but she’s trying hard to keep it together.

Exotic dancer/psycho

She begins to suspect her boyfriend of sleeping with one of his photography subjects, Christine (Elizabeth Sandy), and that sends her over the edge. She starts stalking Christine, and Brian breaks up with her.  She is not happy with any of this and tries to get back in his good graces.

Or does she?  The movie plays around with reality in many different ways, keeping the audience off-kilter and never sure if what they see is actually happening or just a figment of Venus’s damaged psyche.

Batter up!

Venus’s coworker Chanel (heh) tries desperately to be a good friend, giving advice, talking her down, and ultimately discovering the real depths of Venus’s madness.

Jon Knautz (director of “The Shrine” and horror/comedy “Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer”) has given us an ambitious film whose reach is a little higher than its grasp. He has said that his inspiration was wondering what “Fatal Attraction” would be like entirely from the woman’s point of view, and I think he’s mostly successful, but there’s not a lot of subtlety. It’s hard to see why Brian is with her, other than sexually. There’s not much chemistry between the two of them. And the twist ending you can predict easily if you’ve ever seen a horror movie before.

Mirror mirror on the wall…

I don’t think it properly earns its ending; I felt less-than-satisfied with it, maybe because it was so predictable and not shocking. Kendra’s portrayal of Venus is part of the problem: a little hammy, a little unrealistic, and a little obvious, it took me out of the film a few times.

But, the journey there is enjoyable enough. Even though it’s obvious the movie was shot on a very low budget, it looks great, the special makeup effects are decent, and it did keep me interested in these characters throughout its running time. I wanted to find out how it all played out, and that is solid praise indeed.

Uncle Mike sez: check out the (very NSFW and filled with nudity) trailer below.