ORAL FIXATION (2008)
Directed by JAKE CASHILL
Review by MARTIN BOUCHER


Released by LifeSize Entertainment
Running Time: 84 minutes
Rating: NR
Color format: Color
Audio/Subtitles: English Dolby 2.0 or 5.1 Surround
Region Code: 1, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
16:9 Enhanced: Yes
Special Features: Short Doc: “Welcome to Oral Fixation”; Cast and Crew Commentary; Photo Gallery
Trailer Online: Yes

Here’s another FATAL ATTRACTION clone for you: the digitally full-length presentation of a complete nutcase caught in a downward spiral of obsessive love. Written and directed by newcomer Jake Cahill and starring a slew of unknown actors, this independent dish offers quick boob shots, jarred decapitated heads, flimsy plot and subplots, one major but badly done choreographed girl fight and to top it all, a strange case of look-alikes you have to see to believe–all done in 84 minute run; enough time to claim ORAL FIXATION a botched up job. A little harsh, you might say? Perhaps, but a lot is at stakes when the stamp of approval comes from a festival in Long Island claiming the film a prize-winner in four categories including best picture. Makes you wonder about the state of eligibility of the other submissions that year.

ORAL FIXATION starts out à la Desperate Housewives. You know, all voice over and everything. The film looks fine and dandy up to that point, especially with leading lady Emily Parker at the bar who brings spunk and spontaneity to her role as the unstable Rachel Marks. But as soon as she shares or even leaves the screen, splat! dung on fan ahead. Blame this on her ever-robotic co-stars. Indeed, witnessing what now so looks like amateurish acting 101 the film soils itself even further by making one of the players a leading man. Sure, you could embrace his and others shortcomings and go with the flow but the result would never be over the top worthy as the people in, say, Tim Friend’s CADAVERELLA or Eric Forsberg’s NIGHT OF THE DEAD. They just don’t have it, period. Would better performers in “on the B-grade joke” have saved the film? Doubt it. With its many loopholes and inconsistencies, not to mention the “yeah, right” mumbling moments, plus the all too silly unsatisfying climax, ORAL FIXATION is just an untreatable decay that needs one big yank off the screen, stat.

Now that the… huh… mud has been slung, let’s focus on the film plus side, for it does have some. As mentioned, the participation of Parker as the nemesis is a bull’s eye choice. Her keen acting chops, as campy as it is meant to be, helps make ORAL FIXATION tolerable. Watching her stand tall among this sinking ship proves that talent does have its rewards. Just like some of the director’s better camera shots. Not only does he occasionally succeed in bringing suspense to them (the confrontation between the dentist and his patient in a bar comes to mind) but he also knows how to make his scenes look good despite evident lack of money. Add up some clean editing prowess and you’ve still got yourself a bomb of a movie, but with some savoir-faire underneath the rubble.

The DVD offers a clear picture and a 5.1 sound quality; though the vocal commentary by the cast and star in the extras does tend to irk with its microphone issues. But what is lucid stays noteworthy, especially regarding the physical and technical aspect of various pivotal scenes (one involving a do-it-yourself molar removal with a large metal object). The supplements also include a short behind-the-scenes retrospective tour around New Jersey that is plain OK, plus a photo gallery that is easily thumb skipped—a gesture which will probably cross one’s mind often during the viewing of this sorry little feature-length film.