Doppelganger (1993)

User Rating:

3.6/10   

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 | Female Psychopath | Double Life | Knife

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)

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

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:

[Elisabeth comments on how fast Patrick had begun sleeping with Holly when a guy comes out of her bedroom]
Patrick Highsmith: What was that you were saying about 6 months of suffering?
Elisabeth: OK, so I'm a slut, you're a slut, who wants coffee?

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Soundtrack:

Red Tiger

What a mess!

Drew Barrymore plays young Holly Gooding, who moves in with aspiring hack screenwriter Patrick Highsmith (George Newbern) and completely disrupts his life by claiming that her "doppelganger", or evil twin, is out to kill her and her family.

This silly horror film is kind of hard to take seriously, even if the film-makers and actors themselves seem to be dead serious. "Doppelganger" is muddled, with some unpleasantly dumb dialog.

Some viewers will note that Drew's character's name is drawn from Audrey Hepburn's role in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", and that Newbern's character's name is a play on the name of famed author Patricia Highsmith (he is actually trying to re-write "Breakfast" as a horror film, believe it or not!).

I suppose that it deserves some credit for not being quite your typical horror film - I mean, writer/director Avi Nesher seems to genuinely care for his characters, and gives his film more plot than standard slasher fare.

After a silly villain-explains-everything-to-the-audience confrontation, the film goes on to submit a hideous, out-there climax that has to be seen to be believed. This film certainly does not skimp on the gore.

But hey! Drew kills her mother in this one. No, I'm not joking. Jaid Barrymore shows up near the beginning only to get violently slaughtered.

Drew is always very watchable, and very sexy in this one. Newbern comes off as a likable-enough, "nice" sort of guy. But the highpoint of the film has to be the scene with Sally Kellerman, an attractive veteran who's very professional in her one scene as a former nun who's started a phone sex business(!!!!!!).

The film is basically junk but fairly amusing on a sleazy, sordid little level.

4/10