Wicked, Wicked: An Experiment in Pain

Before I talk about this movie, you should watch this clip from Brian de Palma's thriller Sisters. (The clip is in french, but the dialogue doesn't matter for our purposes)



That scene is an excellent use of split-screen, a technique de Palma is fond of. The advantage of split-screen in that scene is in the contrast between the events on the right and those on the left.

Split-screen is an interesting device. It basically accomplishes the same thing that could be done with simple cuts, but allows events to move faster and can better show the relationship between events. However, unless it is done well, this can get very annoying very fast.

Sisters, which is awesome by the way, came out in 1973.  Later that same year... this happened:

Yeah, that bit about "special projection equipment"? That's a lie.

An entire movie in split-screen?  Sounds like a bad idea.  Or does it sound like... a great idea?

No, no.  It sounds ungodly awful.

Who is responsible for this creation? Why that would be Richard L. Bare, a director more famous for his work in television. In particular, the famous "To Serve Man" episode of The Twilight Zone.

According to Bare he got the idea for a split-screen Duo-Vision film while driving one day: "I was driving down the highway from Newport to Los Angeles, looking at the white line. As I glanced from one side of the freeway to the other, I noticed how my mind was taking a picture over here, then another over there."

And so, rather than throwing this idea away like a sane person might, Bare took his unsold screenplay The Squirrel and changed it into Wicked, Wicked. What's weirder is that he actually re-wrote the screenplay in two sections.

Is there any chance that this movie will be good? No. Why should that stop us? Let's watch Wicked, Wicked.

The film takes place at a large beach side hotel. At the films start, there is a warning about the exciting new technology of Duo-Vision!

You are about to see a new concept

in motion picture technique...

Duo-Vision

In this process you will witness

simultaneous action through use of

a double screen...

an experience that will challenge 

your imagination.

The film begins proper with a blonde woman checking into the hotel on the right, while on the left we see somebody spying on her from a secret compartment in the ceiling. She goes up to her room and we get to see our killer stalking her on the left side, while she undresses on the right. When the killer, in traditional Town that Feared Sundown bag-over-head attire, reaches her room the screens merge and, surprise surprise, he kills her. This opening is actually pretty good. That changes fast.

The killer sneaks the body away in a room-service cart, and we cut to the next morning. A maid realizes that the room is empty, so the manager assumes that the woman left without paying. He sends a page to look for the hotel detective, and we get to meet our hero: Rick Stewart-Hotel Detective Extraordinaire. Rick is having sex with some random woman in his office, as I'm sure he does frequently being the manliest detective this hotel has ever seen. Also, it isn't at all awkward having a sex-scene on the right screen, while some guy wanders around on the left shouting "Mr. Stewart! Paging Mr. Rick Stewart!" Not awkward at all.

Rick goes to talk with the manager, and this is where we get one of the few clever uses of the split-screen exciting new Duo-Vision in the film. While the manager describes the four women (all blonde) who have skipped out on their bills in the past month, the right-side screen shows the four women being killed.

Next we get to meet Jason, the assistant mechanic for the hotel. His hobbies include machinery, being creepy, and obviously being the killer. Throughout the film, we get flashbacks on one screen of Jason's childhood. He has typical psycho-killer background. Abuse, adoption, loneliness, the whole nine yards. I don't know if the film-makers wanted to keep the killer's identity secret at first, but if so they did a poor job.

We also meet Mrs. Carradine, undoubtedly a less successful leaf on the Carradine family tree. She has been living in the hotel for some twenty-two years, and is starting to miss her payments. Throughout the film we find out more and more about her life. She had been a stripper, then an actress, then killed her abusive husband and has been using his money to pay for the room. Jason spends a lot of time with her, and wants to use the money he gets from the dead women to help her.

Next up is Henry the lifeguard, played by Edd Byrnes of 77 Sunset strip fame. What's that? You don't know Edd Byrnes? Well allow me to introduce you:

You're welcome.

Henry is the initial suspect for the murder. Remember that, it'll be important later.

Finally we meet Lisa James, a brunette singer who is booked to perform at the hotel. Rick meets her, and we find out that Rick and Lisa used to be married but she left him to become a singer. She didn't even tell him why, she just left! Because, you know, there is absolutely no way to travel around and remain faithful to your husband.

At this point we also discover that Rick used to be a cop, but lost his job after he shot an unarmed man for no reason. Am I supposed to feel sorry for him? It isn't like he was set-up or anything, we see it happen in a flashback! He burst into this room and shot some guy!

Lisa is the terrible singer from the trailer. Jason is working the spotlight for her show, and the two meet at a rehearsal. Jason only kills blonde women, because of his blonde foster mother, and so he's fine with Lisa at first. However, for no reason at all, Lisa decides to start wearing a blond wig! Guess what happens next! She gets attacked! Big surprise!

At no point does Rick, who knows that blonde women keep vanishing, tell Lisa to stop wearing the wig. Even after she was attacked, he lies and tells her that the killer was caught! Why would you do that? Do you want her to die?

Oh, there's this too:

Lovely.

While we're on the subject of music, let's talk about the film's score. Early on in the film, we see an organist open the music book for The Phantom of the Opera. Not the musical, the score to the 1925 silent-film version. Anyway, that serves as the score. I guess it works, and the plot is similar to Phantom in some respects. The weird part is that we see the woman playing it. Throughout the film, whenever there isn't anything interesting enough for one side of the screen, we see this woman playing the music on an organ. And at the end, we see her leave the hotel. So, this hotel has its own score? Can you actually hear the organ in every room? Must be maddening.

When Jason attacked Lisa, he got away. But he did kill a maid (by the way, the only two black characters in this movie are killed with no lines) and that brings in the police. The police chief is convinced that it was the lifeguard, and... then this happens:

...Um...Okay.

Rick discovers Jason's hidden compartment in the hotel walls, and begins to suspect him. At this point, something really strange happens. Jason steals a bunch of stuff from the kitchen, and mikes up fake blood. Then he rigs up the pipes in one room, waits for the maid to look in the sink, and blows in the pipe so the fake blood gushes up. Why? No clue! I guess they needed an extra two minutes and figured: "Hey, blood geyser. Why not?"

In the film's climax, Jason takes Lisa up to his compartment while Rick and the police chief pursue him. He shows Lisa the bodies of the prvious women, which he has converted into giant marionettes. He also has a guillotine set up, which he uses on Mrs. Carradine. Mrs. Carradine was a brunette. Thre goes that plot point, though actucally Lisa doesn't have the wig on at this point.

So Rick saves Lisa and Jason threatens to throw himself out the window. Then the police chief decides to be an idiot and use reverse psychology on Jason, saying "You don't have the courage to jump." Because this is the worst plan ever, Jason promptly jumps and dies.

In the end, everyone is happy. You know, except for all the dead people. the police chief is running for District Attorney, despite having botched the entire thing, the hotel is a tourist attraction, because people are sick, and Lisa continues on her tour.

And what of our hero? Will he return to the force, presumably to kill more innocent people? No, he stays at the hotel and leaves to sleep with that woman from the beginning again. Truly, he has learned so much in his adventure.

This movie is bad. So bad that Richard L. Bare would never direct a feature film again. But the real question is, was the Super-Ultra-Amazing Duo-Vision effective. No. Half the time it adds nothing, and when it is useful it jut gets confusing or distracting. not that this film would have been any better otherwise.

Duo-Vision was never used again, thank god, and this film has all but vanished. If anything, I can commend the idea. It is certainly interesting, an all spit-screen film. A valiant effort, but not worth the time.