Wild Things (1998).
“People aren’t always what they appear to be.”
Directed by John McNaughton
Written by Stephen Peters
Starring Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, Denise Richards, and Kevin Bacon
The Stage.
A high school guidance counselor is accused of rape by two high school girls, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg in this lurid, twisty thriller.
The Review.
Wild Things came out at a time when I would see everything in theaters, and frankly, based on my tastes, it feels a little surprising that I hadn’t seen it up to this point. It came out when I was a junior in high school and I remember that it was talked about in class non-stop because of the threesome scene and of course because Denise Richards showed off the goods. I had always wondered if it would live up to its reputation that was so inflated in the Tracy High quad, but for some reason, never took the time to find out. Recently, Arrow put out a 4K restoration of both the theatrical and director’s cuts, so I picked it up during a buy two, get one free sale and away we went.
Matt Dillon plays Sam Lombardo, a high school counselor who’s accused of raping not one, but two students. He’s such a fantastic actor and I think his reputation for playing scumbags works to his advantage here, at least at first, before we find out what’s really going on. Denise Richards plays Kelly Van Ryan, the daughter of a rich widow. She uses her sex appeal to get what she wants, and she’s never looked better. I also thought she was really great as this spoiled teen who is in way over her head. Neve Campbell rounds out the…uh…threesome…as Suzie Toller, a stoner who continuously finds herself in legal trouble. I’ve never thought Neve Campbell was a good actor, and this film certainly reaffirms my views on that. She has always felt very one-note to me. Rounding out the cast is Kevin Bacon as a detective who’s gotten way too attached to a case after he felt bamboozed and Bill Murray as a sleazy, low-rent lawyer.
This film is a sweaty maze of shitty people. Literally everyone is into something they shouldn’t be, with one goal in mind…money…a goal that leads to quite a few murders. It’s a film that feels like it’s aware of how trashy it is, something that would have felt right at home as an episode of Melrose Place if the characters had taken a Brady Bunch in Hawaii style trip to the Everglades. The first half of the film lacked surprise for me, but the second half of the film came through with endless twists, deaths, and guess-what-I’m-not-really-deads. Stephen Peters, who wrote the script (and then literally nothing else) pulled out all the stops. As the credits roll, we find out the extent of the insanity that went on as sort of a recap, but even then, there are surprises being revealed.
The question I had to ask myself after the credits rolled is an obvious one - did it live up to the hype that’s sat in my head for over twenty years? In terms of the fabled threesome scene…unsurprisingly, no. Now, you have to understand, this came out at a time when scenes like this were very rare in mainstream movies and it was a time when porn was hard to come by. Either you found your parent’s stash or you found a magazine in the woods or whatever. Now, it’s a Google away, so by today’s standards, it feels very tame. However, Denise Richards is still titillating, even more so in 4K. I think I was most surprised by a two-second scene in which we see Kevin Bacon hang dong while getting out of the shower. Kevin’s Bacon indeed.
The End.
As the title card hits, we see a gator lift out of the water, letting us know that we’re in for some heinous stuff, and it didn’t let me down in that regard. It’s like an episode of Always Sunny in that every single character is a piece of trash and everyone is looking out for themselves, and they’ll do whatever they can to self-preserve. This film just SCREAMS late-90’s. It came out at the tail end of the golden age of erotic thrillers and feels like a pretty good exclamation point for this seemingly forgotten genre, with a soundtrack that brought me back to that junior year. The film is a good time-waster, and although I’m not sure I’ll take another dip in the pool that is Wild Things, I didn’t hate the hour and a half I spent with it.
The 4K restoration looks great, and the extras are nice too. There are new interviews with the director, John McNaughton, and Denise Richards, some archival interviews, as well as two commentary tracks and a lackluster outtake by Bill Murray. A nice booklet and a great looking box round out the package. If you’re a fan of the film, it’s never looked better.
