Seizure

The early moments of 1974's SEIZURE all but beg for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment.  Some high camp going on here.  Scene after scene, I was in spasms of laughter, even before Herve Villechaize showed up.  I began to ask myself why I was watching this crud.  Oh, right, it was Oliver Stone's directorial debut.  Been curious about it for years.   It is rarely mentioned, and it's easy to see why.  I'm sure Stone wanted the film buried, its negative incinerated.  I wouldn't stop him.

But I have to be fair and say that Stone's script, co-written by Edward Mann, harbors more ambition than expected.  It's disorganized, but if you're going to splash your id on the page I guess we should expect nothing less.  Maybe Stone should've narrowed his focus.  He does try to cover a lot here.

Edmund Blackstone (Jonathan Frid) is a horror novelist troubled by vivid nightmares.  One fateful weekend he and his wife Nicole (Christina Pickles) play host to their rather diverse group of friends, which include the scholarly Gerald (Richard Cox), a middle-aged lothario named Mark (Troy Donahue), and a bickering couple consisting of the crass, wealthy Charlie (Joseph Sirola, quite funny) and snide Mikki (Mary Woronov, very sexy).  The clouds of portent hover early on when the family dog is found hung from a tree and the au pair disappears in the woods.

Then Mr. Villechaize appears at the dining room window.   He resembles some drawings Blackstone was sketching.  Later, the dimunitive actor, credited as "Spider", is joined in a violent home invasion by a big guy dressed as an executioner (Henry Judd Baker) and an alluring brunette (Martine Beswick, also very sexy), who we learn is no less than the Queen of Evil.  They proceed to terrorize the guests and subject them to games they will lead to at least one person's demise. Where does this evil trio come from? We learned earlier in the movie that some criminals escaped from the local pen.  Or are they real life incarnations of author's recurring dreams?

The Canadian produced SEIZURE does become more intriguing as it progresses.  Stone's ideas (art and psychosis, art as identity, art and its co-existence with reality) get some development but are repeatedly stymied.  Maybe the low budget is partly to blame?  A long exposition by Gerald doesn't help matters, and is in the great tradition of Silly Plot Explanations.  The last half hour is more serious and even earns an emotion or two, but this is still a middling low grade mess.  Nonetheless,  I just had to see an Oliver Stone directed horror movie with cult icons Villecheize and Woronov.  Fans of the director's later, far more accomplished films will have the damndest time trying to discern the genesis of his talent here.