Doppelganger (1993 )

Ahh, the wonders of Drew. I can’t even supply an objective review of Doppelganger because I am so in love with Drew. So in love with her that I didn’t see Charlie’s Angels II: Full Throttle, because I can’t stand to see the self-imposed crass commercialization of Drew any longer. Also, I won’t get arrested while watching the DVD at home like I did when trying to get in to the theatre.

Doppelganger catches Drew at that awkward moment when she could legally get naked for the camera but still couldn’t act. Poison Ivy fans note, this is the vintage stuff! But then you Poison Ivy fans have already seen this. Thus, I simply entreat you, buy it (by clicking on the Amazon link below, hopefully I can get some cash)! If you’ve read this far, God bless you.

Drew has a secret in Doppelganger, she seems to have a dark half that makes her do dirty things (like have sex) and walk painfully slowly. Maybe it even kills her mother; nevertheless, she flees to L.A., into the arms of some moron, and goes all schizo on him. One minute, she acts like a developmentally disabled librarian, next minute she’s giving herself a lap-dance in front of a roomful of strangers.

Pretty soon a whole bunch of semi-interesting crap happens and special-effects guru Robert Kurtzman does his Screaming Mad George impression, while sentient creatures the world over slap their foreheads in disbelief. But wait, because then Drew saunters in with short dark hair and wearing only a white thong and a see-through lace body-stocking. As they say: “That’s good body-stocking!”

This semi-weak genre effort touts most obviously the charms of Ms. Barrymore, but save the above moments and a lovely blood-soaked shower scene, is mostly stingy with the goods. Maybe Drew was getting wise by then. Nevertheless, it manages a fairly breathless pace through 100+ minutes and no-one seems to take things too seriously, which somehow plays to the film’s strengths. No one is going to lose any sleep over Doppelganger by bothering to try to figure it out or getting scared, but Drew fans and aficionados of sludge-cinema will get a cheap kick out of it.

The DVD provides a big F.A. by way of extras; you get a fullscreen transfer of the movie, which looks fine, 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo, and a crummy photo-gallery.