Rish Outfield's reviews
The directorial debut of Clint Eastwood is a horror film? By the opening, a shot of driving down the Pacific Coast Highway with happy, dated beach music, you'd NEVER guess this was a genre picture. Well, folks, indeed it is (even if it didn't get many Skulls).
Shot in picturesque Carmel, California, Play Misty For Me tells the story of a radio DJ (Eastwood) who has a one night stand with a female fan, Evelyn (Jessica Walter), then finds that she won't leave him alone. At first, she's just a little weird, not getting the hint that he isn't in it for the long haul. Then Evelyn starts getting more and more intense in her affection, using sex to get her way, and really screwing up Clint's life. After a short while, he realizes that Evelyn is crazier than a rabid, syphillitic wombat in a tin shithouse, pardon my French.
This was a cute movie. Eastwood is gruff and manly as hell. His hair, however, is like an old woman's wig, after it's blown off and birds have made a nest out of it, of course. Jessica Walter is great not only playing crazy, but in actually convincing the audience that Clint Eastwood is in serious danger from her. Creepily, the evil girl reminds me of my best friend growing up's little brother. Donna Mills plays Clint's very attractive lady love, a sweet artist oblivious to what's going on with Evelyn. Don Siegel, who directed one of my all-time favourite horror films, appears as a bartender. It also briefly features the most grotesque gay character since the Mannequin movies.
From my notes: "This is unbefrigginlievable. This girl is really scary." At first, I wondered, "Why can't there be a woman out there THIS dead-set on being Mrs. Rish Outfield?" But after a few minutes, I started counting my blessings. Stalking is a big thing today, but this must have been a unique premise when it came out. Also, stalkers have always been associated with men, but this was way scarier to me (a guy) because it was so rare. Unfortunately, an odd Roberta Flack interlude midway through brings the narrative to a tire-burning, screeching halt.
Even so, I heartily recommend Play Misty For Me. This is one of the scariest flicks I've seen in a while, but realistic and clever, with no supernatural elements.
Line To Remember: "Yeah, get lost, asshole!"

The tyranist's thoughts
I was completely unaware of this one until Rish reviewed it. I like Clint Eastwood, but the whole idea of him in a horror flick seemed out of place. Interesting, but odd. So I finally gave it a rent and other than a short bit near the end where the DVD refused to play, a screening.
It is always fun to see people who are generally typecast as one kind of character playing something different. Often they fail spectacularly, other times they are pleasantly surprising. I found Eastwood pleasantly surprising in this one, but more than him it was Jessica Walter that made this movie so good. She is evil, but in a truly psychotic, doesn't recognize her own evilness kinda way. If it weren't for her, this movie wouldn't been even half as threatening as it turned out to be.
Eastwood's newness to the horror genre shows in places. He rarely sets up the horror and almost never makes the atmosphere of the movie anything but that open '70s kinda ambience that claims the world is still safe and you can't tell me differently. But when Evelyn strikes, she turns quickly and insanely and that placed on top of the sort of innocent background makes it all the more frightening.
I enjoyed this, but I'm not sure I liked it as much as Rish did. If you even a little bit of an Eastwood fan though, it is worth checking out just to see him break out of the mold.