The Fantasist (1986)
One piece of weird cinema from 1986!
12 May 2004
Warning: Spoilers
Even though it was made in 1986, I had never saw this film before. To describe it as a horror film would be wrong, even though I watched it on the UK Horror Channel. It's more of a tales of the unexpected.

The film starts off fairly incomprehensible, when the central character of Patricia Teeling, a 25-year-old, moves house and basically does her thing. She then starts flirting with two guys, one a man in his mid 40s, the other, slightly younger at around 35, who's an American. The story is rather stodgy, and takes some time to get going but it transpires there is a killer on the loose. And Patricia suspects the American guy. <SPOILER> dont't read on if you want to see the film without reading this...

The killer is in fact the 40-year-old detective played by Christopher Cazenove. Toward the end of the movie, Patricia goes to Christopher who has a bad, stiff leg. She has coffee, then the detective asks her to see something. He lets her into a small room, whereupon he locks the door and tells her to undress so he can take "artistic" photographs of her. He has pictures of Patricia plastered all over the walls of the room, and so the detective is a murderer and a stalker.

And here comes the twist. For although it looks like Patricia might be raped, and SHE LOOKS SCARED INITIALLY, the movie takes an unexpected turn. As Christopher begins tapping the bare buttocks of Patricia, she is turned on by this, and it's a remarkably realistic piece of cinema as Patricia really looks all hot and bothered and sexual. Suddenly, she grabs Christopher's finger and sucks it passionately. They then make love willingly with the clock showing how long they're in bed. If you watch the film, you would never imagine this happening as Patricia is a virgin and would never contemplate sex with a guy she knew never mind a pervy detective. This reveals something in Patricia's character which is something akin to the pervy detective.

Like I say, it was a very expected turn to the film, and the end follows swiftly. You need to watch it!
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