Blood on Her Hands (1998)

Susan Lucci as she can play best

Considering I only have seen the first half hour of this film (some of us have to work), I agree with the first reviewer who said Susan Lucci's acting is soap opera-ish at best. Susan seems past her heyday in this movie, and it's a role I thought would've been played better by a somewhat younger actress like Diane Lane or even Angelina Jolie. Susan looks old and haggard - makes me wonder what a guy like her lover actually sees in her, or why he would go to such extremes to attempt killing her rich husband. Here's a thought that crossed my mind - why do so many women married to wealthy men think their lives are so bad that they have to cheat? If I was married to someone with money I would just appreciate that I don't have to work and can spend my days looking pretty and shopping. So much for marrying for love. June 4, 2008

Nothing New In Misadventures Of Deceitful Vixen.

A thematic staple of cinema since its inception is that genre involving seductive women whose wiles and means entice susceptible men not only into their arms but also into dire circumstances that typically will only result in jeopardy for the male victims, along with incertitude as to whether or not temptresses will be forced to take their medicine, and here Susan Lucci performs as a siren, although her acting chops from a primarily soap opera pedigree are inadequate to make her performance a credible one. Isabelle (Lucci), inconstant wife of venture capitalist Stewart Collins (John O'Hurley), begins a love affair merely for fun with yacht salesman Richard Davis (Philip Casnoff), simply a bagatelle for her but an earnest matter of the heart for Richard, apparently mesmerized by his lover while she takes advantage of his ardour by engaging him in a risky plot that will graduate into a scheme of murderous intent. When Davis becomes convinced that guileful Isabelle is a victim of physical abuse administered by her husband, he desperately attempts to free her from what he feels is a marital trap in order that he may wed her himself, coming to believe that the only clear solution to his plight will be found in a rudimentary essay at hiring a professional assassin who will dispose of the allegedly violent Stewart. In the wake of the hitman's assault upon Collins, a pair of police detectives, performed by Joe Grifasi and Dean McDermott, become increasingly curious concerning Isabelle's possible involvement in the crime, while at the same time reality dawns upon enraptured Richard who might have to pay a dear price in return for his inamorata's maneuvering. Lucci and Kasnoff are properly cast as a viable pair of conspirators, each giving a reading that makes for a boring rather than charming set of lovebirds, but O'Hurley and McDermott offer strong turns in a film that suffers from a hackneyed scenario as well as uninventive direction and design elements. Released upon a Fremantle DVD, this largely lustreless affair depicting a man 'neath the spell of a seductress does benefit from top-flight visual and sound quality, and although no extra features are provided, the above-average production quality enhances able efforts from cinematographer Robert Primes and composer Stephen Edwards. February 27, 2007

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