I’m sure we’ve all been here before. An attractive younger lady lusts after you, but it’s wrong cause she is so young. I’ve had my fair share of beautiful and unobtainable women lusting after me… Haha, who am I kidding? The events of The Crush are so far away from anything I’ve ever experienced as a grown male, this movie could very well be science fiction. As for The Crush, it’s a tale we’ve seen in several other movies before, but with the help of Alicia Silverstone in her feature film debut, the film rises above those other attempts. Her performance as the girl with a few screws loose is a slam dunk in my opinion. Scream Factory is releasing The Crush on Blu-ray, with a few special features, but with a lack of interviews with the leading actors, it’s a hard sell for anyone that buys Blu-rays for the features alone. Read on to see if you agree…
Product Information
DISCS: 1
RUN-TIME: 89 min
ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1
RESOLUTION: 1080p
AUDIO: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English 2.0 DTS-HD MA
LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: English
REGION: A/1
RATING: R
PRODUCTION DATE: 1993
RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016
Plot Summary
A man who should know better. A much younger teenager. No way should there be any kind of romance between them. Yet from the moment 14-year-old Adrian met Nick, she was crazy about him. There must be something she can say or do… some way that she can show him this is not just a crush. What can she do? What won’t she do?
Romantic obsession has harrowing consequences in The Crush, a suspense thriller starring Cary Elwes (Saw, The Princess Bride), Jennifer Rubin (Bad Dreams, Screamers) and Alicia Silverstone (Clueless, The Babysitter) in her breakthrough role. Elwes plays Nick, at first flattered by Adrian’s flirtation, then gripped with outright fear… because what Adrian wants, Adrian gets. If she can’t have her Mr. Right, no one can.
Movie Review
Nick is a young man looking for a place to rent. After a near run in with the insatiable, but highly illegal 14-year old Darian Adrian (Alicia Silverstone was 16 at the time of filming, which still doesn’t make it any better), Nick rents Adrian’s parents’ guest house. This ends up being the worst decision he can make as Adrian starts lusting after Nick in a bad way. At first, Nick thwarts her attempts, but somehow still manages to receive a kiss from her and a peek at her undressing whilst hiding in a closet (don’t worry, the circumstances of how he ended up in said closet are easily explainable). He eventually musters up the intelligence to tell her that they are just friends and nothing more. However, Adrian has a hard time understanding that and things get even worse when Nick ends up dating Amy (the lovely as always Jennifer Rubin). Adrian’s psyche slowly starts crumbling and her feelings for Nick go to the extreme, resulting in her “removing” any obstacles that are blocking her from having Nick all to herself. And if Nick really doesn’t want her, don’t worry, she’ll make sure he won’t be able to have anyone else either.
The Crush was a hell of a lot of fun, thanks to Alicia Silverstone nailing her performance as Adrian. She is cute, sexy and dangerous all wrapped up in a sweet as pie package laced with razor blades. Cary Elwes also does a great job at playing a man who makes a few honest mistakes (no really, the closet/undressing situation was a complete misunderstanding *adjusts collar, laughs nervously and clears throat*) and has to live with them. As for the plot of the film, things are straight and to the point, but let’s be perfectly honest here. There isn’t anything plot wise that is going to stand out as original if you’ve seen any other film of this type, save for maybe a really bizarre scene of a carousel in an attic – seriously, how will he get the damn thing down?!? Also, the ending seemed rather rushed. One minute Nick is talking with a friend of Adrian’s and the next he is running into a house full of candles and bizarre epitaphs to Adrian and Nick’s never to be relationship. It all seemed like a strange dream. Perhaps the weird transitions are the result of some trimming and editing.
Speaking of editing. If you were to go by the included trailers on the Blu-ray, several scenes were trimmed for the theatrical release. Unfortunately, the disc doesn’t have these scenes included. Also, because of some legal action towards Director Alan Shapiro – note to self, don’t write a screenplay based on a real life event about a young girl stalking you and use her real name- the name of Alicia Silverstone’s character was changed from Darian to Adrian. This resulted in some bad dubbing as additional actors did the job and you can really tell when watching the flick. Nevertheless, it doesn’t hurt the movie, but it’s a fun fact to know.
Blu-ray Opinion
Scream Factory warns viewers on The Crush Blu-ray that there is an audio phasing issue with the included tracks, which was not fixable. Maybe I don’t have the perfect ears for the job, as I didn’t notice any major problems, save for the aforementioned dubbing issues. However, the warning is a nice touch for any unaware audiophiles out there. The video, on the other hand, has no issues to speak out, providing a solid viewing experience.
The special features are where the disc is lacking the most. Featuring only two new interviews, one with Kurtwood Smith, who played Adrian’s father and the other with Jennifer Rubin. The first interview is roughly 10 minutes long and the next is around 15 minutes or so. They are fun little talking head type interviews, but don’t expect a lot of information about the making of the movie. There is a new commentary with director Alan Shapiro, which is a bit more informative. Although, I would be lying in saying I wasn’t disappointed that they glossed over the name changing controversy. I’m also not wrong in saying that I wish there were new interviews with Alicia Silverstone and Cary Elwes. What are they doing nowadays that would stop them from providing at least a few minutes of sitting down in front of a camera? Oh wait, I know – money.
Special Features
• NEW Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Alan Shapiro
• NEW The Doting Father – An Interview With Kurtwood Smith
• NEW Stung By Love – An Interview With Actress Jennifer Rubin
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spot
Verdict
The Crush is a really fun suspense thriller, that owes everything to the outstanding performance by Alicia Silverstone. If the film had anyone else in the role, it might not have been as impressive as it was. The movie does have a lot of unfavourable reviews under its belt, however, after sitting down with the Scream Factory Blu-ray and watching the movie for the first time, I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t get a kick out of this movie. As for the Blu-ray, it does lack a hearty amount of features, but the video is top notch. I say pick it up, provided you can find it for cheap.