The Fantasist (1986)

I stumbled across this relatively obscure film on a satellite channel the other day, and was eagerly anticipating an enjoyable experience, having been a big fan of director Robin Hardy's previous film (the Wicker Man).

95 minutes later, I was disappointed, although the film does have some redeeming features.

I consider The Wicker Man to be a classic of its type, and certain aspects of that film are carried over into this one - the haunting music, the atmospheric locations, and especially the suppressed eroticism. Also the final twist at the end. But having said that, this film does come across as a pale imitation of its predecessor.

Due to the appalling treatment that was meted out to The Wicker Man by the film industry powers, Robin Hardy retired from the business for over 10 years, and boy does it show here. Some of the editing is appallingly choppy, the characters' dialog is at times incredibly trite, and some of the scenes just don't gel. Examples of the latter are the initial murder, where the victim appears to offer no resistance to the knife wielding assailant, and the relationship between Moira Harris and Timothy Bottoms, which in one scene has her berating him for making pervy phone calls to his wife. then in next scene she discovers his wife's murdered body, and in the very next scene has her defending him aginst police suspicion? Duh???

Another scene that is particularly laughable is the night club scene where Harris and Bottoms meet. The moment when Timothy Bottoms raises his fists to the Mr. Halitosis character almost had me laughing out loud.

Moreover, there is virtually no mystery as to who the main pervy phone caller is, as the voice is easily identifiable as one of the main characters in the film.

However, it's not all bad news. As in The Wicker Man, there is an air of Catholic sexual repression which pervades the whole story, and is handled on the whole very well. I'm not Irish or Catholic, but I found it believable and not just because it gave the film an excuse to show a few bare breasts.

It's just a shame there couldn't have been a bit more suspense to go with it.