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FitnessProsBooks.com - Mesmerized
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $0.25
Your Save: $ 14.70 ( 98% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Westlake Ent. Group
Starring: Jodie Foster, John Lithgow
Directed By: Michael Laughlin
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: WESTLAKE ENTERTAINMENT INC
EAN: 0798622307927
Format: Color
Label: Westlake Ent. Group
Manufacturer: Westlake Ent. Group
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Westlake Ent. Group
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 1986-01-01
Running Time: 94
Studio: Westlake Ent. Group
Theatrical Release Date: 1986
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not totally horrible...
Comment: I got this DVD at the Dollar Tree for $1 and so went in not expecting much from it. I was pleasantly suprised by it being better than I expected it to be... I like Jodie Foster, which is the reason I bought it and watched it. I think she did a good job for what she had to work with, which was a pretty dull script. The costuming and sets were all pretty top notch, as was most of the acting. John Lithgow, who played her husband, did a good job, in that he gave me the creeps. There was pretty good chemistry between she and her brother in law, making you believe they could be 'in love'. However, I only give it three stars because the editing was not so good, it jumped around too much and didn't explain very well... I am happy I've watched it, but I wouldn't pay more for it than I did.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Life of Dread.
Comment: Mesmerize means to hyponotize. This is the flip side of Jodie Foster in her younger years as she had been put in an orphanage by her biological mother's father as an infant "unnamed." The matron called her Victoria for the reigning Queen of England, and she grows into a beautiful, pensive, young lady in New Zealnd. Out of the blue, an older, well-to-do merchant, Oliver Thompson, marries her, but she still has to stay at the orphanage not yet free (where her beauty is wasted) until she is of age. Wehn she does go to him, a long voyage, he abuses her horribly. She was never "free" as she was never "free" as she went from one bondage to a different kind, much worse. It was as different as dark from light, or cold from heat.
She's called Madam in her own home, but things are not what they seem. She has her own pianoforte. He accused her of "putting on airs" -- a fine lady. His crudity makes her quite ill. Young brother, George comforts her and it turns into true love. They try to run away, but there is an accident and she is the dummy who will be held responsible. FAther and son consired to keep her as a prisoner. She'd told George that "I would have died had I stayed in that house." However, he survived and wrote her a letter which is kept hidden from her. When she finds it, a true-love confession about providence and "you are always in my thoughts."
Like the oldest living Confederate widow, her much older husband takes advantage of her youth and is mean and cruel to her. As she cares enough to give emotional support, things turn from bad to worse, and her baby is born dead because of his abusive manner toward her. She asks the priest why she didn't die, too. I've often wondered that myself. Oliver makes demands, distrusts her. There appears a hypnonotist her like Terrence Weber in "Born Yesterday" who hyponotizes her and she is completely mesmerized and looked like a porcelian doll with those staring blue eyes. He uses emotional abuse and she fights back by putting chloroform in his milk occasionally so that he will fall asleep. He had castigated her about not showing respect for old age.
The eyes and the hands of the devil are everywhere. The priest encouraged her to divorce, as she has "a long life ahead of you." The priest vanishes as soon as she is arrested for the murder of her husband. The new doctor, Finch, makes house calls and finds mercury poisoning which attacks the liver. He is told that it was from pesticides. "Your life is more important surely." He has no suspension of purposeful poisoning. Oliver at the end is hysterical and suffers with his throat. He'd been told that the state of his illness was not serious and he was fit as a fiddle.
His father accuese her of killing his son; after she is arrested she writes to George in Australia. It was perceived that she had been spooked by supernatural forces, but the trial is held and the housekeeper testified against her. Like mother, like daughter.
Customer Rating:
Summary: FAR FROM MESMERIZING...
Comment: The premise for the film is intriguing. It is based upon the Victoria Thompson murder trial that took place in New Zealand during the late nineteenth century. Victoria is raised is some sort of orphanage from birth. At the age of seventeen, it is arranged for her to marry Mr. Thompson, a weird, older man whom she has never before met. She dutifully marries him, and when she comes of age goes to live with him in his home, which is run by his two creepy servants. Victoria soon discovers just how weird her husband really is. She ultimately takes the bull by the horns and finds herself standing trial for his murder by the time she is nineteen years old.
Jodie Foster places the role of Victoria Thompson, as if she were doing so under duress. She takes a character that is potentially sympathetic and makes her merely pathetic, leaving the viewer cold. John Lithgow fares somewhat better, as he does a credible job playing the weird Mr. Thompson, doing the best he can with the material with which he has to work. The film, unfortunately, is choppy and poorly edited, the story so muddled as to be nearly incomprehensible. The direction seems to be almost nonexistent, as it looks like it is every man for himself.
This film was originally released under the title, "Mesmerized". Word about the film must have traveled fast, as bad news so often does. When the film was released for the home market, it was retitled as "Shocked". Now, it has been released again, this time under its original screen name. The only thing shocking about this film is that it was ever released in the first place. It is a complete travesty. All in all, this video is not worth buying. The only reason this film was not rated one star was due to John Lithgow's performance. If you are not a John Lithgow fan, deduct one star.
Customer Rating:
Summary: LAME, LAME, LAME
Comment: Thankfully I only paid $1 for this DVD at the Dollar Tree Store. I thought it was a stupid script and stupid movie. First of all, this movie is based in the 1800s and Jodie Foster is introduced to some ol' [...] fellow through the orphanage women where she has been raised in. They marry and this fellow gets off staring at her through a peep hole while she undresses. But the viewer never sees anything whatsoever except for her taking off like 2 underskirts and she still has the clothes piled on her. Then we see him getting off as she trims his nose hairs and his eyes are rolling to the back of his head in arousement. Took everything I had to sit through it since I did not want to let my $1 go to waste but I should have. 94 minutes of my life wasted. UUGGHH!!!!
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Editorial Reviews:
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MESMERIZED (DVD MOVIE)
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