Wild Things | Blu-ray Review

Neve Campbell and Denise Richards in Wild Things

Wild at Heart: McNaughton Beguiles with Breezy, Sleazy Turns of the Screw

By Nicholas Bell | Published on August 20, 2022

“What is a sex crime?” asks the suspiciously suave guidance counselor at a highbrow Floridian high school, the facade for what's revealed to be a sump of intersecting primordial anxieties. A little lighthearted exploitation of sexual assault is the jumping off point in the increasingly labyrinthine, eventually ridiculous, and irredeemably trashy Wild Things (1998), a late 90s neo-noir cult classic from John McNaughton, previously regarded as something of a morbid provocateur with his uncomfortably garish debut, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986). Sex crimes, specifically sexual assault, is one of many red herrings gutted of solemnity for the service of an excessively unconscionable cast of characters. Arriving in the craze of Neve Campbell’s star power as the newly crowned Scream Queen thanks to her indefatigable Sidney Prescott in Wes Craven’s Scream franchise (not to mention her role in the television series Party of Five - a gig which precluded her from nudity in this film), it was an unexpectedly entertaining resurgence of the kind of B-grade sleaze girding the underbelly of studio era cheapies. Although it yielded a thematically related sequel in 2004, featuring none of its principal cast members, McNaughton created a titillating miasma of twists and turns as humid, putrid, and primal as the fumes expelled by a rotting carcass in the Everglades. A handsome cast committed to the eyebrow raising antics of Stephen Peters’ script ensure a gloriously fiendish time, even if its overbaked narrative sacrifices the finesse of characterization, which could have made this a real pulp classic.

Handsome and beloved guidance counselor Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon), who enjoys his reputation as a local Lothario in the well-heeled community of Florida’s Blue Bay, suddenly finds himself embroiled at the center of a sexual assault scandal when he’s accused of raping Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards), daughter of the vampy widow Sandra Van Ryan (Theresa Russell), a real estate tycoon who seduced the counselor years prior. With his career and engagement to Barbara Baxter (Jennifer Taylor), daughter of another well-heeled local dynasty, crumbling, he’s suddenly accused of committing the same crime against another student the year prior, Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell), a girl from the wrong side of the swamp. When his lawyer (Bill Murray) discovers both women are lying during his trial, Sam walks away with a hefty settlement from the Van Ryan family. The two detectives (Kevin Bacon, Daphne Rubin-Vega) investigating the women’s claims believe this was a complex plan to fleece Sandra Von Ryan, but as they pull loose strings, a more complex web of insidious alliances and betrayals compromises all involved.

So much detail about these characters and their various intersecting alliances suggests Wild Things neglected an entire act. A murdered comrade of Suzie's named Davy, along with her own tumultuous background (a bit of exposition from the superbly crusty Carrie Snodgress as Suzie's grandmother reveals she's actually the half-sister of Theresa Russell, confirming an incestuous angle with Denise Richards and Neve Campbell), are angles begging to be explored. Even the wary alliance between the detectives (with Daphne Rubin-Vega simmering as the film’s only moral center) suggest a meatiness the film sacrifices for sexcapades. McNaughton sails us into the end credits for a montage of revelations, though they’re hardly necessary, playing like deliberate outtakes from the narrative, removed only to keep an audience on its toes (though with dialogue like “People aren’t always what they appear to be,” suggests this is merely a cheap trick. But no matter—it’s the deliciously unhinged and comically inclined tonality which makes Wild Things play like Jim Thompson on a coke binge. Theresa Russell playing the ambivalent femme fatale momma to Denise Richards spoiled bad seed is perhaps the most perfect casting of her career, and McNaughton perfectly lassos Russell’s specific mannerisms and speech patterns as the omnipotent Sandra Van Ryan. Equally naughty is Richards, who plays like the early, irredeemable vixens portrayed by Gene Tierney (think her early work, Josef Von Sternberg’s The Shanghai Gesture, a spoiled fruit who would eventually blossom into the depraved wife in Leave Her to Heaven), and her outbursts, while exaggerated, suggest a calculating predator learning how to decimate her opponents.

If there are weak spots, they arrive in the construction of Matt Dillon’s Sam Lombardo, as the actor never quite conveys the superior intelligence suggested by the narrative. Conversely, Neve Campbell’s Suzie Toller also never exhibits the brilliance required of her character, despite reading Celine and revealing all her cards in the denouement (Medeas vs. King Creon, indeed). Campbell is certainly having fun playing a chameleon initially written off as ‘swamp trash,’ but eventually revealed to be the hand rocking the cradle. Kevin Bacon (who infamously gives full frontal nudity, apparently a towel related accident) and Daphne Rubin-Vega also could have used an additional sequence or two, but Rubin-Vega steals the scenes, and her screen time with Snodgress and her alligator handler son are the only real carnivalesque sequences in a film never quite reflecting the seediness of its storyline (at least as far as lighting and production design go). And then, there’s the expertly used Bill Murray as a bemused lawyer with secrets of his own (plus a magnificently rigid Richard Wagner as the Van Ryan family lawyer).

A potboiler on class woes, Wild Things is the dark fruit at the end of a neo-noir era in the 1990s, where softcore sensibilities were an acceptable selling point and adult themes embraced. Ultimately, the film’s initial question about what constitutes a sex crime, yielding the retort ‘not having any’ from a class clown in the audience, is the ironic hypothetical as the only crime which doesn’t transpire, even if its depictions of female sexuality and agency feel passé. Wickedly entertaining, it’s the kind of film not afraid to revel in skeeze, and for that, it's deserving of reclamation.

Disc Review:

Arrow Video presents Wild Things in a new 4k restoration of both the theatrical cut and the unrated edition. Presented in 2.39:1 with DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio, it’s a glorious presentation of this late 90s cult classic with all its well-lit sleaze. Producer Steven A. Jones and John McNaughton provide an audio commentary track, along with a separate track from McNaughton, joined by DP Jeffrey Kimball, editor Elena Magnani, producers Steven A. Jones and Rodney Liver and score composer George S. Clinton. New interviews with McNaughton and Denise Richards, outtakes, and a "Making of” documentary are also included on the extra features.

★★★1/2☆☆ (Movie)

★★★★☆ (Disc)