I had seen Julian Richards’ early thriller, The Last Horror Movie, and it left a negative impression. “Trembling” has in common with him in the sense that it also tells about a maniac, only has a more interesting plot and a good performance of famous actors. First of all, it is worth noting Daniel Harris and John Jarrett, on whose play the whole film is held. Jarrett, of course, plays a maniac, and no worse than in Wolf’s Pit. His character is a mentally ill man obsessed with sexual complexes who asserts himself by killing women. He easily enters into trust, because he is not without charm, easily penetrates into their homes, where he humiliates and mocks them in every possible way. Harris, according to tradition, plays a victim who was out of touch with the cunning maniac. Her character is an insecure girl who does not have a normal personal life, as she is afraid to get close to people. Her mother does not pay attention to her, she holds a modest position at work and is afraid to ask for a promotion. It must have been like this if she had not encountered a maniac in her path, and as a result, she must struggle with the weaknesses of her character in order to survive.
The story, however, is as old as the world, but the director managed to create a fascinating spectacle that looks with the same interest throughout the action. Maybe this film lacks more cinematic realism, but we are not at all a stupid thriller where there is a clash of characters, because the maniac, who for the first time faced with a worthy rebuff, is imbued with sympathy for the heroine Harris, necessarily wanting her to like. And this obsessive lover everywhere pursues his object of desire, and only the death of one of them can put an end to the bloody violence.
In the film, Richards may be confused by poor-quality computer graphics, which sometimes depict bloody scenes, but this does not spoil the impression of viewing. After all, we are not a banal horror movie, but a human story where the main character can be empathized. Moreover, she also had a difficult childhood, but still did not become an obsessed maniac. And, comparing this non-pretentious thriller with “Wolf’s Pit”, it is difficult for me not to give sympathy to “Trembling”, even if it was shot on an inexpensive digital camera, and the special effects leave much to be desired. But still, this film is more of a thriller, because, despite all the flaws, it keeps in suspense and develops not according to the template, having in its asset interesting characters, intrigue and non-banal dialogues.
7 out of 10
On a young girl Wendy Alden, working as a secretary in a small but cozy company and living in a small but cozy house, is attacked by a maniac who has long been terrorizing the city with his hideous deeds, permanently eluding the police and spawning an increasing number of new innocent victims. Wendy resists his tormentor and remains alive, not even realizing that the nightmare did not end there.
British director Julian Richards throughout his almost twenty-year film career of big stars from the sky was not enough, shooting not big-budget studio movies, but mostly low-budget and remaining almost always in the shadows, working mainly in the genre of horror and thrillers. The last film work of Julian Richards at the moment was the film “Trembling” in 2012, which is an adaptation of the eponymous detective bestseller by American fiction writer Brian Harper.
Despite a very low rating, a small budget, and the complete absence of stars of the first magnitude in the film’s miscast, “Trembling” manages to leave a very positive aftertaste of a very well-made, inventive and sometimes very intriguing thriller in the best traditions of genre samples of past years. Among the entire filmography of Julian Richards, “Trembling” is perhaps the most artistically integral and balanced film of this director, in which an interesting plot, full of both suspense and some explicit bloodiness, high-quality artistic performance and embodiment, a certain stylistic saturation with a roll into the total immersion in the darkness of the soul of the main antagonist, skillfully squeezed even into the framework of low-budget and, accordingly, the conciseness of the content of the film, and a good acting game.
At the same time, “Trembling” does not go into the wilds of thrash exploitation, showing at the output just a high-quality and interesting detective thriller, which has also become almost a literal adaptation of popular reading and does not suffer from an overly modernized plot, because likely fans of this book and its author Brian Harper, from the film should hardly be disappointed, because the picture brilliantly conveys not only the sinister spirit of the literary work, but also preserved almost all plot lines, and the characters have not undergone a certain modification for leading political correctness.
Daniel Harris confidently goes not the most winding tropes of the actress of the horror genre, becoming more and more a true “queen of scream” and acting accordingly in what happened. However, the role of Wendy was the unambiguous luck of Daniel Harris, who really convincingly showed her skill of dramatic transformation in this film, perfectly playing the role of a victim who fought her victim nature. Good as a detective and Casper Van Dien, as well as the extremely ambiguous hero of actor John Jarrett.
Together with the cinematography of Zoran Popovich, filled with many shades of macabra, to the accompaniment of the soundtrack from Richard Band, albeit in the cover of a low-budget movie, “Trembling” becomes quite a worthy film for at least one-time viewing. Not a masterpiece, not claiming to be a big laurels of the film, but not a terrible and stupidly bloody thrash.
The murder of a girl who did not reciprocate with sympathy turns a self-doubtful deception into a serial maniac and rapist. The apotheosis of his crimes becomes a fight with the fragile Wendy Alden, another victim who managed to impress the psychopath with her resilience.
The film is packed in a very gloomy, one might even say oppressive atmosphere, which is more repulsive than attractive. Yes, this is definitely not the case when the stylistics of the production delights or is able to make up for errors. The structure of the structure of this thriller is as follows - the face of the killer is shown from the first minutes, and frankly shown and slit throats, and cut off human parts of the bodies.
Everything about the plot moves, in this area, the film is cut very skillfully and even able to surprise with its unusual pressure on blood. If in karate fighters "full contact" is called when the actors fight almost for real, the confrontation between Wendy and the evil psychopath can be called an example of full contact in the genre of horror.
Sometimes all this makes you remember the legendary “Saw” by James Wan, there is, as it seemed to me, some influence. It is also pleasing that there is practically no inhibition in the development of the action, and sometimes it even keeps in suspense.
This is what all the undoubtedly modest advantages available in the reserve of this tape look like. The obvious positive moments can be safely attributed to the actress who played the waitress, who became the first victim of a murderer and Casper Van Dien in the role of a detective leading the case of this pervert. Playing Casper is really not much and it seems perfectly understanding, he just walks from one scene to another, with a serious expression on his face.
The main decoration of the film, of course, is Danielle Harris, so realistically she screams and sobs that it becomes scary for real! Given the fact that the actor portrayed the image of a maniac, coped with his work for a weak three, Harris worked out all the material for two at once. Which, however, is not surprising, because she so often played all this, it seems that the actress is just created for roles – weeping with eternal fear on the face of the girls.
7 out of 10
On a young girl Wendy Alden, working as a secretary in a small but cozy company and living in a small but cozy house, is attacked by a maniac who has long been terrorizing the city with his hideous deeds, permanently eluding the police and spawning an increasing number of new innocent victims. Wendy resists his tormentor and remains alive, not even realizing that the nightmare did not end there.
British director Julian Richards throughout his almost twenty-year film career of big stars from the sky was not enough, shooting not big-budget studio movies, but low-budget and remaining almost always in the shadows, working mainly in the genre of horror and thrillers. The last at the moment of time Julian Richards was the film “Trembling” in 2012, which is the adaptation of the eponymous detective bestseller by American fiction writer Brian Harper.
Despite a very low rating, a small budget, and the complete absence of stars of the first magnitude in the film’s miscast, “Trembling” manages to leave a very positive aftertaste of a very well-made, inventive and sometimes very intriguing thriller in the best traditions of genre samples of past years. Among the entire filmography of Julian Richards, “Trembling” is perhaps the most artistically integral and balanced film of this director, in which an interesting plot, full of both suspense and some explicit blood, high-quality artistic performance and embodiment, a certain stylistic saturation, skillfully squeezed even into the framework of low-budget and, accordingly, the conciseness of the content of the film, and good acting.
At the same time, “Trembling” does not go into the wilds of thrash exploitation, showing at the output just a high-quality and interesting detective thriller, which has also become almost a literal adaptation of popular reading and without suffering from an overly modernized plot, because likely fans of this book and its author Brian Harper, from the film should hardly be disappointed, because the picture brilliantly conveys not only the spirit of the work, but also preserved almost all the storylines, and the characters have not undergone a certain modification for leading political correctness.
Danielle Harris confidently goes not the most winding tropes of the actress horror genre, becoming more and more a true “queen of scream” and acting accordingly in whatever way. However, the role of Wendy was the unambiguous luck of Daniel Harris, who really convincingly showed her skill of dramatic transformation in this film, perfectly playing the role of a victim who fought her victim nature. Good as a detective and Casper Van Dien, as well as the extremely ambiguous hero of actor John Jarrett.
Coupled with the cinematography of Zoran Popovich, filled with many shades of macabra, to the accompaniment of the soundtrack from Richard Band, albeit in the cover of a low-budget movie, “Trembling” becomes quite a worthy film for at least one-time viewing. Not a masterpiece, not claiming to be a great laurels of the film, but not a terrible and stupidly bloody thrash.
7 out of 10
Once upon a time there was a girl named Wendy. Modesty, smart, in fact, a lonely, fragile and timid woman, dreaming that something would work out in her personal life. But one day her life changes in a coordinated way - becoming the victim of the attack of a famous maniac-rapist, Wendy manages to fight him and escape alive. But the nightmares didn't end there. Will the girl be able to resist a cruel and unrelenting maniac not only in a physical but also moral battle, because the killer has deeper motives to find the heroine?
Formally speaking, Trembling is no different from similar films, when the main character is forced to save her life, constantly running from a rapist. There are many such films, but it does not become bad. On the contrary, oddly enough, the movie came out quite high-quality representative of its genre. He is tense, interesting, in the middle changes his plot concept, made most likely for the sake of revealing the personality of the maniac, repeats some moves from similar films. Ideologically, most likely, the film is presented as follows: a slow but sure transformation of a timid beauty into a woman who can fight back and stop being afraid of fear.
The most confusing image of a maniac. On the one hand - he is not much different from "themselves" maniacs - acting out of God, he sets himself the goal of "to rid the world of dirt" - women, and in turn to rid them of the frailty of being, but in Wendy he saw not so much a typical victim as an unusual instance, which is a sin to miss. Although the actor tried, his madness looks plausible.
I really liked Danielle Harris’ game. Surprisingly, among the second-rate films, which in her career is more than enough, “Trembling” I want to highlight just because of it, but also for the very gloom of the film in general. “Queen of the Scream” skillfully coped with the role of the victim, not without shoals showed the transition of a moral personality, but it is impossible not to remain dissatisfied with her.
In fact, if you don't watch the movie, you don't lose anything, although to me, he's another example of Danielle's talent as an actress who appears in second-rate films, although she can do a lot. And the film itself turned out to be qualitative, among the "cheap", though not without blunders - computer murders, illogicality, and sometimes the absurdity of what is happening (what is the moment in the office in the final). But the cheapness is as it is. And the film is very gloomy - it's an absolute plus.