Obsession

Schrader and De Palma's tribute to Hitchcock's Vertigo may lack the misogyny and bloodbath sensationalism of De Palma's later work, but it's still dressed up in a mortifyingly vacuous imitation of the Master's stylistic touches. Virtuoso gliding camera movements do not necessarily a good film make. The main problem with the film, in fact, is the excruciatingly slow pace; although if you've seen Vertigo, the story itself - of a businessman haunted by guilt about his wife's death, and getting involved years later with her lookalike - will fail to yield the narrative surprises and suspense required in a thriller.