| 80 |
Film Threat
This is a great little thriller with some genuinely creepy moments.
|
| 75 |
Christian Science Monitor
Violence Hitch would have found way beyond what's necessary. Horror fans will find effective shivers, though.
|
| 63 |
Chicago Tribune
While some pedestrian camerawork and spotty acting from supporting players deflate Love Object, it has enough juice - and a surprising twist - to keep fans of the slow-burn horror genre enthralled.
|
| 60 |
Los Angeles Times
Parigi -- who's clearly made a close study of Alfred Hitchcock's obsessions and has watched a fair share of intelligent horror perched between cheekiness and Grand Guignol (think "Re-Animator") -- succeeds nicely.
|
| 60 |
TV Guide
Of course, no creepy movie worth its salt would be complete without an appearance by Udo Kier, and Parigi doesn't disappoint: Kier appears as Kenneth's louche, hookah-smoking next-door neighbor and, as always, is a disturbing delight.
|
| 60 |
The New York Times
The modestly assembled Love Object... is only periodically derailed by its tone; Mr. Parigi sometimes overplays the humor in the midst of all the deadpan.
|
| 60 |
Variety
While the premise has possibilities for some creepy, pulpy fun, writer-director Robert Parigi brings too little style or humor, instead going a more obvious, overwrought route.
|
| 60 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Love Object's plot is reminiscent of Guy Colwell's underground comic-book series "Doll," only Colwell dealt more with sex toys as emblematic of the systematic objectification of women, while Parigi just uses the concept for a bunch of weird shocks, dark laughs, and a fairly repellent twist ending.
|
| 50 |
Village Voice
Joshua Land
Utilizes horror movie jolts to plumb male control-freakishness.
|
| 50 |
Salon.com
By the end of Love Object a dorky loner who wants a rubber sex doll at his beck and call seems a lot less objectionable than a director who wants a talented flesh-and-blood actress at his.
|
| 50 |
New York Daily News
Unfortunately, the patina of witty satire eventually gives way to a gratuitous sadism that makes this sordid story feel like a fraud.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Sun-Times
The movie turns cruel and ugly, and hasn't paid the dues to earn its last scenes. Parigi had me there for a while, but when he lost me, it was big time.
|
| 40 |
LA Weekly
What's missing is any sense of why such a handsome man is afraid of women. That makes the premise hard to swallow, especially since Harrington is too commanding to be a believable dweeb. The actor does achieve moments of pathos, only to be undone by a silly script.
|
| 40 |
Chicago Reader
Sicko horror flick.
|
| 40 |
The Hollywood Reporter
Unfortunately, Love Object, which uncomfortably totters from psychological suspense to black comedy to pull-out-the-stops horror, never quite lives up to its bizarre premise, and despite its audacious subject matter, it will even have difficulty attaining future cult status.
|
| 38 |
New York Post
Horror-movie vets Harrington ("Wrong Turn") and Sagemiller ("Soul Survivors") struggle unsuccessfully with characters who are frequently more plastic than Nikki.
|
| 20 |
Washington Post
Mark Jenkins
The sort of clumsy undertaking that trips up everyone and everything in it.
|
| 20 |
Austin Chronicle
Feels so depressingly vacant that it registers less as a film than as a pointed lesson in what not to do in the wacky world of non-traditional dating. Hasn't anyone in this film heard of Friendster?
|
| 0 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Misbegotten mess.
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