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Boxing Helena
Orion Classics


6.0

based on 14 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 2 votes
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FILM:

Surveillance

MPAA RATING: R

Starring Julian Sands, Sherilyn Fenn, Bill Paxton, Kurtwood Smith, Art Garfunkel, and Betsy Clark

Fantasy and desire are unleashed in this haunting, erotic tale of love, lust and obsession. Nick Cavanaugh (Sands) is a brilliant surgeon who seems to have it all -- money, prestige, looks -- everything except Helena (Fenn), a voluptuous, cold-hearted seductress. After a one-night stnad with Nick, she refuses his advances, but he continues to pursue her. When Helena is in a tragic accident in front of Nick's mansion, he takes her into his tome, imprisons her and transforms her into his own version of the mythic Venus. Gradually, they are both forced to confront their inner demons in torrid scenes filled with passion, voyeurism and psycho-sexual torment...all building to a shocking, not-to-be-missed conclusion. (MGM)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Jennifer Chambers Lynch Philippe Caland (story)
DIRECTED BY:	Jennifer Chambers Lynch
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 10, 2001 Video: February 13, 1994 Theatrical: September 3, 1993
RUNNING TIME:	107 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Chicago Tribune Gene Siskel

Not as worthless as you may have heard. [10 Sept 1993]

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Ultimately, Ms Lynch has nowhere to take her erotic parable except to a dead end, but she makes the unfolding of the story a spooky, engrossing process. [9 Sept 1993, p.C1]

USA Today Tom Green

Even if the script delivered, the film would frankly be overwhelmed by the volume of noteriety that has attended it. [3 Sept 1993]

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Once it gets beyond a hard-to-swallow setup and into the meat of its story, Boxing Helena is surprisingly involving...The movie discloses its terms early, and expects the audience to buy into them, making no apologies for what it is or intends to be.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Soft-core trash with a tent-show hook.

Austin Chronicle Robert Faires

This film has all the pyschological depth of a wading pool. Anything you've imagined without seeing the movie is likely more interesting than what's here.

Variety Staff (Not Credited)

The numerous sex scenes are good and steamy.

TV Guide Michael Gingold

Lynch's fatal flaw is in her handling of the leads. Sands is made to play his single-minded romantic as a spineless, groveling wimp, while Helena is a one-note ice queen for more than half the movie, never reacting realistically to her predicament. The characters are so lacking in dimension and unsympathetic that it's hard to care about them or their story.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Just awful. But uniquely awful -- awful in a way that might just attract a cult audience. [3 Sept 1993]

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

What Lynch, who wrote the script at 19, sees as high drama is really high camp. And Fenn seems clueless on how to play her limbless character.

Washington Post Joe Brown

A two-hour stink bomb, Boxing Helena is a pitifully pervy piece of work.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

It was probably worth every costly cent for Kim Basinger to get out of doing the dreadful Boxing Helena -- but you have to wonder whatever there was about it that persuaded her to do it in the first place. [3 Sept 1993]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The whole mess turns nuttier by the second. A black comedy, you ask? I wish. There are plenty of laughs here, but nary a one is intentional.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

A gruesome tale of obsessive love and mutilation, it's less a work of art, however, than a luridly stylish expression of female self-loathing...A prettied-up snuff movie.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Pat C. gave it a 4:
Bad in an audacious sort of way. Convincing portrayal by Sands of the obsessed mind. The story goes on to depict physically what Hollywood has been trying to do to us mentally for decades. And it's not a pretty sight.

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Boxing Helena Orion Classics

Boxing Helena
Orion Classics