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There Could Have Been A Decent Sequel To This

posted 18 years ago by Dave-36
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I actually saw this when it was released to movie theatres in my area, with little advertising or promotion. However, I knew that Shannon Tweed was in it, so I was sold. "Liar's Edge" turned out to be a bizarre, well-crafted thriller making great use of it's Niagara Falls/Clifton Hill, Canada, locales. Shannon showed off her dramatic chops here in a role that was quite different for her, a widowed trailer park Mom raising her suicidal teenage son. Playing her son, Nicholas Shields was excellent, displaying handsome teen idol looks but acting talent as well. Future "90210" star and indie movie staple Kathleen Robertson also makes a good impression as a punk girl who takes a liking to Shields. The climax on Clifton Hill and in a shadowy wax museum was also well done, with a haunting musical score by Paul Zaza. If you come upon this movie, by all means, check it out. Mystery/thriller fans will enjoy this a lot, as will Shannon Tweed fans - but in case you're expecting skin from her in this, she stays clothed. It's too bad this didn't receive a wider release, they could've made a great sequel - Shannon and Nicholas returning to Niagara Falls only to fall into more trouble with shady characters.

[–] Petronius Arbiter II 13 years ago

"Bizarre?" Yes, and extraordinarily amusing for such a low-budget made-for-TV production.

But "well-crafted?" I think not. Can we agree on something like "brilliantly amateurish" instead?

The screenplay is actually rather pedestrian-- reminds me of something that somebody like, say, David Lynch might have written, but while he was in ninth grade in high school-- but there's just something about the artlessness of the execution that really gets me. Low production values have hardly ever looked this good.

Let's face it, this one has "rush job" written all over it. Its charm, which I find quite gratifying, lies in large part in the way the filmmakers obviously didn't take themselves too seriously.

This movie is to high art cinema as garage-band rock is to progressive rock. And that's what I like about it. Surrealism ceases to be surrealism whenever the artist is obviously trying too hard. These guys never made that mistake.

"I don't deduce, I observe."