| Wild Things | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John McNaughton |
| Produced by | Kevin Bacon (executive) Steven Brown (line) Steven A. Jones Rodney Liber |
| Written by | Stephen Peters |
| Starring | Kevin Bacon Matt Dillon Neve Campbell Denise Richards Bill Murray Theresa Russell |
| Music by | George S. Clinton |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 20, 1998 |
| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20,000,000 (estimated) |
| Box office | $55,576,699[1] |
Wild Things is a 1998 erotic thriller film starring Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, Kevin Bacon, Denise Richards, Theresa Russell and Bill Murray. It was directed by John McNaughton. In some countries the film was released as Sex Crimes. An uncut version of the movie, adding seven minutes to its runtime, was released on DVD in 2004 and includes a change to Kelly and Suzie's relationship. The movie gained notoriety for featuring several sex scenes - in particular, one involving a man and two women simultaneously - that were more explicit than is typically seen in mainstream, big-budget Hollywood movies. It spawned several direct-to-DVD sequels.
The film has a MPAA rating of R for strong sexuality, nudity, language and violence. Times guidelines refer to a strong menage a trois scene (involving Dillon, Campbell and Richards, who is in the nude) and some passionate girl-girl kissing (Campbell and Richards, both of whom are topless). There is also incidental male frontal nudity (Bacon).[2]
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High school guidance counselor Sam Lombardo (Dillon) is accused of rape by two students, Kelly Van Ryan (Richards) and Suzie Toller (Campbell). Lombardo hires lawyer Kenneth Bowden (Murray) to defend him.
At trial Suzie admits that she and Kelly had made the whole thing up to get revenge on Lombardo: Suzie for him leaving her in jail and Kelly for him having an affair with her wealthy socialite mother, Sandra (Russell). Kelly's mother is humiliated by the scandal, and Lombardo and Bowden negotiate a hefty settlement for libel. Lombardo meets Kelly and Suzie in a hotel and it is revealed that the three had been working (and sleeping) together, and planned to split the money. There, they have a threesome in one of the films most infamous scenes.
Police Detective Ray Duquette (Bacon) becomes suspicious. He tells both Kelly and Suzie that Lombardo transferred the money to an off-shore account. Suzie starts to panic and goes to Kelly for help; Kelly assures Suzie that they can trust each other, but separately tells Lombardo over the phone that they may have to get rid of her. Suzie overhears this and attacks Kelly in her pool. Both girls fight, but eventually end up having sex in the pool. Unknown to them, Duquette is videotaping their rendezvous.
Even though they agreed not to meet again, Kelly and Lombardo take an intoxicated Suzie to the beach. Lombardo is seen raising a bottle, and then Suzie is heard screaming. After wrapping the body in plastic, they throw it in the trunk of the car and drive out to the swamp, where Lombardo disposes of it. Suzie is reported missing by her family the next day and Duquette and his partner, Gloria (Daphne Rubin-Vega), are called in. Suzie's blood and teeth are later found on the beach and her car is found by the bus terminal. After seeing his continued investigation, his superior insists that he drop the case. Regardless, he goes to Kelly's house to confront her. When he arrives, Kelly strips to try to seduce him and then she appears to attack him, shooting him in the arm, leaving him no choice but to kill her in self-defense. No charges are filed against Duquette, but he is fired and loses his pension.
Later, it is revealed that Lombardo and Duquette had been working together the entire time. Although Lombardo is not pleased that Duquette killed Kelly instead of framing her as originally planned, Duquette insists that it leaves fewer loose ends. The two drink a toast to "no loose ends", and agree to go fishing on Lombardo's sailboat the following day.
While on the luxury sailboat far out to sea, Lombardo knocks Duquette overboard, but he is able to climb back aboard and attack Lombardo. However, he is shot in the leg with a spear by Suzie, who is still alive. She shoots and kills Duquette as revenge for killing her friend, Davie, years before. Suzie then poisons Lombardo with a drink she poured for him and knocks him overboard, leaving him to drown.
It is then revealed that Suzie had planned the whole thing in order to get all the money and revenge on both Lombardo and Duquette: Lombardo for leaving her in jail and Duquette for killing her friend Davie. Suzie had discovered that Lombardo and Kelly were sexually involved and used it to her advantage. As for Kelly's death, she had not attacked Duquette as he had claimed. In reality, when she tried to escape the guest house when he entered, he punched her to incapacitate her then broke into the gun case and shot her twice with his gun. He then used her hand to shoot himself in the shoulder with her gun.
Bowden comes upon Suzie and tells her how the money had been divided. She kisses him on the cheek, then walks off.
The films holds a 64% 'fresh' rating among critics on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating a mixed-positive response.[3][2] Variety praised the casting of Dillon, Bacon, Campbell, Richards, Russell, Murray and Snodgress "you have an ensemble that appears to be enjoying the challenge of offbeat roles and unusual material. There's not a wrong note struck by the game group of players." The magazine also praised the film as "original" with a "glossy, unreal quality that nicely dovetails with the pulse of the drama."[4]
Almost all the high school sequences, including many pool scenes, were filmed at Ransom Everglades school in Coconut Grove, Florida.
The sequel to the movie, 2004's Wild Things 2, never saw release in the theatres and went straight to video, as did a third film called Wild Things: Diamonds in the Rough (2005). The sequels recycle much of the plot, dialogue, and direction of the first film, albeit with different actors. All three films, for example, take place in Blue Bay, and its high school, Blue Bay High. The fourth film in the series, Wild Things: Foursome (2010), starred Ashley Parker Angel, with Marnette Patterson and Jillian Murray portraying the two lead characters.
In February 2006, it was reported that Campbell and Richards will appear in Backstabbers, and producers are trying to get more of the original's cast to star as well.[5] Although Backstabbers would reportedly reunite members of the cast and crew of Wild Things, it would not be a sequel.[5] Backstabbers will go into production in late 2010 and will be released in 2011.
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