I am a night owl and tend to stay up late most nights. I actually can’t sleep if I go to bed to early, so I end up staying up even when I have to get up early the next day. I do different things when I stay up, including watching television. I’ve seen some movies that have been really good, somewhat good, bad, and absolutely horrible. There are some really bad movies on late at night. Doppelganger: The Evil Within isn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but it is quite bad. I’m really not sure why I kept watching it.

CAST

Drew Barrymore - Holly Gooding
George Newbern - Patrick Highsmith
Dennis Christopher - Dr. Heller
Leslie Hope - Elizabeth
Sally Kellerman - Sister Jan
George Mahario - Mike Wallace
Dan Shor - Stanley White
Thomas Bosack - Mr. Gooding
Jaid Barrymore - Mrs. Gooding

Ari Nesher - Writer/director

Doppelganger: The Evil Within isn’t rated. I think it was a direct to video release when it was made in 1993. The movie was 104 minutes long. There was some swearing, violence, and sexual situation in the movie, but none of those things were excessive. That may have been because I saw the movie on television. I don’t think anyone should see this movie, but children definitely shouldn’t see it.

PLOT

A woman was murdered in her home by a younger woman wearing a scarf and sunglasses. There seemed to be cobwebs between the young woman’s fingers and her nose started to bleed from both nostrils.

The movie switched to L.A. sometime after the murder. Holly Gooding just moved to town from New York. She answered an ad for a roommate that was placed by Patrick Highsmith. After looking around, Holly decided that she wanted to move in. Patrick, a screenwriter, was working on writing a horror version of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Holly and Patrick started to get to know each other. That night, she had a nightmare.

The next morning, Patrick met Elizabeth - at least I think that was her name. She was his friend and maybe also his agent. They were discussing his work and his new roommate. Patrick thought he saw Holly across the street, but she vanished. When he got back to the apartment, he mentioned seeing her, Holly got upset, saying she hadn’t left the apartment. She then called Dr. Heller and told him that someone was back.

Holly and Patrick continued to grow closer and they end up having sex on the kitchen floor. The next morning, Patrick woke up alone. When he found her and tried to talk about the night before, Holly got very upset, denying that anything happened. Holly claimed that Patrick had slept with her doppelganger, who followed her from New York. Patrick was confused and started to research doppelganger. He eventually went to see a former nun, Sister Jan, who knew a lot about doppelgangers and was now running a phone sex business.

Patrick continued to spend some time with Holly, even taking her to visit her brother in a mental hospital. A man, Stanley White, showed up and claimed that Holly had murdered her mother in New York and that she was after her brother now. Patrick didn’t know what to think, but he ended up sleeping with her again. This time, Holly didn’t deny what happened the next morning. Did Holly have a doppelganger? Did she have a split personality? Was she being possessed? Was she a killer just putting on an act to get away with her crimes?

**End of Plot Discussion**

Doppelganger: The Evil Within is a strange movie. The general plot of a young woman having a doppelganger that is killing people is interesting and very different from any other movie I have seen. However, I don’t think that made the movie worth watching. I really don’t think there is any reason to watch this movie. Die hard Drew Barrymore fans that have to see every movie she makes may want to check this movie out, but they should be prepared for a lousy movie. I’ve seen worse movies, but this one is pretty bad. Thankfully I saw this on television, so I didn’t have to spend any money on it.

Doppelganger: The Evil Within is meant to be a horror movie. I didn’t find the movie scary at all. I think that the movie was supposed to be dramatic as well, but it failed at that too. I wasn’t sure how the movie would end, but I don’t think this was a suspenseful movie in any way. The movie is boring, so I had trouble paying attention to it. I really didn’t care what was going on or what would happen to the characters. There is some violence in some scenes, but it isn’t too bad. It is rather gory near the end, but it isn’t as bad as some other movies I have seen. For a horror movie, it is pathetic. People who like good horror movies need to stay far away from this one. Also, people who dislike watching violent or gory movies should not watch this movie.

Patrick and Holly - or her doppelganger - become involved in a sexual relationship in the movie. They end up having sex fairly early in their relationship, so they didn’t really know each other before they had sex. There are some sexual situations in the movie, but there are only a few of them. That is not the main focus of the movie. There is no nudity in the movie. That may be because I did see it on television and the nudity was edited out. There are a few scenes that seem to be flashbacks of Holly in a sexual situation with a man in New York. In another scene, Holly dances seductively at a party. That is it for sexual content in the movie. I don’t think those scenes would offend anyone, but people who don’t like to see any sexual situations in a movie should avoid this one.

Holly does have some sort of problem. She says she has a doppelganger. A man from New York claims that she is a murderer. It is also suggested that Holly has a split personality. Patrick isn’t sure what to think of her strange behavior or what to believe. Holly acts out of character at times, and does some strange things at times. She seems to forget what she has done later, or she blames it on her doppelganger. She has some sort of spells at times, which makes it seem like she is being possessed. In those scenes, shots of trees are shown for some reason. I have no clue why those shots are in the movie. The trees seem to be spinning around in those shots, and they did make me a little dizzy. The camera work is a little shaky at times. There were some special effects in the movie, but they weren’t that impressive. The movie is set in L.A., with a few scenes in New York at the beginning. None of the sets are very impressive, but they were ok. It doesn’t look like the movie had much of a budget.

Overall, I think that Doppelganger: The Evil Within is just a strange movie. Not that being a strange movie means is bad or not enjoyable to watch. I have liked and enjoyed some very strange movies over the years. This is not one of them though. As far as I’m concerned, there is something that isn’t really resolved in the movie. Just what is going on with Holly? Did she have a doppelganger? A split personality? Was she being possessed? Was she really a killer pretending to have some kind of mental problem to get away with her crimes? Some things are explained near the end of the movie and then something extremely bizarre happens. I obviously could see what was happening, but I don’t know what it meant. Did that mean that Holly did have a doppelganger? That she had the ultimate split personality? That she was having a demonic possession of some kind? Or did it mean something else? I really don’t know. This event was also very gross. People who don’t like to see gross, nasty things in a movie shouldn’t watch this one.

The acting in Doppelganger: The Evil Within is not that good. This movie was made before Drew started to get better roles, and her acting abilities are not fully developed here at all. She was being overly dramatic in many of her scenes, and just generally doing a lot of overacting. This is not one of her better performances. George Newbern did better as Patrick. He did the best he could with the material he had to work with.

Leslie Hope seemed to suffer from over acting as well. She also had a tendency to talk very fast, so it was hard to understand exactly what she was saying. That got on my nerves a bit. Sally Kellerman is just in one scene as Sister Jan, and her performance was fine, though I think she was suffering from a bad hair day. That hair style was not flattering. I am wondering why she even took the role in a movie this bad. Dan Shor was just awful. He was overacting a lot more than anyone else. He seemed to yell many of his lines. His voice was very annoying. It was shrill for a line or two, then it would go deeper, then shrill again. Jaid Barrymore, Drew’s mother, appeared in one scene as Holly’s mother. Even though she was only in one scene, her performance was not that good.

CHARACTERS

Holly Gooding - She was a young woman from New York. She moved to L.A. to start over after some tragedies in her life. She answered an ad and moves in with Patrick. She seemed to be a well mannered, proper young lady, but at times she was completely different. She has some sort of spells and goes a bit wild, but she forgets what she does later. She claimed that she had a doppelganger that killed her mother and followed her from L.A.

Patrick Highsmith - He is a screenwriter working on a horror version of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. He placed an ad for a new roommate and Holly moved in. He is attracted to her right away and ends up sleeping with her. He is very confused by her claims of having a doppelganger, but he is still attracted to her, so he did some research on the subject. He kept going back to Holly, even when it seemed like she was very dangerous.

Holly and Patrick were the main characters. Those character were barely developed. None of the other characters are developed at all. They were just there in the movie.

Doppelganger: The Evil Within is a lousy horror movie. It is a bizarre movie that I don’t think is worth watching for any reason, even if you are a die hard fan of one of the actors. If you just have to see the movie, try to catch it on cable so you don’t have to waste your money renting it.


Recommended:
No

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age