Wild Things (1998)

Image by Columbia Pictures/Mandalay Entertainment via IMDB

Hello once again friends! Hope your week is going amazing! If you've been reading this blog since I launched it on Jan 1st, please let me know what you think of it so far. Do you like or dislike anything I talk about. Was I too harsh on Bonfire of the Vanities. Just drop me a message or leave a comment below, thanks!

Moving out of the early 90s into the late 90s now. 1998. Ugh. 1998, as I will reveal over the course of other reviews, was the worst year of the 90s for me. It was the worst year of my life at that point. This movie I'm looking at today, Wild Things, came out on March 20, 1998. March was actually a pretty good month, probably the only good one of the year for me. Nothing terrible happened. And oh my goodness. I remember vividly when this movie came out. Everyone seemed to know about Wild Things. This was a controversial movie, for reasons I will tall about in a minute. I didn't see it in theaters, but I'm pretty sure I saw this on VHS in 1999 or 2000.

Released on March 20, 1998. The cast is full of stars. Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, and Denise Richards were the leads. Robert Wagner, Carrie Snodgress, Theresa Russell, and, of all people, Bill Murray are in this as well.

"Why am I in this?" I don't know, Bill... I don't know....

Image by Columbia Pictures/Mandalay Entertainment via IMDB

Top billing in this one officially goes to Bacon and Dillon, but let's be real for a second here. I forgot they were actually in this when I went to re-watch it. No one has ever said "Hey, let's watch Wild Things. Matt Dillon is in it." Not even Dillon's own mother. Not even Dillon himself, if we're being honest here. Maybe Kevin Bacon would say that, though...

No, the reason you watch this movie is for the girls: Campbell and Richards. Campbell was a bog teen star at this point, having just done The Craft and the first two Scream movies in the two years prior to the release of Wild Things. Richards had her big break the year before in Starship Troopers. Both talented, young actresses. Both very pretty. Look above at the poster. The iconic photo for the poster, taken by Timothy White, shows the girls poised sensually in the water, but also predatory, like crocodiles. Sexy and dangerous. The trailer has Richards climbing out of a pool with a super duper tight swimsuit on. Then we all find out that Richards goes fully topless and makes out with Campbell. That's why people see this movie.

I don't really want to talk about the LGBT movement in the 90s here, because I don't think this is a good movie to start having that discussion with. But the girl-on-girl action was absolutely the selling point of this movie. Is it bad? Ehhhh. I guess if you're a puritan. I've said before, and I'll say it till I die: I'm very sex positive. I spent too many years hating myself for that and I refuse to do so anymore. And I don't think the scene is that bad. It's actually pretty tame, especially by today's standards. But remember, this was 1998. This was not a thing you saw in mainstream, high budget Hollywood movies at the time. And honestly, it actually fits the narrative of the movie.

Here ya go. Just spoiled the whole movie for you.

Image by Columbia Pictures/Mandalay Entertainment via IMDB

So, what is this movie about? I remembered literally nothing about this movie going into it, other than the pseudo lesbian scene. Turns out it's a weird thriller mystery movie. Dillon plays a high school guidance counselor in a town in South Florida, surrounded by swamplands. He is seduced by a student, Richards. Then Richards and another student, Campbell, come forward and accuse Dillon of rape. Bacon and his partner (Daphne Rubin-Vega) are police officers and investigate the incident. Wagner plays the lawyer hired to prosecute Dillon, who has hired Murray as his own lawyer. All sounds simple, right? Well...

Turns out Richards and Campbell made the rape accusations up. Campbell lied because Dillon didn't bail her out of jail one night. Richards because Dillon slept with her mom (super talented Theresa Russell). So after the charges are dropped, Dillon sues Richards' family for defamation and gets $8.5 million in settlement money. Sounds simple, right? Well...

Turns out the three were all in on it together, to get the money and then leave town. Now, here is when I'll stop because spoilers. I haven't told you anything they don't reveal in the trailer, though. But there's more. We're maybe about halfway through the movie at this point. What continues is what I can only describe as an M. Night Shyamalan fever dream of twist after twist after twist and then a backstab and then another twist and then you see Bacon's penis and then another swerve and then... the end. Much of this happens at the very end of the movie,  in a whirlwind of "Oh but wait! There's more!" reveals. By the time it's all over, your brain is in a state of "what the HELL just happened!" swirling. This is a unexpectedly weird movie.

"It makes so much more sense after you explain it like that"

Image by Columbia Pictures via IMDB

The movie was shot with a budget of $20 million and made back $56 million, almost tripling its profit. The title was changed to "Sex Crimes" in some countries.

Mental Floss has an interesting "13 facts" article about the movie, including a real life dead body floated into a shot they were filming. Also, there was apparently supposed to be a shower scene with Bacon and Dillon, which makes so much sense if you watch their performances and how they interact with each other.  

I'd ship it. #TeamDillcon

Image by Columbia Pictures/Mandalay Entertainment via IMDB

Wild Things has three straight-to-video sequels that I have never seen: Wild Things 2 (2004), Wild Things: Diamonds in the Rough (2005), and Wild Things: Foursome (2010). None of the original cast returns for any of these followups. I'll talk about those if I ever do blogs for the Naughties or the Twenty-Tens.

Final Verdict:

Wild Things is an interesting ride. It isn't a great movie. But it's a fun movie, so long as you take it for what it is and don't take it too seriously. It starts off pretty interesting, if a bit melodramatic. Then it starts going off the rails with so many twists that it becomes stupid. But it doesn't stop. It keeps going and becomes insane. It has solid enough acting, interesting cinematography, and a great soundtrack by the legendary George S. Clinton. It's far from perfect but I think it's a wild ride, and I do recommend it for the journey.

Can you keep a secret? I totally thought Wild Things was hella phat!

Image by Columbia Pictures/Mandalay Entertainment via IMDB

Wild Things is the kind of movie that just reeks of the 90s. It makes me feel super nostalgic for being a teenager and not having to worry about rent or work or any of the other traumas that my life continues to produce. The music and the design and the plot and the wardrobe are all wonderfully 90s retro, teenager vibe. A movie I can hit "play" on and have those old feelings wash over me and forget the troubles of 2020. But what did you think? Have you seen it? Let me know in the comments! Watch it if you haven't seen it, you can see where it's streaming at Just Watch.

I didn't want to go back to 1990 so soon, but the other night I saw that it was on HBO streaming and HAD to watch it. So next time, we go to outer space and into the world of animation for a look back at 1990's Jetson's: The Movie. Is Jetson's totally outergalatic? Or does it fall into a black hole? Find out next tine!