Film Review: Pendulum (2001)

In 1999 James D. Deck directed New Zealand supermodel Rachel Hunter in Two Shades of Blue, erotic thriller that represented her first starring performances. Two years later Deck and Hunter were reunited on the set of Pendulum, another thriller. Hunter here plays the protagonist Amanda Reeve, tough and hard-working Dallas police detective. She gets reassigned from the case of serial killer who targets street prostitutes to investigate another, much more sensitive case of a murdered law professor. It turns out that the dead man had penchant for offering good grades in exchange for sexual favours. Amanda’s investigation is complicated with her former boyfriend Willliam Cobb (played by William Battaglia) desiring the post of District Attorney, currently held by ambitious Senate candidate Edward Mills (played by James Russo).

Made with low budget, Pendulum featured Dallas setting, which was relatively rare for urban thrillers and made the film look at least a little bit refreshing compared with similar thrillers. However, the film was already compromised with casting of Rachel Hunter who had the proper looks, but whose acting ability left too much to be desired. Despite all her efforts, she still struggled to shrug off her New Zealand accent and sound like proper Texan. Another problem was complicated script that somehow mixed motives of demented serial killers targetting streetwalkers with huge conspiracy that protected rich and powerful. The mystery itself, despite many red herrings, was relatively easy to solve and was telegraphed by casting of James Russo who apparently enjoyed opportunity to ham it up by playing another role of a villain. Pendulum, on the other hand, tried to stand out from similar such films by containing a little bit more gratuitous violence, some nudity and pair of oversexed lipstick lesbians (played by Alaina Hoffman and Stephanie Vogt) as seemingly key element of the case. This approach, based on exploitation content, wasn’t pursued fully and Pendulum remained too serious and too straightforward to become “guilty pleasure”. This might explain why this film one of the more obscure titles in the filmographies of everyone involved.

RATING: 3/10 (+)

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