Scissors (1991) Starring Sharon Stone, Steve Railsback, Ronny Cox, Michelle Phillips, Vicki Frederick, Lary Moss, Austin Kelly Before Basic Instinct, there was "Scissors". Released in 1991, this obscure thriller stars Sharon Stone as the victimized patient of a crazed therapist who drives her to murder. Slight similarities to "Basic Instinct" which was not too far off have been detected. The choice of weapon in Instinct was an icepick, in this film it is a pair of scissors as the title suggests. Sharon Stone delivers a good performance, even though she is in a bad film with very little popularity. Everyone's heard of Basic Instinct but who's ever heard of Scissors ? Sharon plays a weak, traumatized woman whose past was painful. Her father abused her sexually and her mother killed him with a pair of scissors right in front of her eyes. Consequently, she grows into an emotionally and mentally unstable, sexually repressed and frightened person. The hard-up young woman seeks counseling with a therapist who turns out to be the real murderer in a vein similar to Hannibal Lecter only without the cannibalism. The mood is intense and dark and Sharon Stone has several "Mad Scenes" including one in which after murder, a black bird reminds her vocally of the deed. Sometimes, the film is hard to follow as several characters act as if they are the real brains behind the evil. In the end, Sharon Stone finally gets the guts to confront the therapist and locks him up in a building for good. Stone is far from the character she would portray the following year in Basic Instinct. Here, she is shy, unassuming and does not display any nudity and instead wears colorful late 80's buttoned-up clothes. As the movie ends, a variation on the duet from the opera Lakme plays and Sharon Stone rides off in a cab with the only man who truly cared for her. OK. So this no Basic Instinct. This movie falls short on a lot of things. Basic Instinct launched Sharon Stone's career and made her famous. This movie was experimental and Sharon Stone had not yet achieved the status of star. It can be said that this movie is for specialized interests. It's a film for fans of Miss Stone who don't mind what character she plays and in what kind of movie. For thriller fans, however bad the thriller can be or however hackneyed. An early 90's film, it really attests to its time. At one point, Stone looks like Madonna. The eerie and shocking feel of the movie was very typical of the 90's. The 90's would see other such thrillers involving crazed murderers such as Silence Of The Lambs, Misery, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, and Sleeping With The Enemy. Add this lesser thriller into your collection.
Review of Scissors
