A ★★★★ review of Blindfold: Acts of Obsession (1994) (2024)

"It's human nature to wanna be something that you're not."

Don't the season one opening credits for Beverly Hills, 90210 make you nostalgic for pop culture from 1990, no matter if you're a fan or if you've never watched the series?

Over the past day I've been thinking about my favorite moments with Brenda Walsh, the many reasons why Shannen Doherty's iconic character was so compelling on that show, and the first images that came to me were from the tenth episode, "Isn't It Romantic?" - written and directed by women, Karen Rosin and Nancy Malone - in which sparks begin to fly between Brenda and Dylan. There's something so fantastic in seeing a teen drama from that era depict the female gaze in Brenda's obvious lust for her crush; he loves the Marx Brothers and wants to take her to see Animal Crackers in a theater for their first date, so who could blame her?

With that sense of desire on my mind, in looking back at the many TV movies that Shannen Doherty made over the years, Blindfold: Acts of Obsession immediately jumped out at me as ideal for my fixation on 90s erotic thrillers. It's got the perfect trifecta: sex + murder mystery + psychiatry! Here, Shannen is alluring young clinical assistant Madeleine Dalton - trust her when she says: she's working on her communication skills and body language is her major - whose marriage to workaholic husband Mike (Michael Woods) is crumbling; she seeks advice in therapy sessions with Dr. Wendell Jennings (Judd Nelson), who is wary when Madeleine describes the "sex games" that Mike often requests she partake in, and even warier when Madeleine pointedly asks her shrink if he's attracted to her. Treading dangerous ground! You know you're bound to encounter a bunch of sex montages - things are really getting heated once you hear pan flute - while at the same time, Madeleine's sister on the local police force, Chris Madigan (Kristian Alfonso from Joshua Tree), is busy tracking down the "Blindfold Killer," a disturbing perpetrator of "perversive activity" possibly connected with the doc. Par for the course, but oh, it's so good.

And so, play me all the hits: Kristian's big hair and glasses, Judd somehow looking very much like a hamster even if I can't explain it (is this part of the hot rodent boyfriend summer that I was promised?), lava lamps, strobe lighting, my all-time nemesis in this genre of TOO MANY CANDLES, Shannen's uncertainty over crossing the line from pleasure to pain, a random guy shouting in a sex club's entrance ("Taste the movement! Hear the light! Sense the passion!") to all who pass through, glow-in-the-dark body painting at said establishment, sexy handcuffs, even sexier ice cubes, and of course the sheer enjoyment of watching Judd Nelson launch himself through a glass door. All the best things that any viewer could ask for, schlock value to the max.

Anyway, thank you for all the entertainment, Shannen. You'll be missed, but on the small screen, you'll always reign supreme.

"You play with fire, you get burned."

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