Hexed

''Hexed'' is a 1993 American black comedy film starring Arye Gross, Claudia Christian, Adrienne Shelly, and R. Lee Ermey, and written and directed by Alan Spencer, best known as the creator of the satirical TV series ''Sledge Hammer!'' The film centers on a nebbish hotel clerk who is also a pathological liar that falls in love with a supermodel, unaware that she is a psychotic murderess and escaped mental patient. The movie was filmed in Dallas and Fort Worth and was a negative pickup. Director and writer Alan Spencer expressed disappointment he was not given full creative control and was forced to film the movie on a tight schedule when the studio substantially slashed the budget mere weeks before filming began and removed fifteen days from the shooting schedule. Afterwards, major edits, reshoots and musical substitutions changed the tone of Spencer's intended film which still turned a profit despite little or no publicity. Critical appraisal of the film has changed over time and it's now considered a cult film as well as "comic gem" with Claudia Christian's uninhibited portrayal as an "over the top psycho-ex" drawing praise.

Plot

A socially awkward clerk, who is also a pathological liar, attempts to fulfill a fantasy with a supermodel who happens to be visiting the hotel in which he works, unaware that she is also a pathological liar and a psychotic murderer.

Cast

* Arye Gross as Matthew "Matt" Welsh
* Claudia Christian as Helen "Hexina" Spears
* Adrienne Shelly as Gloria O'Connor
* R. Lee Ermey as Det. Ferguson
* Ray Baker as Victor Thummell
* Michael E. Knight as Simon Littlefield
* Robin Curtis as Rebecca
* Norman Fell as Herschel Levine

Development

Sony Entertainment made an overall deal with Alan Spencer in 1991 with an emphasis on television, but Spencer wanted to try his hand at features. As part of the deal, Sony acquired a screenplay penned by Spencer from Weintraub Entertainment Group entitled ''Shattered Nerves''. Spencer was attached to direct.
Spencer's manager Bernie Brillstein signed on as an executive producer with the aim of casting one of his star clients, including current and past ''SNL'' cast members, in the male lead. Spencer always intended the role of the psychotic supermodel to be played by Claudia Christian and, much like his casting of David Rasche as Sledge Hammer, would not accept anyone else for the part.
With a regime change looming at Columbia Pictures, Brillstein advised Spencer waiting for the availability of A-list performers could risk losing the film, so the film was greenlit as a negative pickup with the production budget reduced from an already low 5 million to 2.5. Actor Arye Gross was cast as Matthew Welsh who, while not a comedian, had played in some comedy films.

According to Spencer, the new studio regime would have canceled the film if not for the involvement of Bernie Brillstein due to this being the last project greenlit by the previous administration and the absence of bankable stars. The then current administration nevertheless kept throwing monkey wrenches into the production that Spencer navigated around.

Production

During pre-production in Texas and three weeks from shooting, Spencer learned the assigned producers failed to secure the primary location of a hotel where the majority of the film took place. Also, the Holiday Inn chain refused to sign off on a story depicting one of their clerks creating havoc and "jeopardizing hotel patrons". Again, the film was in jeopardy. Along with the line producers, Spencer met with the owner of an abandoned hotel property and a deal was struck to shoot there. The hotel name was changed from "Holiday Inn" to the fictitious "Holiday Palace" instead.

After a member of the previous regime criticized the current studio administration, a Columbia production executive reduced Spencer's budget to under a million dollars by removing two weeks from the shooting schedule. Brillstein warned Spencer he was in for "a rough ride," required to hands on produce with limited resources as well as direct for the first time, and recommended walking away since the writer/director had a "pay-or-play" contract. Spencer declined since the crew had no such guarantees, putting them out of work before Christmas.
Forced to cut more corners than planned, the producer's catering budget did not provide enough food on the first day of filming. Spencer quelled a mutiny by personally paying for pizzas and fried chicken, vowing it would not happen again. When the production was forced to shoot double overtime, Spencer paid out of pocket for a wedding caterer to provide a full buffet and received a standing ovation from the crew.

Production initially stayed on schedule when the studio learned this was Spencer's first time directing. "They assumed I'd directed television, but I'd only produced. They found out I was a first time director because they never bothered to ask." Production began to fall behind due to recurrent problems such as on camera vehicles not working, inclement weather and interiors shot too close to a noisy airport. One of the studio executives regularly called Spencer at night to berate him causing him to lose sleep. This stopped after the exec entered rehab.
After two Columbia execs visited the location, they begrudgingly admitted Spencer deserved "combat pay." The film's frenzied finale had originally been scheduled to shoot over two nights, but was instead filmed in one. Using multiple cameras, the final shot was completed right before sunrise.

Differing Versions

To the surprise of Columbia executives, Alan Spencer's first cut of ''Hexed'', which he had retitled to place more emphasis on Claudia Christian's character, tested well with an audience during its first preview screening. The studio took more interest in the film, even allowing Spencer to craft a well-received trailer, but began changing the content and tone of Spencer's movie.
Analyzing the test scores, a vice-chairman opined to Spencer how the sophisticated humor appealed to older audiences while the broader comedy worked for young people which was the target audience. According to Spencer: "The first preview went really well, but young people liked it better than the older set, so the executive in charge, a man who learned to read off tattoos, decreed that all the intelligent stuff and kitschy music had to go with an emphasis instead on the broader stuff. That meant manually inserting rock songs that had nothing to do with the film. Originally, it opened with the theme from "Valley of the Dolls" which made a satirical statement, and the adults in the first preview audience roared, but the kids didn't... so they rejiggered the film towards youth. The exact words from this exec were: "We need to make this more lowbrow." Also excised were literary references, political humor and a sequence wherein Norman Fell's character recites Shylock's speech from ''The Merchant of Venice''. Spencer was told to remove a pointed dig at Sony's electronics, but it remains in the film.
A new happy ending was shot. In Spencer's original version, the character of Matthew is framed, convicted and sent to the electric chair. Only after the end credits rolled was it revealed the entire film was Matthew's bad dream after he had had fallen asleep behind the front desk. The movie was also marketed as a spoof of ''Fatal Attraction'' and ''Basic Instinct'', which it was not.
After the film's perfunctory debut, Spencer negotiated for an early release from his overall deal, dovetailing the experiences of his friend Marty Feldman whose first film was also drastically revised. Feldman left Universal Studios as a result.

Reception

Not included in this score are original positive reviews or revised opinions from a subsequent DVD release.
Marketed as a parody, ''Hexed'' drew harsh reviews, but also occasional positive notices. A few perceptive critics noted how the film seemed compromised.
Owen Glieberman of ''Entertainment Weekly'' gave it a grade D-., but Jeff Mennel in the ''Hollywood Reporter'' wrote: "’Hexed’ is a little bit ‘Airplane’ and a touch of ‘High Anxiety,’ but it's all Alan Spencer. Spencer has concocted a fun, offbeat, uneven murder comedy that is stop-and-go in its delivery... ‘Hexed’ certainly has its share of narrative flaws, but they're worth putting up with for the wealth of laughter."
Movie Guide, a website devoted to Christian film reviews, offered a positive review whilst chastising the film’s morals: "HEXED is an occasionally funny parody of erotic thrillers (BASIC INSTINCT, 9 1/2 WEEKS & FATAL ATTRACTION) that goes too far. With porno bedroom scenes, corny violence and its mockery of religion and family values, the movie stretches beyond the limits of good taste and decency."
An over the top excoriating review appeared in ''Fangoria'' and was repurposed in ''TV Guide'': "This grotesque travesty is the work of Alan Spencer (himself a veteran of sitcoms, including the well-reviewed, shortlived "Sledge Hammer!")... Christian, who's proved a solid actress in B movies like MANIAC COP 2, is given what must be one of the most demeaning women's roles in film history. Hexina is every feminist's worst nightmare of a vicious, sex-crazed bitch who deserves the bashing she ultimately gets..." The author of this review went on to direct ''Sharknado'' and Alan Spencer makes funny, rueful mention of this on his acclaimed Blu-ray commentary for ''Theatre of Blood'', a black comedy about vicious critics getting comeuppance.
''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'' gave ''Hexed'' two stars and called it "hit and miss and at worse terrible, but at least it's not bland. Christian as the model is a stitch."

References

External links

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* {{Mojo title, hexed

1993 films
1990s English-language films
1990s sex comedy films
1990s parody films
1990s erotic thriller films
American satirical films
American comedy thriller films
American black comedy films
American sex comedy films
American erotic thriller films
American independent films
Columbia Pictures films
1993 independent films
1990s satirical films
1990s American films