In October 2021 I watched on Criterion the 1990 thriller Bad Influence, directed by Curtis Hanson and looking all slick and cold and remote. James Spader is a spineless yuppie working an analyst job in L.A., and Rob Lowe is this charming stranger whose initial goal is to bring out the dark side in Spader, then wreck his life.
It was funny watching it and seeing Spader play the wimpy victim, likely trying to break out of some typecasting because he would most likely would have been cast as the villain. Rob Lowe worked well in this, I usually found him more creepy than charming, so it worked to that effect.
I liked how the film frequently made use of 80s noir shadow effects, particularly having shadows cast from blinds across Lowe’s face to make him look more evil. And I liked the setting of the late 80s S&M industrial clubs as a backdrop into Lowe’s world.
I could see where Ben Stiller got some ideas for The Cable Guy, a sequence involving a sex tape seems directly lifted from this.
In the included scene, there’s a blink and you miss it appearance by David Duchovny at :46, I hadn’t noticed him in the movie and only saw his name in the ending credits.
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