"Killer Assistant" develops an obsession theme based on a new male assistant assigned to Suzanne Austin, the high-octane editor of a women's magazine. The young man, David Baranis, brings a good skill set to the job. He also brings a psychopathic dimension that Suzanne is slow is recognizing with fatal consequences.
The main drawback of the film is its unpleasantness. There is far too much violence and too many good people who are murdered. Another shortcoming was the scene in the middle of the film when Suzanne has a one-nighter with her assistant. In the logic of the film, it was not credible that Suzanne would be attracted to David or that she would be unfaithful to her husband David, despite his own womanizing.
The result is a film in which Suzanne turns into a kind of Mrs. Robinson, a married woman who has a superficial erotic connection with a younger man that drives the narrative. The performances were uniformly excellent with the dynamic Suzanne, who has a problem with her temper, and young David, who is quite the charmer on the outside and a total nut case on the inside.
The production values of the film were superb with the outstanding California coastline locations, good set-ups, and an interesting variety of camera angles. There were all-around good performances from the cast. The only drawback was the unpleasantness due to the high body count. Some of the situations in which the deaths occurred were grotesque. Couldn't the screenwriters have developed more of the cat-and-mouse game between Suzanne and David with out such a high mortality rate?
The main drawback of the film is its unpleasantness. There is far too much violence and too many good people who are murdered. Another shortcoming was the scene in the middle of the film when Suzanne has a one-nighter with her assistant. In the logic of the film, it was not credible that Suzanne would be attracted to David or that she would be unfaithful to her husband David, despite his own womanizing.
The result is a film in which Suzanne turns into a kind of Mrs. Robinson, a married woman who has a superficial erotic connection with a younger man that drives the narrative. The performances were uniformly excellent with the dynamic Suzanne, who has a problem with her temper, and young David, who is quite the charmer on the outside and a total nut case on the inside.
The production values of the film were superb with the outstanding California coastline locations, good set-ups, and an interesting variety of camera angles. There were all-around good performances from the cast. The only drawback was the unpleasantness due to the high body count. Some of the situations in which the deaths occurred were grotesque. Couldn't the screenwriters have developed more of the cat-and-mouse game between Suzanne and David with out such a high mortality rate?