Studio Stalker
Elementary school teacher Allie Holton (Jennifer Rubin) finds herself sacked by the school's principal after she acts on suspicions that a young student is being abused. Struggling to find work luck comes her way when Dylan Wiatt (Peter Outerbridge), a freelance photographer, spots her and asks her to model for him which whilst initially reluctant she warms to as she does Dylan. It leads them both to Evelyn Ash (Sally Kellerman) who runs a modelling agency and likes the photos of Allie. But that is when things start to go awry as Allie appears to being stalked, her place is trashed, she receives disturbing messages but worse, people start dying. The question is who is behind this and is Allie going to be the next victim?
"Victim of Beauty" or "Drop Dead Gorgeous" as it is also known is a grade A early 90s TV movie, typical from start to finish and doing the same thing other movies of the era did. As such it is a movie which works on two things and the first of those is Jennifer Rubin as she has the look that draws you in especially the eyes. Whilst the look is important Rubin also is okay at the acting, nothing special but decent enough to handle the role of an attractive teacher who finds herself in love and in the middle of a murder mystery.
That is the other thing as we have a murder mystery, a who's doing it when it comes to all the stalking and murders. That means we have a movie full of clues such as Dylan being stalkerish in the way he takes photos, the power hungry Evelyn and a demanding consultant as well as a lecherous singer. It is extremely typical of the era and the clues are dropped so frequently it is a bit ridiculous but I guess kind of fun as well, when it isn't being cheesy which when it comes to the photo shoots it oozes cheese from every pore.
But the thing is that none of it is amazing as there were a lot of these made for TV thrillers back in the 90s where we have a woman caught in the midst of a series of murders and as such "Victim of Beauty" really struggles to stand out. The look, the drama, the outcome is all stereotypical and that goes for Peter Outerbridge as well who as Wiatt seems to be going for an Andrew McCarthy style performance as well as a similar look.
What this all boils down to is that "Victim of Beauty" is entertaining and in truth an enjoyable 90 minute distraction if you have nothing else to do. But it is only a familiar sort of movie which doesn't stray from the path worn by many other movies from the early 90s.