celebritycrush

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A former child star finds himself the object of a fan’s obsession in this thriller starring and directed by a former child star himself!

In 1985, young Jonathan Blakelee was the star of a horror film called Chain-Mail Clown. He never imagined the film would be a massive hit. On the 40th anniversary of the film’s release, Jonathan and co-star Peter Norvis, who played the titular character, head to a convention for fans to sign the Blu-Ray release of the film. There, Jonathan meets a timid young woman, Emily, who he instantly hits it off with. That night, Jonathan sees Emily at the bar and the two have a one-night stand.

The following morning, Jonathan discovers Emily is a major fan of Chain-Mail Clown and ever since seeing the film as a kid, she was obsessed with Jonathan. When he attempts to escape, she tasers him and puts him in a shed on her property. Emily is obsessed with both Jonathan and the movie She goes as far as kidnap those close to Jonathan and puts them through torture. Jonathan has to find a way to escape this obsessed fan and the house of horrors before he becomes the ultimate prize of her collection.

Remember Oliver Robins, who played Robbie Freeling in the first two installments of the original Poltergeist trilogy? Having sporadically returning to films after a two-decade break, Robins wrote, directed, and stars in this indie horror film about a former child star who is the victim of an obsessed fan. The film is like taking Fatal Attraction, add a dash of The Crush, and add some sequences that are on the level of Saw and Hostel and it is clear that Robins, having been a child star in horror films, knows his stuff.

Shot on location in St. Petersburg, Florida, Robins is great as the adult Jonathan, who goes through the wringer for most of the film having to deal with the madness of his obsessed fan, Emily. As we see Jonathan suffering so much due to Emily’s craziness, we see more trouble not just for Jonathan as we see some of those close to him deal with the issues involving Emily’s obsession with the film. Because as Emily’s obsessed with love for Jonathan, we see her leaning towards hatred towards the co-stars and on top of that, has the intent to bring Jonathan back into the fray. And in a shocking move, Robins hired Jake T. Getman to play the younger Jonathan and the young Getman is a dead ringer to 1980’s Robins.

Alissa Schneider is the other reason to see this movie. As the insane Emily, we find her at first acting all sorts of sweet. However, when her intentions are clear, her performances is that of an amped up version of Glenn Close’s Alex in Fatal Attraction. In fact, she’s even worse than Alex. She goes off the deep end when she asks a cashier at a supermarket if she knew Chain-Mail Clown and she reacts in such a demented way when she gets the negative reaction. Emily “loves” Jonathan so much she goes to great lengths to resuscitate his career when he’s fired by his producer. While Jonathan finds himself down and out, she resorts to the unbelievable to keep him happy, much to his chagrin. She may sound monotonic at times, but it’s the obsession that makes her act and talk like a crazy person! The film made good use of its 78-minute running time.

Celebrity Crush is a wild ride into the world of the former child star and who better to tell the tale than an actual former child star, as Oliver Robins did quite a good job with this film.

WFG RATING: B+

Random Media presents a One B Productions film. Director: Oliver Robins. Producers: Oliver Robins and Michael Baumgarten. Writer: Oliver Robins. Cinematography: Michael Baumgarten and Austin McCurry. Editing: Jeff Rubin.

Cast: Oliver Robins, Alissa Schneider, Jonathan D. Lee, Wade Williams, Peter Craig, Melissa McNerney, Jake T. Getman, Ellah Durliat.