DOMINIQUE (1979) **

Director Michael (Logan’s Run) Anderson and producer Milton (The House That Dripped Blood) Subotsky teamed up for this elegant, moody, but kind of empty chiller.  Wealthy wife Jean Simmons thinks her hubby Cliff Robertson is trying to drive her insane.  Eventually, the poor gal hangs herself, but before long, it’s Cliff who starts seeing spooky shit around the mansion.  Is he going cuckoo or is his dead wife really roaming the halls at night?  I guess there’s only one thing to do:  Dig that broad up! 

Dominque is kind of like a mash-up of Gaslight and Diabolique.  (The title even rhymes.)  It’s all fairly straightforward stuff, but Anderson is able to inject a little style into the material to prevent it from feeling too stale.  Some stretches are very staid, like a TV Movie of the Week.  Others have an almost Argento-like use of color.  Unfortunately, it never quite comes together.  

After a fine set-up, the middle section drags far too much.  In addition to the pokey pacing, the script is a bit too predictable for its own good.  I mean it’s one thing for the audience to know exactly where the plot is going.  It’s another thing to make them wait forever to get there.  Even when we finally get there, it’s unnecessarily dragged out ten minutes longer that it had any right being.

Cliff plays his usual evil asshole character.  He does a solid job as the guy you love to hate.  Simmons is okay, if a bit miscast, although she disappears from the story in a hurry. We also have An American Werewolf in London’s Jenny Agutter looking fine, although she isn’t given much to do. 

Dominque isn’t bad exactly.  I didn’t hate it, but I wanted to like it more than I did.  Ultimately, it’s a tad too lightweight to appeal to die-hard horror hounds, but it’s a nice enough effort all the same. 

AKA:  Dominique is Dead.  AKA:  Dominique is Dead… Or is She?  AKA:  Avenging Spirit.