While I love how the episode is edited and paced (director
Badham certainly doesn’t keep his camera still or the story’s characters from
constantly moving), the voodoo revenge story—wealthy Briton Atwater (“The
Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”) is humiliated on his wedding day by fiancé Strasberg
who jilts him for former lover, Rey, and seeks to get revenge on the guy for
intruding on what was supposed to be a merry day, full of happiness—is really
simple and basic. I think wild and free, feisty Strasberg—like a mustang who
refuses to be tamed—and worldly and hot-blooded Rey—who doesn’t have Atwater’s
money or could offer Strasberg the comforts of affluence but does provide
excitement and great sex—are quite a pair, running off together during what was
supposed to be a wedding ceremony, so full of life and like passions. How
Strasberg ever got roped into a potential marriage to Atwater clearly is about
what he would give to her financially while Rey doesn’t propose a secure life
with no worries about the future but has the appeal of unpredictability and
spontaneity. The chemistry is obvious and Strasberg leaps off the screen with
sex appeal…Atwater was in no way a fit for her while Rey and her just look the
part of a couple saying fuck-all to any kind of settling down. I think when you
first see Strasberg, how she seems imprisoned in a white dress, not agreeable
to slippers, walking barefoot, downing a glass of whiskey, her mane of hair
exploding from her head in a free-for-all, it is immediate we can tell that the
culture of Atwater didn’t suit her a’tall. Rey just bursts on the scene,
sweaty, abrupt, not considerate to the social gathering and Atwater’s ilk of
stature, his face unshaven, hair disheveled, clothes worn for days, and it is
clear he’s the right fit for Strasberg. I think their love and chemistry is
off-the-charts throughout the episode and Badham provokes the differences in
what Strasberg and Rey represent as opposed to Atwater, having fashioned a
voodoo doll in likeness of Rey, with hair and nail clippings added so that when
he goes to squeeze, the marks of his fingers actually emerge on the back of the
man he despises for taking the runaway bride from him. Murray Matheson is a
doctor with disagreement in how Strasberg chose to jilt Atwater and Jean Durand
is the West Indies butler of Atwater who tries to stop his boss from further
harming Rey. Rey and Strasberg fleeing on horseback and bringing a dingy
riverboat to life while often kissing and embracing speaks to just why they are
made for each other. 3/5
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