In today's world of CGI, 3-D, and IMAX we as movie fans often forgot the old classic ways and techniques of film. I for one didn't know that films were once done in a method called Duo Vision. Until the other night while I was watching TCM late I saw this cult classic from 1973 titled "Wicked, Wicked". The method or technique is interesting and so informative as you the viewer see scenes on both the left and right of the screen. Almost it's like a good foreshadowing method as you see a preview of what's about to come on one screen side while drama and suspense occurs at the same time on the other side of the screen.Neat and a lot of visual displays for a film which some may like or others may not still I for one liked the way it provided clues. Aside from the duo vision the setting and story of this low budget film which featured no name actors and actresses made this film enjoyable and fun entertainment. As you watch you may feel like it has themes and elements of Hitchcock's "Psycho" written all over it. It takes place at a California beach side hotel where oddly and strangely the beautiful women who check in disappear and are later found dead. A hunk of a P.I. type is on board to investigative as this along with the film's creepy music make it interesting and suspenseful to watch.And most telling and entertaining in the split scenes are the revealing ones of the masked stalker who with all of his victims begins at first his pleasure as a pepping tom who like any strange quiet secret creep spies on these beautiful women from a hotel balcony window while they undress. Then later in a lame and comical way unlike a gruesome horror film, the beauties are stabbed to death with a knife. Really along the way you figure it out the young hotel boy is the creepy pepping tom stalker killer.Overall "Wicked, Wicked" wasn't a big box office classic that earned a lot of money, yet it's an entertaining cult classic for the way it was done with a unique technique of duo vision! Who would have thought we would have the CGI, 3-D, and IMAX that we have today. So really the atmosphere and story is enough to keep you interested in this cult mystery suspense thriller and it's to be respected for it's classic method of duo vision. So clearly "Wicked, Wicked" is a must see for any film historian or student of film.

Geeky misogynistic psycho electrician Jason Gant (nicely played with convincing awkwardness by Randolph Roberts) has a nasty habit of picking off lovely blonde lady guests who check in, but never check out of the swanky California seaside resort hotel he works at. Jason plans on killing spunky lounge singer Lisa James (ravishing drive-in movie goddess Tiffany Bolling in peak sultry and spirited form) next. It's up to shrewd and dashing house detective Rick Stewart (a smooth and suave performance by David Bailey) to stop the wacko before it's too late. Writer/director Richard L. Bare and cinematographer Frederick Gately make extremely inspired, inventive, and even downright ingenious use of split screen throughout almost the entire picture; they also further tart things up with a few freeze frames, a couple of superimpositions, and several sepia-tinted flashbacks which explain how Jason become a dangerously demented homicidal lunatic (yep, he was molested by some evil hag woman). Bare manages to milk a good deal of tension from the tongue-in-cheek premise, maintains a constant brisk pace, adds a generous sprinkling of cool touches (a weird old lady organist plays gloomy music cues from "The Phantom of the Opera" and Jason uses a dumbwaiter and the hotel's elaborate ventilation system to sneak around), and tosses in occasional witty moments of amusing sardonic humor (for example, a longtime hotel resident claims she was once a successful ballet dancer, but we're shown that she worked as a tawdry go-go gal at some sleazy dive instead!). The sound supporting cast helps a lot: Scott Brady as gruff, brutish Sergeant Ramsey, Edward Byrnes as swinging playboy lifeguard Hank Lassiter, Arthur O'Connell as grumpy handyman Mr. Fenley, Diane McBain as Jason's first victim Dolores Hamilton, Roger Bowen as stern, uptight manager Simmons, and ubiquitous exploitation feature regular Patrick Wright in a quick uncredited bit as an abusive jerk. Moreover, it's a total treat to see the gorgeous Bolling heartily belt out the insanely groovy theme song while slinking about on stage in a sparkly sequin dress. Philip Springer's spooky-moody score hits the atmospheric spot. The supremely macabre, gripping, and thrilling conclusion is executed with considerable style and gusto. An incredibly fun flick with a gnarly visual gimmick.

Not a bad concept but the movie gives away the mystery of the killer way too soon. It has short tugs of predictable suspense, although it was watchable. The most engaging moments are when one side of the screen tells the true story behind the words of those on the other side, sometimes humorously. More of that might have made this a cult hit but it takes itself a bit too seriously. When the two shots do work for suspense, it is undercut by an organ score taken directly from the silent Phantom of the Opera. It reminded me of those 70s Vincent Price movies like Theater of Blood that assumed the audience was better knowing more.It IS a testimony to 1973 fashions and hairstyles. Tiffany Bolling was actually very good, appearing in scores of good TV series and movies before and after. I suspect she was one of the talented, beautiful women who just never found the big break. She certainly was a bright spot (along with Madeline Sherwood in a juicy supporting role). Randolph Roberts did what he could for his role, a star turn in a bigger budget feature and you can see him working at it. He needed another few roles to solidify and make a name for himself but sadly found bigger fame as Ritchie's original brother Chuck Cunningham, banished to college, in the first few Happy Days TV series.Also, the title song, performed by Miss Bolling (Wicked, Wicked), sounds like it was written years earlier and even then, it wouldn't have been a hit. The women's lib oriented song 'Be Myself' was also out of place, but Bolling was belting away, bless her. The Hotel Del Coronado looked fantastic all the way through. It was a great backdrop and was only used as well in Somewhere in Time. The film suggests that there are hidden rooms and floors to the Coronado and I'd love that to be true. Be forewarned - there is a scene of child molestation tucked away in there.

OK, if you've heard anything about this movie, it's that the entire thing is in split-screen. 1970 was in the period when movie gimmicks were dying; William Castle had turned to producing with "Rosemary's Baby" and given up directing, 3-D was dead, and the audience participation concept was eradicated. "Wicked Wicked" must have been a nice return to the selling gimmick. Only this time, you didn't get items as a gimmick (bloody axes, 3-D glasses, plastic coins, barf bags), the whole movie viewing experience was a gimmick. Unfortunately, the makers of the movie thought that the split-screen effects would make "Wicked Wicked" a great film. In fact, it's just the opposite.I have always loved the idea of split-screen techniques used in movies (employed heartily by Brian dePalma for "Carrie", "Dressed to Kill", and others) and jumped at the chance of seeing this when I heard of the gimmick. Here's the final verdict: fun to watch, just don't take it seriously. The plot is flimsy (a murderer is stalking a hotel) and most of the acting horrible. But how can a movie go wrong with Tiffany Bolling in the cast? Beautiful blonde Tiffany Bolling spends half the movie in a black wig, the other with her gorgeous blond locks playing a lounge singer stalked by the killer. This woman steals the show, just like she does in "Kingdom of the Spiders" and "The Candy Snatchers". The music is atmospheric and makes for great background music, but is finally pushed to the point of head-splitting annoyance!If you enjoy split-screen and Tiffany Bolling, watch the movie. If not, you will probably find the whole thing tedious (which most of it is) and a cheap attempt to win an audience. Doesn't work a horror film, but will definitely win a larger cult if MGM just releases this on video (likewise with "Night of the Lepus" and "Private Parts"!).