User Reviews

This film was made in 1991, and it is sort of odd. Sharon Stone however, looks great (she is more understated, young and fresh). Steve Railsback ("Helter Skelter", and the more recent "Ed Gein") is strange and menacing.

The film itself has some odd cinematography and sets, including the apartment where Stone is abducted. Sort of a cold, Los Angeles modern look to it. It was marketed as suspense/horror. Probably more suspense/mystery.

Ronny Cox as Stone's psychotherapist and Michelle Phillips as his politician wife, so there is a message somewhere lost in the script. It is not the worst, and Stone looks beautiful, so it's worth a shot. 6/10

After a young woman (Sharon Stone) is attacked in the elevator she meets her neighbors for the first time. One of them has a secret, the other has a crush on her. Her analyst tries to help her over the attack, but when she is invited to a mysterious apartment things get worse and worse.

Not even Ronny Cox could save this film. While Cox is an incredible actor and an amazing presence, this film has a few too many annoying aspects and tends to run a bit long. Sure, there is some suspense, and you need time to build that suspense, but there is a line that divides suspense and boredom, and I think the director may have crossed that line.

There are things to like about the film (besides Cox). The quirky characters, the menacing music... much of the architecture even makes of a good background. I do not happen to be a big fan of Sharon Stone (although Netflix seems to think so, because it has suggested her films more than once now). Some say this is among her best roles. Maybe, I do not know. A good editor good fix this one up nicely.

Scissors is a tense psychological thriller where a disturbed woman (Sharon Stone) is trapped in an apartment by an unseen intruder in an attempt to drive her crazy. This film relied heaveily on Stone's dramatic acting and honestly she created a very believable and sympathetic character. She had to carry this film by herself basically and she pulled it off well.

Angie Anderson (Sharon Stone) gets attacked by a masked man in her apartment elevator. She stabs him with her scissors but he promises to return. She is helped by her neighbors identical twins Alex and Cole Morgan (Steve Railsback). She collects dolls and makes clothes. Psychiatrist Dr. Stephan Carter (Ronny Cox) treats her. She's 26 and sexually frigid. She becomes beset by paranoia and fear. Ann (Michelle Phillips) is the doctor's wife.

The music, the acting and the story is all trying to make an old overwrought sexual-psycho thriller horror. Sharon Stone is playing against type especially considering her later roles. She never fit this shy scared girl even when she was younger. It's really problematic. She is forced to overact. There is no good acting in this by anyone. The music gets kind of annoying which makes the horror thriller not scary at all. There are some weird nightmarish turns. However it comes off laughable to me. It's like the movie takes a detour into the Twilight Zone.

Thriller-author Frank De Felitta expanded Joyce Selznick's story and also directed this low-budget, warmed-over Hitchcock wannabe, its plot originally meant for a TV series. Hysterical, virginal 26-year-old woman (Sharon Stone, pre-"Basic Instinct"), in therapy for her frigidity, is attacked in her apartment elevator by a man with a red beard. Her neighbor, a polite television actor who wears suits, comes to her aid and finds her attractive, but his handicapped twin brother harbors a psychotic side. This is merely the first-half of the plot. The second-half involving Stone in a locked room with no exit is practically a different movie altogether. Quite a comedown for De Felitta, who displays no talent whatsoever for character development or in mounting sequences for suspense--only in stirring his plot with red herrings. This must have been an embarrassment for budding starlet Stone, who has vacant eyes and an artificial-sounding voice. * from ****

Before Sharon Stone hit big with Basic Instinct, she made Scissors - another thriller than gave her what was easily her best role at that time. In it, Stone plays a repressed 26 year old virgin who repairs broken dolls and sees a psychiatrist (Ronny Cox) who keeps trying to free her of her repressed childhood memories. Things take a bizarre turn when she's attacked in the elevator by a red headed man with a beard and she stabs him with a pair of scissors. He leaves, but not before taking her purse and keys. She begins living in fear that, one day, he'll return and finish the job.

Enter a kindly actor neighbor and his invalid creep of a brother who both take a liking to our heroine as her mental stability takes a turn. She's eventually called on to interview for a job at a fancy new loft and ends up locked in, further complicating her already fragile mental state.

There's a lot going on in Scissors and most of it doesn't need to be there. The entire subplot with the two brothers could have been dropped completely since the payoff isn't interesting enough to warrant its inclusion in the first place. Stone is good, especially when she finally starts losing her mind. The final twist is far fetched, but does make some sense in the grand scheme of things. It's just a shame that the movie spends so much time on characters and subplots that feel like they're from a different film entirely.

Sharon Stone plays a disturbed woman who is a virgin and then attacked in an elevator and meets her neighbors played by Steve Railsback as twin brothers. The last part of the film has Stone trapped in an apartment and is slowly driven insane. Definitely a "B" movie with shoddy lighting and several different story lines going on at the same time with really none of them meaning anything. They're just thrown in to try and fool us. The one thing that was impressive was the special effects showing Steve Railsback as twin brothers in the same scene. Its fairly well done. Stone does the best she can with the material thats given her but you cannot blame the director solely. Stone just wasn't that good in certain scenes and at times it becomes downright silly. Vicki Frederick from "All The Marbles" has a role and Clint Eastwoods buddy Albert Popwell (Or Powell) has a part as a cop. Stone bares her impressive breasts for no reason at all which was enough to convince me early on that this was going to be silly and contrived.

I first saw "Scissors" some ten years ago, and I had kept some memories of it when I saw it again on tv. It fulfilled my expectations, as I remembered it as rather interesting, though somewhat far-fetched.

Several reviewers have wondered about the necessity of showing Sharon Stone's beautiful bare breasts. I think it signifies that, though she reacts frigidly to men's advances, her sexuality is nevertheless present and no longer repressed when she is alone. Most writers rightly stress the excellency of the impersonation of Sharon Stone, on her (delayed)way to stardom. However I should like to point out that Steve Railsback, a very underrated actor, is quite remarkable too in the dual role of the neighboring twins. I think the film is worth a 8.

During the opening credits, creepy music plays. It sounds like a giant music box with an orchestra, giving the impression of a children's story, but with an evil twist.

Angie buys the scissors, a style used to cut fabric (but which can also be used for more sinister purposes). Then she visits Mr. Kramer's thrift shop to buy a doll that needs repairing. She doesn't make a living fixing up dolls, because she needs to get jobs through a temporary agency as well, and she says dolls are only a hobby. Quite a hobby--there are so many in her bedroom it looks eerie, and she says she doesn't have room to sleep there. It is never explained how she can afford an apartment in a nice building, though rich parents are mentioned--by someone who doubts they are real.

When she gets back to her building, Angie is greeted by the security guard. A lot of good he does: Angie gets on the elevator and is nearly raped. She stabs the attacker with her scissors, but he leaves with them--and her purse, which has her apartment keys.

Angie goes to her neighbors, who she has never really gotten to know. Alex Morgan is a soap opera actor and really nice. His identical twin brother Cole is a portrait artist and confined to a wheelchair. He seems weird, and so are his paintings, which border on pornography. At one point, Cole confesses that Angie leaves her blinds open.

Throughout the movie, Angie is having difficulty coping with her recent attack. She is already in therapy. Again, someone like her should not be able to afford this. Dr. Carter can do hypnosis and seems like he would be very expensive. Yet Angie sees him a lot and makes very little progress. She is frustrated that he believes she makes up a lot of things.

One day Angie gets a job interview in a building that is mostly under construction. A sign in the elevator directs her to the top floor apartment apparently belonging to the developer. Angie goes in and finds herself trapped inside with no way to communicate (she can't even be heard yelling through the windows, and the two dog walkers who can see her ignore her). That's not all. There's a dead man with what appears to be her scissors in his back, a creepy talking doll, and a bird who keeps saying, "You killed him!" Sharon Stone shows what she is capable of. Angie shows a wide range of emotions, though someone like her wouldn't be expected to experience pure joy or excitement. Not that she couldn't have, but the writers chose to make her mostly troubled.

Steve Railsback does a very good job as well. I didn't realize the brothers were twins, because to me they didn't even look alike. For one thing, Alex wears glasses. But it is Cole that really shows Railsback's talent.

Ronny Cox also does very well as the therapist. And you have to like the folksy Mr. Kramer, who is only in a couple of scenes. And Midnight, Angie's cat, is so sweet and playful!

This isn't really my kind of movie. But it has an interesting mystery and a very strange ending. It's not too violent but almost always slightly on the eerie side. At least the weird music gets replaced with pleasant music in the romantic scenes. I won't say who, but there are several couples and one slightly naughty bedroom scene. Having seen this on broadcast TV, I don't really know how explicit the movie gets.

It's a good thriller for those who like that sort of thing.

Sharon Stone is nearly raped in the elevator of her apartment building, but manages to escape, leading to conflict with twin brothers both played by Steve Railsback.

I'm usually pretty lenient with movies, but Scissors is awful. I really, really didn't like this movie. Sharon Stone's performance is awful, just mind-bogglingly bad. Ronny Cox is just as bad, unusual for two pretty good actors.

The direction is confusing. I never figured out what the movie was trying to convey, it just seemed to be several random encounters after the other. Editing is terrible. A nails-on-a-chalkboard soundtrack is the icing on this horrible cake.

The sole bright spot is Steve Railsback, who turns in a good performance as the two brothers. He gets the 2 stars for this dreck.

Avoid this like the plague. Bad, bad, bad.

If a film could be rated just for ideas, then perhaps i would rate higher than a five. For me, the ratings are all about the overall entertainment value that watching a movie provides... and this film did provide some entertainment! It's definitely a thriller rather than a horror. And in some ways a very simplistic thriller at that. Every character has two dimensions, or sides to their personality. Angie is schizophrenic, there, simple, two sides to a personality. The man across the hall is possibly undecided about whether he wants Angie, or wants to get back with his ex. Another two sides! His ex and his twin brother (another two!) play one role in front of him, and another when with each other! Two's company to be sure! And the list goes on.

The possible calculations of all these two's, allow the movie to traverse its twists and turns without too much friction... it's a thriller, and we don't want to know "who done it?" till the end, right?? So we learn a little about Schizo-Angie's world, and very little it is at that, and then see her plunged into a carefully designed, even designer, nut-ball apartment of hell. And believe me, what goes on would be enough to send anyone schizo, let alone someone already suffering problems! The acting is passable... Stephen Railback does well playing both twin brothers, Ronny Cox plays the same character he always does... oooh, he can look mean when he wants to! And Sharon Stone has her usual moments of smouldering sexuality, determined beauty, and vulnerable perfection which make her performance and her 20-something virginal character acceptable! However, I did spot one rather interesting fish impression... I wonder if she's thought of developing that into a mermaid role or something!!

The complexity of the situation Angie finds herself in is what really makes the film. With thrillers, or horrors, we viewers do need to ask "just how will she get out of that!" And for this low key, low budget film, they certainly made sure we asked the question!

"And what was the point of the scissors?" you ask... well, scissors have points!!

Who saw the script to this mess and handed over money to have it made into a film? My guess: dentists who needed the tax writeoffs.

The sets are cheaper than an SCTV skit. And so is the acting, come to think of it. I've seen more gripping episodes of The Rockford Files.

I bet Sharon Stone hopes nobody ever actually watches this movie. It has el-cheapo 80s written all over it, yet I see it was released in 1991. Was it in the can for a half-decade because nobody wanted to distribute it? Sharon Stone looks like she's about 23, not 33. I wonder whether the producers thought she had attracted just enough attention as the Governator's wife in Total Recall to warrant a limited release of this bowzer.

There are so many things that make no sense and plot points that are completely meaningless. The main supporting actor, Steve Railsback plays twins, but neither of those characters story arcs play a factor in the main storyline or the climax of the film. The acting is so over the top you'd think someone told Sharon Stone this was a comedy. Almost no situation put on screen in this film makes any logical sense. There's a bird in the film and you can see the string attached to its leg that the handler is using to control it. This is definitely a so bad it's good movie, but be warned the score may be the worst I've ever heard and it's bad in a bad way and the movie is at least 15 minutes too long, so even the "good" parts can drag and get tedious at times.

Sharon Stone is a sick girl, scurrying from junk store homewards to her luxury building apartment in New York, where she fights off a recurring rapist in the elevator. Neighbor Steve Railsback plays her wheelchair-bound neighbor and his own twin actor,. Her psychiatrist, Ronny Cox works hard during their sessions, although his wife, Michelle Phillips, who is running for mayor, keeps phoning to say she won't be home.

Miss Stone goes to the sixth-floor office of a developer -- why? The director moved the camera -- where she finds him stabbed to death, and her trapped there because the door handles are disconnected and everything is bolted to the floor. Meanwhile, telegrams go to Railsback and Cox saying she's gone to Oklahoma. Railsback doesn't believe it because her cat is crying.

Anyway, that's the set-up, and besides the cinematic pleasure of watching Miss Stone being tormented -- if that's your idea of a good time -- there's the question of who is doing this and why. That's the mystery component to this movie, to give it an actual plot. Unfortunately for my taste, writer-director Frank De Felitta concentrates so much on the second-hand imagery, from Poe to cheap reproduction furniture, to the good-bad-twin bit, that the structure doesn't matter in this watered-down, almost blodless Grand Guignol.

Filmed in 1990 but looking somewhat older, Scissors emphasises its aura of weirdness and abnormality right from the opening scene with the creepy storekeeper and Angela's collection of damaged dolls. Sharon Stone might not appear obvious casting as a twenty-six year old virgin, frightened of men following a childhood trauma, given hindsight of some of her subsequent roles, but it's a convincing performance in the circumstances, engaging our sympathy for her somewhat kooky character from the off. Steve Railsback is good as the two brothers in the adjoining apartment, indeed I did not realise he was playing a dual role.

Bearing some resemblance to a giallo, with red herrings - and a villain that you could kick yourself for not tumbling to earlier - Scissors held my attention throughout. Wonder if the lengthy middle sequence, with the heroine trapped in a sealed, state-of-the-art show home was suggested by the Diana Rigg Avengers episode The House That Jack Built?

This is a very unknown Sharon Stone movie before she became kind of iconic with BASIC INSTICT. Stone is a trammed girl who locks alone in his apartment collecting scissors and making weird dolls. At the opening, she is attacked by a stranger who attempts to rape her in a elevator but her neighbor saves her. He becomes very interested on her but she just't don't keep him attention. Searching for a job she goes to a good looking, futuristic apartment and suddenly she got lock in there.

There are suspense to feed you even if we have seen this before in films like REPULSION or GASLIGHT. Stone is very good in her role and all the last part in the apartment is very atmospheric and intriguing. The direction is really good and tries to innovate in a very good way. This movie is hard to find so if you find it for any chance try it.

Gorgeous blonde Angela Anderson (Sharon Stone) buys some scissors from a hardware store, despite already owning countless pairs; then she spends $20 on a revolting, knackered old doll fit for a dumpster. Is she crazy? Well, yes, she is, actually - a 26-year-old virgin with deep seated mental issues relating to childhood trauma, her condition only worsening when she is almost raped in a lift by a man with a red beard.

Angela is befriended by nice-guy neighbour Alex Morgan (Steve Railsback), and continues to seek professional help from psychiatrist Dr. Stephan Carter (Ronny Cox), but neither can prevent the young woman from spiralling into madness, especially after she goes to a temp appointment, and becomes trapped in an apartment with a dead body and an accusatory raven.

This film, directed by author Frank De Felitta, would dearly like to be Repulsion with a twist, but De Felitta is no Polanski and Stone is no Deneuve. Each successive scene is worse than the one that precedes it. Stone is so bad that it is no wonder that she had to flash her minge in order to achieve the fame she desired. Railsback is every bit as bad as Stone, doubly so if you take into account that he plays both Alex and his brother Cole (both with terrible hair!). Ronny Cox is far better than this nonsense, but with a script this bad, he cannot do much to make matters any better.

The final act, in which Angie totally loses her marbles, gives Stone ample opportunity to show that subtlety and range really aren't her thing, and De Felitta unveils his ridiculous twist, making an already terrible film even worse.

Scissors is an utterly awful psycho-thriller, but still kinda fun if you have a predilection for really bad movies; I do, hence my far higher-than-it-really-deserves rating of 5/10 (if you don't find z-grade flicks entertaining, take that score and subtract at least three points).