StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Connianatu How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Benas Mcloughlin Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

jarrodmcdonald-1 This morning I watched VICKI, Fox's reworking of I WAKE UP SCREAMING. It is one remake that does not come close to the original, in my humble opinion. It's a shame, too, because a good cast is assembled-- Jeanne Crain, Jean Peters, Richard Boone, etc.The greatest problem: they all over-act, even Crain who usually is much more restrained in her other pictures. She can't even pick up the phone and say 'yes' or 'I'll be right down' without heavily breathing every word, and over enunciating every syllable. And we have countless interrogation scenes that wind up with the characters screaming, sometimes screeching, just because they're told they did something they obviously did not do. We get hysterical rants from more than one person on the hot seat shouting 'THAT'S NOT TRUE! I DID NOT DO IT!' I can only imagine how many words in the script were typed in all capital letters and underlined, followed with goodness knows how many exclamation marks.As if the characters throwing hissy fits was not enough drama for the viewer, we are also treated to plenty of door slamming. It's one moment after another of over-gesticulated posturing. Though, strangely, the death scene, where Crain discovers Peters' body is underplayed. That is when you would expect a girl to get hysterical upon learning her sister has been murdered in cold blood. Instead, she quickly turns away and the scene that plays out is about the other guy in the room trying to convince her of his innocence. Forget the lifeless body on the floor, that part of the plot is over.But these issues aside, the biggest stretch in this story is the way the detective (played by Boone) oversteps his authority. In one scene he is watching the innocent suspect sleep in bed. Never mind the fact that he is breaking and entering, or is there without a warrant. He wants to listen to whether or not the other guy will mumble a confession in his sleep. Plus there are many other scenes where the detective ruthlessly hounds Crain and anyone else he wants to cast suspicion over. I would think that such harassment would be against the law.Then we get to a scene late in the picture where the switchboard operator admits he was in the room when Peters was killed. Not too astonishingly, he was in the closet. And he gets all worked up when he thinks Vicki is still alive. His eyes bug out to the point they are like golf balls glued on to his face. He then sobs pathetically on the counter before they haul him out.Of course, as anyone who has seen the original film knows, the switchboard operator is not the true culprit. We cut to a concluding sequence in Boone's apartment where our trusty detective is found to have built a shrine to the late ingenue. And once again, where we would expect dramatic fireworks, we instead get a very underplayed bit of business with him mourning softly while holding flowers and admitting his heinous deeds.What's truly heinous is that Fox attempted to remake a film that was perfectly fine in the first place and needed no updating. And that a cast of great performers is reduced to pitiful contrived camp. The fact that this remake was produced at all and turned out as poorly as it did is the real crime.

moonspinner55 Billboard and print model is found dead in her apartment; the New York City police get busy interviewing suspects, though the lieutenant on the case has personal reasons for wanting to find the killer. Steve Fisher's novel "I Wake Up Screaming" (its original title uncredited here, perhaps because it was already filmed as such in 1941 with Betty Grable), gets a strictly minor-league treatment this time, with nearly every actor on-board over-compensating for the uncertain script with pushy performances. Jean Peters, who looks like Jessica Walter and talks tough like Susan Hayward, is an odd choice to play the doomed, would-be starlet; Peters isn't the wide-eyed innocent/hash-slinging waitress the plot suggests, instead coming on with both barrels loaded. As her sister, Jeanne Crain has more of the Cinderella quality Peters should be projecting, and hers is the only substantial acting job in the picture. Playing the gruff, snarling lieutenant, Richard Boone is way over-the-top, as is Aaron Spelling in an hysterical role as a wormy desk clerk. Just silly enough to be watchable, though it is never explained why glamorous Vicki is living in that dumpy apartment--nor how her photograph pre-death has managed to land on the cover of every single magazine at the newsstand. ** from ****

edwagreen Richard Boone steals the show here as a completely demented cop. He screams at everyone while harboring a deep secret of resentment.The picture starts with a picture of the murdered Vicki on the wall. I immediately thought of 1944's "Laura," but it was not meant to be.The picture offered Eliot Reid, a usual second-hand jerk in films, the opportunity of a life-time in playing a Broadway promoter, hounded by Boone as the major suspect in Vicki's murder.Boone is a cross between Inspector Javers and the Columbo characters. He screams and is vicious in his ways of trying to obtain the truth. Truth is he knew the real story here and covered it up to get revenge on the man he thought took Vicki away from him. This is where the picture falls apart- the completely off-the-wall cop is hard to swallow yet alone fathom.Jeanne Crain stars as Vicki's sister, but the plot does her in as well as the picture. Interesting to see Max Showalter in a small role as a newspaper writer. He co-starred with Peters in "Niagara" and was memorable in "With A Song in My Heart," as well as a one-scene stealer as the deaf mute whose hearing is restored in "Elmer Gantry."

SonomaSailor Like most remakes, this one is a poor imitation of the original, primarily due to some unfortunate casting, especially in the choice of Elliot Reid in the role of Steve Christopher (originally Frankie Christopher, played by Victor Mature). Richard Conte might have been a better choice. There is virtually NO chemistry between Crain (who plays Jill, Vicki's sister) and Reid, which makes her desperation to prove Christopher innocent of Vicki's murder fall rather flat.Although Boone makes a credible attempt at the 'obsessive creepiness' of Ed Cornell, it is certainly short of the outstanding performance of veteran 'creepy character' actor, Laird Cregar in the original.The same can be said of the choice of Aaron Spelling (makes you see why he went into producing and gave up acting) as Harry Williams, played by Elisha Cook, Jr. in "I Wake Up Screaming".All in all, not worth the time to watch this pale by comparison retread unless, like myself, you just want to make your own judgments on the differences between the two films.