The Characters: Miriam and Angela
This movie is all about hate and the hate-relationship of Miriam and Angela. It was certainly not easy to play such charcters but both Kerstin Orf as the tormented Miriam and Marlene Marlow as the tortured beautiful Angela did a great job. It was important that Miriam acted out how insulted and hurt she felt when she and Angela were classmates and Miriam was the ugly duckling while Angela was what Miriam always wanted to be, "popular". So Kerstin had to play the part showing all the hate but also playing Miriam as someone who felt extremely hurt. Miriam never thinks of herself as a villainess, she sees herself as Angela´s victim who did steal her boyfriend. From Miriam´s point of view Angela is evil and Miriam punishes her, giving her what she deserves.
Playing the part of Angela certainly also was a difficult task. Angela is kind of a woman Grace Kelly or Veronica Lake used to play, beautiful, cool, beloved and always in control. But here everything is different. Angela is not anmoyre in control, she is now the victium while Miriam is now in control of everything. Angela is the helpless victim, bound and gagged, at Miriam´s mercy. But Angela is not used to be a victim, so even tied up she acts kind of arrogant, still feeling superior and still thinking of Miriam as a person inferior to her. Marlene Marlow played this part absolutely hilarious. Kerstin Orf and Marlene Marlow while shooting created two wonderful characters, Kerstin Orf made Miriam a really frightening character showing what kind of a monster a woman can be in real world, not in a fantasy world what makes this story so awful frightening. Noone is surprised to see evil and hate in a horror movie about horrible monsters but Kerstin Orf succeeded in turning a "normal" young woman in a horrible, frightening monster. Marlene Marlow on the other hand was just perfect playing the beautiful victim in a manner that still let her captor feel how superior she feels. Whenever Angela talks to Miriam she talks to her like a teacher talks to a child but not to anyone she considers her equal. On the other hand Miriam feels strong and totally in power whenever she gags Angela. Miriam enjoys to have Angela tied up but what really makes Angela helpless is when Miriam gags her. Then the beautiful, superior and arrogant Angela really is humiliated. As long as she can speak, Angela can still act brave but the moment she is not only bound but also gagged she really becomes Miriam´s victim. And right here the "normal" storylines change. Usually in most movies the beautiful heroine has all the good lines and the actress who plays a "supporting" role is only allowed to play her part the way to make the star look good. Here, Miriam´s part is not anymoere a "supporting" part but an equal star part and now Miriam has all the good lines while Angela is bound and gagged. However it is amazing how great Marlene Marlow handled this part, managing that even bound and gagged she still does not let Kerstin Orf dominate the scene alone, acting wonderful with her eyes and re-acting this way to Kerstin Orf´s long monologues. Both actresses are wonderful and very convincing in their parts making the many mistakes I made as a very young and inexperiecned producers not be noticed too easily.
Photos: Copyright 1994 by Michael Huck
