(1988) ****1/2
Man I just finished this one and I'm still feeling a bit unsettled. This is a tense and disturbing mystery about an abducted woman, her husband who searches for her for 3 years, and the sociopath who took her. Much of the movie is seen through the sociopath's eyes, and it's a chilling performance. At first, I thought of comparing it to Funny Games, but really, this is more conventionally scary.
It's a bit of a cross between Hitchcock and Stephen King--it has the expert tension building pacing of Hitchcock, with a horrifying ending worthy of King's best early stuff.
This makes me 2 for 2 in foreign Criterion editions during Horrorthon, so I'm going to have to revise some of my preconceptions. Maybe I just ran into a lame Fellini at some point.
This trailer doesn't really capture the feel for me, but it's not horrible:
I know there's been a remake (maybe with Sandra Bullock?), so hopefully none of you have had the ending ruined by some inferior copy. Check this one out if you get a chance.
5 comments:
I loved this movie but hated the American remake. Nice review.
Oh, another one to add to the list! Great review!
I've haven’t seen this one, but did see the terrible remake. It was so unentertaining that I don't remember it so the ending won't be soiled for me when I see this version.
The endings are different anyway Whirly.
I LOVE this movie. Once I saw it I would keep thinking of the ending and getting chills, again.
Never saw the remake because I knew it would suck.
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