Wolff rating: NOT BAD
Plot summary: A woman is buried alive, and a really messed up cop is the only thing that can save her.
Biased, pithy comments: You can't tell whether or not to praise this movie for being the first take on the crazed serial killer that seems fresh at times, or damning it for being so much like other movies like it. Did Shepard, with his tiny budget and excellent cast, pull off a neat trick by livening up a dead genre, or did they merely create a cheap homage to ``Silence of the Lambs'' and not get too much wrong? I'm not sure, so I'm going to err low. Tierney is great, although her part is written with enough self-hatred to fill up an entire luggage cart of emotional baggage. Likewise, Brody is all pumped up on himself and is as good as can be expected in the many, many interrogation sequences. What brings you down is some middle-act slowness and a series of implausible details that mount on one another---why would they put Tierney in charge of this when she's drunk and hasn't slept? Why wasn't she wearing her seatbelt during the car chase? Why would they keep giving this psychopath what he wants when he keeps pulling the rug out from under them? Why wouldn't they put a wire on Tierney? Where are the helicopters during the chase? Argh. In general, this movie has two and a half great scenes. One is the beginning, one is the interesting ending, and the rest is a collection of looks on Tierney and Brody's faces as they stare one another down. Perhaps one or two more twists and it would have been awesome; as it is, it's what that pesky ``Millenium'' TV show should have been at its best.
Other Notes: Ending credit about being filmed between torrential rainstorms is fun.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Maura Tierney, Adrien Brody, James Naughton, Laila Robins, Terry Kinney.
Directed by: Richard Shepard