I rented this last night with just the description of the movie on the DVD box cover. The casting was done very well and as the story unfolds of a woman (Rachel Blake) who meets a handsome man (Sam Neill) in a nightclub and proffers herself for the night, the subsequent kidnapping by him to a remote island seemed par for the course for a low budget movie ... but that's where any notion of predictability ends.
The kidnapper's story wasn't a part of this movie. His history and character was left cloaked with mystery. For example, had he done this kind of thing before? And, what was his overall plan? The only thing made clear was that he had stalked her prior to her approaching him for the night and had planned to steal her away. Due to Sam Neill's gentle appearing role in characterization, it became clear he had his own demented agenda of what Melanie (Blake) was supposed to be like, which was displayed by the one act of violently striking her. If he had survived, this movie would have been predictable.
After reaching the island and she fatally wounds him and attempts to keep him alive and to return back to shore dragging his dying body in his boat, she snapped. Even during the attempt of nursing him back to health I had mixed feelings about keeping this creep alive and thus, the movie succeeded in pulling me in further. As a result, this movie is more intriguing and psychological with the focus on the victim and various coping mechanisms. After all, when stuck on an island with no phone, electricity, no boat, no radio, and no seafaring knowledge and no land in sight along the horizon, I ask myself, what would I do? After being stranded and alone on the island she identified with her dead kidnapper and fantasized being in love with him. Along comes Bill (Joel Tobeck) arriving on the island and as mentally insane she had become, he takes her to do the vows, which is yet more oddity than irony. In the theme of how the movie unfolded, it made me wonder if Bill was part of her mental incapacitation and/or means of coping... a blend of harsh realities with self-mental death & horror.
Focus was on the kidnapped victim for this movie, and in such a circumstance and given all the creative juices for this intriguing film, I gave it a 7 rating since it really is more than the standard fare of predictability and typical action genre. This was and is a "deeper" psychological thriller like no other and Blake's performance in carrying out the twists and depths of her changing mind and coping were done superbly. I felt that Sam Neill's performance was harmonious to what the writer was attempting to project and portray. This is a movie that stays with you for some while after watching, and if that was the intent, then it succeeded. Regarding my dustshelf, this would be a movie I may watch again when in one of my psyche modes.
The kidnapper's story wasn't a part of this movie. His history and character was left cloaked with mystery. For example, had he done this kind of thing before? And, what was his overall plan? The only thing made clear was that he had stalked her prior to her approaching him for the night and had planned to steal her away. Due to Sam Neill's gentle appearing role in characterization, it became clear he had his own demented agenda of what Melanie (Blake) was supposed to be like, which was displayed by the one act of violently striking her. If he had survived, this movie would have been predictable.
After reaching the island and she fatally wounds him and attempts to keep him alive and to return back to shore dragging his dying body in his boat, she snapped. Even during the attempt of nursing him back to health I had mixed feelings about keeping this creep alive and thus, the movie succeeded in pulling me in further. As a result, this movie is more intriguing and psychological with the focus on the victim and various coping mechanisms. After all, when stuck on an island with no phone, electricity, no boat, no radio, and no seafaring knowledge and no land in sight along the horizon, I ask myself, what would I do? After being stranded and alone on the island she identified with her dead kidnapper and fantasized being in love with him. Along comes Bill (Joel Tobeck) arriving on the island and as mentally insane she had become, he takes her to do the vows, which is yet more oddity than irony. In the theme of how the movie unfolded, it made me wonder if Bill was part of her mental incapacitation and/or means of coping... a blend of harsh realities with self-mental death & horror.
Focus was on the kidnapped victim for this movie, and in such a circumstance and given all the creative juices for this intriguing film, I gave it a 7 rating since it really is more than the standard fare of predictability and typical action genre. This was and is a "deeper" psychological thriller like no other and Blake's performance in carrying out the twists and depths of her changing mind and coping were done superbly. I felt that Sam Neill's performance was harmonious to what the writer was attempting to project and portray. This is a movie that stays with you for some while after watching, and if that was the intent, then it succeeded. Regarding my dustshelf, this would be a movie I may watch again when in one of my psyche modes.