Another look at the Christie serial killer saga starring Tim Roth and Samantha Morton - what could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot as it turns out mostly connected to the name of Craig Viveiros the director. The acting throughout was fine but the director decided to make the whole enterprise in the mode of a horror movie complete with dark lighting, dark sinister music and slo-mo sequences with yet more dark sinister soundscapes. The scenes that worked best had no music at all and were quite sinister enough because of the work and effort the actors had invested in them. Why Mr Viveiros decided that the audience would find it necessary to add a music track and film techniques to tell us what to think is beyond me? I addition to these shortcomings of the director. I must also add that there's almost no detail about the murders - no modus operandi - in fact, no fact! After the second episode I was compelled to look up Wikipedia and learned more in five minutes than I had in two hours. I persevered with the third episode partly so as not to waste the previous two hours but also because I was enticed by Tim Roth and Samantha Morton's performances. But in spite of them the whole experience still left me wishing I'd watched the movie with Richard Attenborough instead. Maybe I will do that anyway.
Review of Rillington Place
