There are those psychological thrillers that border the horror genre that work. Se7en, Copycat, and Identity are ones that come to mind when I think of the best that Hollywood has offered us in the past. Some may even argue film like SAW and AMERICAN PSYCHO can be added to that mix as well. But then you have the direct to DVD psychological thrillers which litter rental store shelves, some are good, but most are bad or just alright. In the case of Anamorph, despite it’s decent cast the film falls into that alright to bad category.
ANAMORPH stars William Dafoe as Stan, a detective working on a case that is very familiar to one that he worked on in the past. The serial killer this time however seems to be copying the work of the man that Stan helped put away years ago, and being on the case is brining out echoes of the past. The killer is an artist, but his terms in the way in which he does his art is not very kind to the people he uses. The killer uses human subjects after he kills them of course and makes them into odd sculptures using all the parts of their bodies. But the killer has an agenda and is not killing people for the love of his art. Stan is who he is really after and as Stan draws closer and closer to finding out who the killer is, he finds himself getting deeper and deeper into the mind games that the killer is slowly dragging him into his next work of art.
The thing with ANAMORPH is that it starts off very slow and the plot stay slow thought-out the entire viewing. It’s not until the very end that the story starts to get exciting and by the time the film comes to a conclusion that great scene of suspense is over. The acting is where the films strong points come from the character development is pretty good and with an actor such as Willian Dafoe in the lead role you can’t go wrong. His performance alone is what made the film worth it’s time. But I can’t give Dafoe all the credit, Surprisingly enough Scott Speedman gives one of his best performances as the cocky partner of Dafoe characters. The film also star Clea DuVall, Peter Stormare and James Rebhorn to round out the cast. The film also had some great production value, especially when it came to the human art in the film. There are some pretty decent make-up effects in the film, although we really don’t get something that gore filled, we do get a sense that the film took it’s ideas from the film SE7EN in terms of look and style.
Overall, I can’t say that there is anything special to say about ANAMORPH, it just another basic serial killer psychological thriller to add to all the other ones that are out there. The story is very slow paced, and it’s a film that has a story that displays something that we’ve all seen before. There is nothing original about the film that makes it stand out among the rest. However, I’m not going to sit here and say that the movie is bad. It’s not, but it’s nothing great either. At best I think many people will come away saying that ANAMORPH is alright, but nothing great; and that’s what it is. To me it’s nothing special, but it’s alright. Nothing more, nothing less.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
