Check out these clips of Captivity.
A lot of talent went in to the making of CAPTIVITY and a fair amount of controversy heralded its arrival in cinemas. Talk about much ado about nothing! The talent in question? The cast is headed by Elisha Cuthbert, a sexy and capable actress who was excellent in both THE QUIET and GIRL NEXT DOOR. Behind the scenes lurk cinematographer Daniel Pearl (of both TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE movies), who knows more than most how to shoot claustrophobic, sadistic horror ; slumming director Roland Joffe, who would probably like everyone to remember that he once directed THE KILLING FIELDS ; and co-screenwriter Larry Cohen, who was once one of the most interesting and imaginative writers working regularly in the horror field.
And what of the controversy? The movie doesn’t come out in the U.S. until the 13th of July (three weeks behind its UK debut), but After Dark’s original advertising campaign, which focused entirely on the victimization of the heroine, has already caused a furore and as a result was replaced by something less in-your-face nasty. In the U.K., CAPTIVITY’s release within weeks of HOSTEL PART II and VACANCY (also coinciding with the banning of Playstation game MANHUNT 2) inspired some minor notoriety driven by The Daily Mail’s predictable outcry against the so-called “torture porn” cycle.
Sadly, all this fuss turns out to surround a tired, uninventive movie with the distinct whiff of old-hat about it. Alleged post-wrap re-shoots of around one third of the film to bump up the horror content have certainly resulted in a nasty little flick, but it’s also disjointed and drearily one-note. Surely a variation on LADY IN A CAGE for the SAW generation should have yielded more thrills than this can muster?
Admittedly, some tension is generated in the largely wordless opening stretch. The pic sidesteps characterization – all we learn about Cuthbert is that she loves her dog and looks yummy in a low-cut top – in favor of plunging its super-model protagonist into a nightmare scenario almost straight away. Held captive in what appear to be left-over sets from the SAW franchise, she is the latest “trophy” for the personal entertainment of a voyeuristic sadist who tortures and torments her in an elaborate arrangement of sub-Jigsaw devices and films her every move on hidden cameras. Cuthbert’s only source of hope is hunky fellow prisoner Daniel Gillies.
Cuthbert, who was brutalized in 2005’s HOUSE OF WAX and kidnapped almost every week on 24 in similarly skimpy outfits, has nothing to work with. Quite why the actress took on such an under-written, reactive role – with some standard Final Girl aggression at the very end – is as puzzling as the credibility-straining decision her character makes to sleep with Gillies despite being in the midst of the most harrowing experience of her life.
CAPTIVITY is hackneyed every step of the way, from the familiar mise en scene (creepy broken dolls, black gloves and chilled severed limbs abound) to the killer’s scrap books and the rushed, mundane ending. The oldest chestnut to drop from this particularly weary cinematic tree is the revelations of child abuse suffered by the film’s loopy pair of killer siblings (one of them played by a sorely wasted Pruitt Taylor-Vince) – abuse somehow documented on videotape (!) just so the audience can observe it without the need for flashbacks.
At least CAPTIVITY delivers in the gore stakes. The amount of depravity and splatter pales in comparison to SAW III but still far exceeds the limits that R-rated pictures once adhered to. Enlivening the proceedings to the point of watchability are shotgun castrations, impromptu dental surgery with pliers and an acid bath. Some of the gore, however, is so self consciously extreme and OTT that it verges on the laughable : notably the scene in which Cuthbert is force-fed via a funnel a tasty blended concoction of eyeballs and ears.
– Steven West
- 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
