Ah, the horror movie, long a cinematic staple. When you think about it, it's really an oddity that people will willingly pay and subject themselves to be scared. Much like a gut wrenching roller coaster, people enjoy the buildup and tension that accompany such flicks. Perhaps it's because we no longer have to fear the sabertooth tiger or other various beasts that we need, what in essence becomes, a cathartic release.
Speaking of releases, Dimension Films has finally decided, after many delays and scheduling jitters, to open "Nightwatch," its latest entry in the horror genre. Of course the true litmus test of whether it should deserve to fall into that category depends on how well it manages to tap into our universal fears and then scare the wits out of us.
In the past we've had movies based on people's fears of demonic forces ("The Exorcist"), haunted houses ("The Haunting"), being eaten alive ("Jaws"), and the latest Pauly Shore movie ("Biosphere" -- sorry, couldn't resist). The most recent and prolific entry has been that of the serial killer -- the bogeyman who might just jump out from the darkest shadow with a knife ready to plunge into your...
Well, you get the idea. One of the better fears, however, that's deep-seated in our subconscious is the fear of the dead. No, not of them as monsters, although "Night Of The Living Dead" was quite scary. We're talking about fear of cadavers, morgues, funeral homes and the likes. For whatever reason, humans are the only creatures to fear their own dead. Perhaps it's because only we can sense our own mortality, and seeing dead people quite clearly reminds us of that.
For whatever reason, a movie set at night in a near deserted and quite spooky medical examiner's building is a perfect setup for a horror movie, and "Nightwatch" takes that idea and runs with it. Most everyone gets the heebie-jeebies thinking about morgues, and the idea of being a night watchman who must walk through one every hour is quite unnerving.
The early scenes in the movie are really spooky, what with the old and peculiar night watchman (who's retiring) telling his replacement -- and us -- never to go into certain rooms, or that it's a very good idea to get a radio to calm one's uneasiness. One of the film's most highly effective scenes involves almost nothing happening. As we see the new night watchman's reflection in the window of his booth, something off in the distance -- that's out of focus -- moves just a little bit. Here and there. Back and forth. It's pretty spooky and it goes on for what seems like several long minutes.
The coup de grace, however, comes when the old night watchman comments on some pull cords hanging over every sheet covered body in the morgue. When Martin, played by "Trainspotting's" Ewan McGregor, asks the man what they're for, the reply is "just in case." Well, once we've been told that, we know it's only a matter of time before a certain alarm will go off, late at night, when no one else is around, indicating that one of those cords has been pulled -- by someone, or something. After calling for help and being told he'll have to investigate it alone, the scene gets nerve wracking as Martin slowly walks down the hall, finds the morgue door open, and then sees the swinging pull chord.
Then, quite suddenly, the spooky stuff stops and movie quickly degenerates into a run-of-the-mill, serial killer flick, all of which is quite disappointing considering the "fun" beginning. Of course, the warning signs of the pending decline were there all along in the shape of an overabundance and overuse of really scary music, particularly when nothing scary was occurring quite yet. Plus, we know right from the onset that this isn't a supernatural story due to the montage scenes during the opening credits that hint at the prospect of a serial killer.
The movie could have survived this change, had the execution been competent, but unfortunately it's not. While the filmmakers have thrown some red herrings into the mix in an attempt to keep us off balance -- including one that becomes just way too obvious to fool anyone -- there just aren't enough possibilities or suspects present to make this a thrilling "who's the killer" story.
Although writer/director Ole Bornedal has simply remade his own 1994 Danish film, "Nattevagten" (with some co-writing from Steven Soderbergh of "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" fame), he's missed some great opportunities by not making Martin one of the suspects, or, if not him, further presenting the fact that he may just be inhaling too much formaldehyde and is slowly losing his mind.
While Bornedal momentarily plays with that notion just a bit, it's wiped out by the implausibilities that follow. For instance, after Martin follows a long, bloody trail down and around and through the corridors, he finds a corpse propped up against the wall. Granted, we realize someone dragged the body there (which isn't as scary as it getting there on it's own, but we're beyond that possibility now), but after he reports it they return to the scene to find nobody (get it?) there. Weird? Perhaps. Ludicrous? Absolutely. Are we supposed to believe that the killer put the body back and cleaned up hallway after hallway of blood stained floors in a short period of time?
Apparently so, and the film just keeps more preposterous after that. The highlight -- or "lowlight" as it may be -- is when the police finally believe Martin is the killer and go to arrest him. Yet, since it's nighttime, do they head off to the morgue where they know he's working, or do they waste some time going to his place first? Time that, quite obviously, the killer uses to threaten Martin and his girlfriend. Granted, there are the standard "clever" matters the killer has taken to make sure everything falls into place to indict Martin, but he then decides to wait to kill someone until later on, that, of course, becomes his eventual undoing.
Ewan McGregor ("A Life Less Ordinary" and the upcoming "Star Wars" prequel) is effective and believable in his role, but certainly less charismatic than in his most recent outings. Nick Nolte ("U-Turn," "48 Hours") delivers just an okay take as the detective with a shady background, but for the most part he's underused in a weakly written role. Although some of his character's questionable and unbelievable motivation and behavior is eventually explained, his final development is less than satisfying. On the supporting side, Josh Brolin ("Mimic," "Flirting With Disaster") is deceptively good as the friend with a quest for risky adventure, while Patricia Arquette ("Lost Highway," "True Romance") is only adequate as the standard scared girlfriend.
While one realizes that this film isn't meant to be a supernatural thriller, the teasing of such material does make one wish there was more to the film than is eventually presented. Although it delivers some "fun" and spooky moments early on, the movie eventually turns into a lackluster and decidedly less than frightening production. We give "Nightwatch" a 4 out of 10.
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