Captivity (DVD)

Jennifer is a busy model dying for a few days off. But her wish comes true in the most unexpected and horrific way. Her drink is spiked at a fancy party and she awakes in a facsimile of her apartment in someone's basement. Her captor taunts her with footage of his other victims and threatens her with all manner of terrifying torture. But she gains solace when she discovers she's not alone; a young man named Gary is also being held in the dungeon. ...
...her and it is up to Jennifer to beat her twisted tormentor at his own game…

I'm not sure what the appeal of the torture movie is; it's a new breed of horror film that came along with "Saw" and looks set to stay. The problem is that this kind of movie thrives on sheer nastiness instead of the slow-burn tension of more traditional horror. So unless you enjoy seeing pretty young things being threatened with everything from household ... more

Jennifer is a busy model dying for a few days off. But her wish comes true in the most unexpected and horrific way. Her drink is spiked at a fancy party and she awakes in a facsimile of her apartment in someone's basement. Her captor taunts her with footage of his other victims and threatens her with all manner of terrifying torture. But she gains solace when she discovers she's not alone; a young man named Gary is also being held in the dungeon. With her whereabouts unknown, the authorities are powerless to find her and it is up to Jennifer to beat her twisted tormentor at his own game…

I'm not sure what the appeal of the torture movie is; it's a new breed of horror film that came along with "Saw" and looks set to stay. The problem is that this kind of movie thrives on sheer nastiness instead of the slow-burn tension of more traditional horror. So unless you enjoy seeing pretty young things being threatened with everything from household tools to acid showers (and if you do, you might want to seek psychiatric help), there's really nothing much here. The most appalling revelation about the whole film is that it is directed by Roland Joffé, who previously helmed "The Killing Fields" amongst other things. Oh, how the mighty have fallen…it's a grubby little film that looks like it's been shot by a first-timer on a shoestring budget. The film stock is generally grimy and interspersed with video surveillance footage of Elisha Cuthbert, making the film look cheap. Joffé uses abrupt cuts and fades to black that are probably meant to disorientate the viewer, but make it look like he's short of film. The movie appears to have been edited by someone with the attention span of a goldfish, creating very short scenes made from lots of little shots that are no doubt meant to keep the pacing snappy. But mainly they try to distract from the lack of plot.

Essentially it feels like a random assortment of nasty set-pieces linked by a bit of snivelling, a few escape attempts and a smattering of sex. The thing is the torture isn't especially well-accomplished. There's nothing here that warrants the 18 certificate - there is some gore but generally the director fails to follow through. Most of the horror happens off-camera and we cut back to the aftermath, suggesting Joffé is somewhat squeamish and short of cash for effects. There is one scene involving a gruesome smoothie that might make you gag, but that's the only really effective moment. But whatever the details of the brutality, there is nothing truly innovative here. The film follows the usual template for this kind of picture and this makes everything dreadfully predictable and therefore dull. It feels like it's in a rush to get to the twist and then the end, making for an unsatisfying eighty-five minutes. The director doesn't seem to care for his characters, allowing the most superficial performances from his actors. So odds are you won't care about them either.

I can't believe it took two people to write the screenplay for this thinly veiled hybrid of "Saw" and "My Little Eye". Clearly Larry Cohen and Joseph Tura must have watched one of the films each and then compared notes. There is absolutely no preamble. The film opens on the killer finishing off one of his victims and an exceedingly brief scene of Jennifer at a photo-shoot trying to wangle a day off. It tells you nothing about the characters, their personalities or motivations. Instead you're meant to feel for this girl and fear a faceless murderer just because you're told to. It's like having to buy into the fact that so many of the people in the movie that should be dead aren't. The characterisation is paper-thin - Jennifer isn't so much a scream queen as a snivelling one, the killer is kept a shadowy hooded figure for much of the film and Gary is just a handy plot motor.

The torture scenarios aren't half as clever or scary as the writers think they are and the big twist is obvious from a mile off. The outcome is entirely predictable, as is the high body count. As some characters are being introduced you know they're going to die within minutes. There are mumblings of a subplot involving childhood abuse, but these are quickly skated over. That's one of the big issues with the whole enterprise; things move too quickly so we don't get to know and therefore empathise with the characters and there's no sense of tension or of time passing. The dialogue is extremely limited, relying on the usual "Where am I? Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?" sort of stuff along with "I'll do anything you want!" and so on.

If Elisha Cuthbert wants to start being taken seriously as an actress and wants a career with longevity, then she has to stop making this kind of second rate horror film. If she had an obvious talent for it, that would be one thing, but she's clearly bored out on her mind and just going through the motions as Jennifer. Her reactions feel forced and there's never a hint of realism in anything she does or says. You never believe she's in fear for her life or that she has the wits to plan one escape, let alone many. She's extremely wooden and entirely unsympathetic.

Daniel Gillies appears to have come straight off the anodyne, stubbly every-stud production line as Gary. He's blank, uninteresting and playing the subtext of the part too strongly so you can see what's coming next. He has no chemistry with Elisha Cuthbert and nowhere near enough presence to hold the attention. Pruitt Taylor Vince disappoints in a poorly written psycho role as the hooded captor - he spends most of the film as a shadowy blob and never gets the chance to showcase his talents.

Horror music maestro Marco Beltrami is wasted on this project. He's never really let off the leash and his compositions are confined to little motifs of timpani and percussion or screeching strings. He's a composer that needs time to develop themes and is more successful with his distorted electronic arrangements and reverberating strings. There are some thriller string themes for various escape attempts and the usual music box chimes for the flashbacks to the killer's childhood that are supposed to hint at corrupted innocence but have become overused. Like the incidental music for many horror movies at the moment, the music continues in the same vein after the action draws to a close. This is misleading as it suggests the terror is set to continue despite the story clearly being over. Overall there isn't quite enough to the score for it to be effective.

"Captivity" is yet another horror movie trying to cash in on the fashion for torture movies. And like most of their ilk it is derivative, repetitive, poorly directed and badly written. The performances feel amateurish and utterly lacking in depth. The story (such as it is) and the alleged twists are entirely predictable and the effects not strong enough to elicit the desired response in the viewer. There is nothing hard core horror fans won't have seen before and it's highly unlikely anything in this shoddy production will trouble your dreams. 

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