 Nightwatch (1998) And the world will always wonder what really happened behind the scenes to cause this better-than-mediocre atmospheric thriller to be cut from theatrical release (well, not the world, per se – just me). Maybe it just didn't cost enough, because it's far superior than Stigmata on many levels – yet suffers I suppose from being too low-key. Ewan McGregor plays a struggling law student who gets a job at the local morgue as a night watchman – in part to make money, and in part to face his fears and challenge himself. Because, you see, his obnoxious best friend (Josh Brolin) is always concocting situations wherein the two buddies experience increasing thrills. Apparently, their thrill tolerance has increased to the point where Brolin hires a whore simply to degrade her in public (on a personal note, degrading whores is where I long ago started on my quest for unusual thrills – most recently, I pushed several nuns into an industrial clothes dryer just to watch them tumble) (nun joke supplied by Lazy Writers Incorporated). As usual in thrillers, there's a bunch of mysterious killings – these involve the murderer cutting out the women's eyes. Which explains why McGregor finds himself in the company of Nick Nolte, a creepy detective who likes to stop by the deserted morgue at odd times. McGregor slowly discovers that, as usual in thrillers, he is the prime suspect in the serial killings. And even his girlfriend, Patricia Arquette, begins to suspect something when the whore starts leaving odd messages on their answering machine. And the question is whether McGregor really is the killer, or if it's his creepy best friend, the creepy detective, or the creepy doctor who answers McGregor's panicked late night phone calls. In a way, this reads like an X-treme episode of Scooby Doo with more blood and no psychedelic van (points deducted for listless pop-culture reference). The whodunit in the film is not all that exciting or original, and is fairly obvious even before the killer's identity is given up without much ado. Which is fine, since that leaves a large portion of the film for an interesting cat and mouse between McGregor and pretty much all of the other players, including his inquisitive girlfriend. Ultimately this is not a great film, but is an entertaining, atmospheric late-night cable option, especially when something with Shannon Tweed can't be found. The actors all put in a good day's work, except Brolin who overplays his obnoxiousness to the point where you don't know why anyone even talks to him. The direction is simple, and quickly builds tension during a series of near-silent sequences during which McGregor makes his hourly rounds at the morgue. Quiet but effective details add to the sense of danger, such as a flickering fluorescent light, a creepy photo of a long-since executed killer that hangs over the night watchman's desk, and plastic sheeting that covers two massive trees in front of the morgue and flaps in the wind all night. The film builds to an interesting climax (they did, however, miss a great opportunity to show graphic necrophilia), and has a satisfying conclusion, just like with graphic necrophilia.
Review by Crimedog |