Nightwatch (1998)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Great Film overall

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's always curious to me when directors remake their own projects. Sometimes it seems redundant and risky, and one wonders what compels them to revisit already trodden territory. In Ole Bornedal's case it's a creepy murder mystery called Nightwatch, made once in his native language of Danish, and again as a slicked up Hollywood version featuring some heavy acting talent and a reworked script by none other than Steven Soderbergh. I've only seen the newer one, and despite some awkward, clunky moments in the narrative, it can get pretty squirmy and frightening when it wants to, especially any scene involving a young Ewan McGregor stuck alone on a morgue graveyard shift. Creepy concept, and in some scenes it's really milked to full effect, but there's also few really silly and unnecessary subplots, particularly one with McGregor's daredevil buddy Josh Brolin, and his girlfriend (an underused Patrica Arquette. When the film focuses on its main horror storyline it works quite well though. There's a killer loose in the city, one with a penchant for necrophilia, and no one wants to have the night shift at a mortuary with someone like that running about. Nick Nolte adds class and charisma to his role as a weary, grizzled police detective who's searching for the killer. Nolte rarely sets foot in the horror/thriller side of things, but his looming presence and concrete scraper sounding voice fit into the atmosphere terrifically. There's a couple cameos as well, one from John C. Reilly as an ill fated police officer and an amusing Brad Dourif as the morgue's cranky duty doctor. If Borendal had trimmed the fat in places as far as subplots go, given a bit more edge to the script and overall just tweaked it more it could have been a cracking good thriller, but as is it's only above average with a few spots that really shine.

Another American remake of a successful European thriller in the line of THE VANISHING, this is a taught and at times suspenseful serial-killer chiller with an intriguing premise: a series of sickening murders surrounding a new, young security guard working night duty at the local morgue. The movie plays its cards straight away with strong themes of sex, death, necrophilia, and insanity and manages to be fairly graphic in approach without actually showing much.The serial killer trappings are old hat and so is the central premise of "innocent suspect must clear his own name" and, although the film is episodic, it does work at times. The morgue setting is very eerie and makes for some very suspenseful moments which sent a few tingles down my spine. Despite a rather badly-edited and confusing middle, things pick up towards the end of the film. The whole finale is very gripping, slightly clichéd but nonetheless impossible not to get excited about, thanks to some very scary acting on the part of the actor playing the villain. Thanks go in part to director Ole Bornedal, who also directed the original version of the tale so had a fair amount of experience and couldn't go wrong.Ewan McGregor just about passes through in the part of a vain, shallow, enjoyment-seeking young man; thankfully he isn't awarded too much screen time all things considered and so doesn't become too grating. I do think McGregor is a good actor when given the right part but his role here just seems to be a victim of miscasting. Patricia Arquette gets to emote for all her worth but never seems to be anything more than mundane, although Josh Brolin is rather good as the obnoxious friend of McGregor's who becomes a suspect in the slayings. Acting awards go to Nick Nolte as the investigating cop; another excellent performance from the veteran actor who doesn't pull any punches. Watch out for Brad Dourif in a stereotyped 'weirdo' role as a doctor addicted to his own medicine cabinet. I haven't seen the original version of this tale as yet but I hear it's far superior, in which case I'm expecting something good because this film largely succeeds more than it fails.

There are better films out there, sure, but this little hidden gem is definitely worth a watch, particularly if you like the kind of thriller that has a paranormal tint to it.McGregor is very good here (although he seems to possess the weirdest accent out there) as is Josh Brolin and Nick Nolte. The plot concerns a young man who takes the job as the night watchman at a spooky morgue. Things start to play on his mind, and as they do the bodies begin to rack up as a serial killer is on the loose. Is it McGregor? Or is his mind playing tricks on him, and if so who is the killer?Watch and see!

As I get down to my last 100 or so VHS movies that I'm transferring over to DVD, I'm going through a number of flicks that I got from my in-laws, the ones who ran a rental place for almost fifteen years. I figure, I want to see if some of this stuff is worth the effort of putting on disks.Nightwatch is not worth the 20 plus cents for the blank DVD-R.Yet, lovers of all style/all the time, blood and semen soaked gutter trash will want the collector's copy (whatever additional gore, smashed bone, and defiled corpses that might contain, I don't want to know).The only reason I stuck with this murky, incoherent, and sophomoric phlegm is that I kept waiting for Nick Nolte to rip off that ludicrous toupee he was wearing, and command . . ."Give me a f___ing drink!" I'm against being an enabler, but I think he earned this one.