The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1986)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Edgar Allan Poe's story sees another adaptation in this 80s made-for-TV outing starring some names in George C Scott, Rebecca De Mornay and Val Kilmer. It's diverting, but very unexceptional and stagy in the details. In honesty it's the strong performances that really carry this one, especially a stalwart Scott and a headstrong De Mornay. How the cast worked of each other kept me glued. Some atmospherics are etched out nicely, with fitting period details of a turn of a century Paris and there's a dark, grim air lurking about. The deaths happen off screen, but there's something ghastly about them and that's mainly due to its effective use of sound. However the story is all about the investigation/mystery of two murdered women and it's somewhat stiff in its execution of it. Even with the script throwing around ideas, theories in its quest to uncover the motive of the puzzling deaths it just fared as a typical crime plot of outrageous circumstances. Still at least it didn't find itself getting distracted by certain sub-plots. Earnest entertainment.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1986)** (out of 4) Made-for-TV version of the Edgar Allan Poe story has Detective Auguste Dupin (George C. Scott) coming out of retirement after his daughter (Rebecca DeMornay) comes to him saying that her fiancé has been charged with the brutal murder of a group of people. There aren't any real clues and it appears the murderer just vanished from the scene of the crime and it doesn't take long for the veteran detective to realize something strange is going on. This version of the familiar story really comes across as a disappointment for a number of reasons, which is a real shame since we got such a good cast of actors. The screenplay is the real villain here because the entire thing is shown from the detective's point of view. I'm going to guess that if you were unfamiliar with the story then perhaps this approach would work but if you know who the killer is then the suspense is pretty much taken away from you. The entire film is built around who did the murders but those familiar with the story already know. I think a straight adaptation would have been much more effective had the film let us in on the "secret" and went from there. Another problem is that the music score gets quite annoying at times as it's constantly going into high gear to make you feel as if a scene is all the more dramatic than it really is. Director Jeannot Szwarc (JAWS 2) does a decent job with the material he has to work with. He does manage to build up a nice atmosphere and he also gets some good performances from his cast. Val Kilmer appears in a small role and does a nice job. DeMornay isn't too bad, although she isn't always believable playing the weak lady. She also has to deal with the screenplay giving her an incredibly annoying character. As for Scott, as you'd expect, he's terrific and really delivers a strong performance. It's really too bad he wasn't given a better screenplay because his performance does so much with little to work with. THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE is pretty flat all around, which is a shame because there's some good stuff scattered throughout.

I checked this out last night from our Library. I was more than a little surprised by how good it was. I hadn't read Rue Morgue since I was in 6th grade, so I didn't remember the plot. This seems to have upset a few people, since apparently the movie didn't follow the plot of the original story. I truly enjoyed it and if hadn't been for the segways I wouldn't have known it was made for TV. It looked great and is by far one of the best made for TV movies I've ever seen...especially given that it was made in 1986. George C Scott is always such a presence on screen. If you get a chance please watch in on VHS instead of TV with all the commercial breaks. You could probably find it at a library..if you live in a metro area.

It isn't terrible, but it's just another mediocre TV movie in spite of the cast and story (the Poe story is ridiculous, but it's fun). The story lurches along until the last 15 minutes, when it falls flat on its face. The ending is abrupt, leaving major story threads flapping in the breeze, and the clumsy attempt to surprise the 1 in 100 viewers that hasn't heard the plot of the Poe story is very distracting. There is also a subplot involving a feud between the detective and the police commissioner that is totally unnecessary. Finally, the cinematography is occasionally muddy. On the plus side there is the good cast and the locations are very attractive, so it's tolerable.