Leofwine_draca 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.

jabrbi Sorry, but this film just doesn't make any sense. There's a serial killer on the loose, killing women and cutting their eyes out. The bodies are taken to the morgue where there's a new night watchman, a man scared of his own shadow. Over the course of the film, the night watchmen is framed to be the serial killer, and then we get the happy ending.So where does it all go wrong? The protagonist, Martin, the night watchman is supposed to be studying law, which presupposes and above-average intelligence and yet Martin acts like a complete moron throughout the film. When he realises he's being framed, he's totally unable to work out who the only possibility is to be the real killer. Sadly, Martin isn't the only idiot in the film. His girlfriend is also a moron, as is the deputy chief detective. Really, where were they all when the brains were being handed out.Then there's the problem that the lead detective IS the serial killer, so he's investigating his own crimes. So why hasn't he been taken off the case for being so incompetent? And, if he's so good at hiding his crimes, why does he suddenly make mistake after mistake.And then there's the incredible coincidences. Martin's friend, an obvious red herring, just happens to sleep with a prostitute who just happens to sleep with the killer, allowing the killer to set up Martin, who just happens to work in the morgue, giving him access to the victims. And the prostitute just happens to be a friend of the last victim, and she just happens to tell Martin and his friend that she has a client who likes her to pretend she's dead and in the morgue. It's just far too contrived.And then there's the miscasting. Patricia Arquette just isn't suitable as Martin's girlfriend, or anybody's girlfriend really; there's nothing attractive about her, her looks, her acting, her intelligence. But that could be the mistake of the writers and costume design. Ewan McGregor is OK as Martin, although his accent drifts around the world. Josh Brolin as Martin's friend is just too weird, and looks too old compared to McGregor. And Nick Nolte, as good as he is, is just too obviously the killer from the first moment he appears on screen. Sure, Nolte is very believable as the killer, but that's the problem, he's too believable.Considering that this is a remake of a film the director made several years before, I can only believe that the studio and/or producers intervened to make a complete dog's breakfast of this film.A missed opportunity.

FlashCallahan A law student takes a job as the night-watch in a morgue, thinking that he will have much time to study, with his biggest problem being his paranoia. But in the history of this morgue was once a man raping female corpses, but has history really gone......A remake of a film I've never seen, Nightwatch was supposed to be Macgregors big break into Hollywood, but 1997 was Ewan's Anu Horribilus....The man was hot stuff after Trainspotting, Brassed Off, and Shallow Grave, but this bombed, and Hodge, Boyle, and Ewan couldn't recapture the magic with a Life Less Ordinary.So to be fair, not counting a certain pillage of a franchise, Macgregor never really got noticed in Hollywood until 2005 with The Island.Despite this films flaws, is still enjoyable, despite the fact that Brolins character should have been called Red Herring, and Arquette does very little. Macgregor plays a fresh faced student, who has it all, girlfriend, apartment, strange friend, and even stranger job.But he soon becomes prime suspect for all the murders that are happening, because dastardly Nick Nolte is setting him up, as Nolte has a history, which is heavily hinted on many occasion.Brolin is way too over the top to make you suspect him, as is Dourif, so you know from the upstart that Nolte will be the killer, which spoils the rest of the film.So apart from one very good scene involving Arquette finding a body (the whole scene is very early eighties De Palma), its all pretty generic stuff, which is a shame as now I've no interest in seeing the original, which may sound ignorant, but what's the point if you know who the killer is.....

atinder Ewan McGregor plays a law student who takes a job as a night watchman at a morgue. He begins to discover clues that implicate him as the suspect of a serial of murders.The setting in this movie was really perfect, i really liked it , it had great atmosphere from start to end and worked really well with the the creepy scenes, they also added some humour into this movie, which i really liked.The deaths were not gory or bloody as this is more of a drama then your normal slasher movies, (it nothing like Scream or Friday 13th movies at all).The acting from the whole cast was outstanding, A really good movie8 out of 10