Review of Captivity (2007) by Timothy S — 08 Dec 2011

I love horror films, but the sad truth is that they cannibalize each other just as badly, if not worse, than other genres. When a horror film, or type of horror film, breaks out we're inundated with mostly inferior imitations. "Captivity" is one such film that owes its entire existence to "Saw" and "Hostel" before it, and the sub-genre called torture porn has definitely run its course.

This is a bleak, pointless and disgusting film. It's only slightly redeemed once the film shifts gears and goes topside out of the cellar where all of its secrets (as unimaginative as they are) are revealed, but only marginally. There is some energy to those final scenes, and Eliza Cuthbert shows some life, but it's all an extreme case of too little too late. Why former "Killing Fields" director Roland Joffe was attracted to this may remain the film's biggest secret. He apparently was starved for what he thought would be a guaranteed box office hit, but this wasn't it.

He brings nothing special to "Captivity", and his distinguished career was tarnished when his name flashed on the credits. This is brutal, predictable and ultimately boring. We've been in this basement one time too many in recent years, and this has nothing new to say.