Captivity (2007)

Such a frustrating disappointment

People are voting emotionally.

From my favorite movies..

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Jennifer is young, beautiful and famous. Everybody knows her name and her popularity brings her everything. One mans jealousy lures Jennifer to her torture when she finds herself drugged, captured and held in an underground maze. Taken against her will, and subject to psychological punishment, she soon questions her sanity as her watchful tormentor pits her in numerous traps. After struggling to keep her mind, she meets with Gary, another prisoner, and together they try their wits to escape from the madman behind everything....Oh those good old days when torture. Porn was hip. Hostels 1 and 2, Cabin Fever, Turistas...., and I believe it came to a close with this movie.How much of the film you can tolerate is how much you can stand Cuthbert, because she is the movie, everything revolves around her, but her character is a shallow person, so you cannot really sympathise with her.She is subject to very intense light, made to wear lingerie, and given nutritious smoothies, before finding out a hunk is next to her.It's not a very involving movie, and the twist can be seen from a mile off. In the end, we have the predictable struggle, and you know the dog will be safe, so it's just gore for gores sake, nothing else.But it is the best film ever to feature Pruitt Taylor Vince in the bath....now that's scary.

"Captivity" is everything that is bad that exists within the horror genre, especially in these modern times. I'm a horror fan and so I know my onions when it comes to what makes a good horror film, and this is the perfect lesson in how not to make one. Get a couple of cheap actors, a lazy script that steals all the worst clichés, idiotic directing, poor lighting, preposterous editing, weird music and hideous special effects and you don't only have "Captivity", but a truly awful horror film."Captivity" borrows the bare basics from "Saw" and uses them in seriously unoriginal and unengaging ways. Sometimes it's a blatant rip-off with the model having to choose between shooting herself or her dog. However, unlike "Saw" which uses the traps for moral meaning, "Captivity" feels forced to use them in order to create some sort of sick excitement for people like Martin in "The Human Centipede II". However, even people like Martin are likely to be unimpressed with the terrible special effects used. At one point the blood is literally reminiscent of red paint as the model is forced to consume it.The torture scenes feel extremely forced and are incredibly hateful towards women. It's a misogynistic film and almost feels like we're supposed to be enjoying what's going on. The film tries to blurt some crap about vanity in order to provide substance, but it's obviously forced and meaningless. In fact, for the majority of the film very little seems to go on. It's incredibly dis-jointed with the model and the man being put through some mental torment and then being drugged with a fade to black and being woken up in another strange situation. It gets rather repetitive and dull.The so called 'twist' can also be seen coming a mile off, and I'm really bad at spotting twists! The whole film is really badly written with there being virtually zero characterisation given to our main heroine or the man, thus you don't particularly care if they live or die because the writer has decided not give them an ounce of likability. The villain is also a cliché as he bobbles about in a black cloak, obviously taken from "Saw" once again, and no explanation is given to why or how he's managing to do all this. Where would he be able to make all of these weird contraptions? The design of the whole place also doesn't make any sense what so ever. And it's not done in a meaningful clever way like "The Shining" it's just simply a bad location design. The first hour feels like a snuff film. It's not until the final twenty minutes that the plot actually tries to go somewhere, but by the time this happens you're already fed up and willing it to end. The finale is also something that's been done hundreds of times before, thus creating no suspense. The relationship between the model and the man also feels about as real as Luke and Ashley in Big Brother. I don't think sex would be the first thing on my mind if I was trapped in a basement and about to face imminent death.In short "Captivity" is an example of an incredibly lazy horror film. I don't award many 1/10's but I couldn't award this film any more as it has no redeemable qualities. It's a rip-off of "Saw" and countless other Saw-rip-offs, with atrocious directing and framing which is no surprise considering that the director used to direct episodes of "Coronation Street" in the 70's. We've had some excellent examples of modern horror recently with "The Cabin in the Woods" and "Inside" etc. But of course someone who knows eff all about horror will always come along and attempt to give what they think the audience wants. But we're not all sick psychopaths, some of us have brains and require more than a thinly plotted snuff movie.

Here's another absurd porn torture "Saw" look-a-like that neither has the intelligence or the tension that movie had and like most of the flicks on the line of the 2004 film it manages to stay on the entertainment level. Well, entertainment might not be the adequate word for something filled with sadism, blood and guts, let's put as on the watchable level, good to pass the time."Captivity" is about a pervert who tortures his victims to please himself and he does that by making strange games that the victim must try to find a way to understand it in order to survive. Elisha Cuthbert is the victim of the most gruesome physical and psychological torture without knowing why she was chosen to be part of this "game" which involves being forced to drink blood among other things. Gets a little better for her when she finds out she's not alone and that companion (Daniel Gilles) will try to help her in finding a way out of there.Fails a lot in its thrilling, shocking parts and if's quite easy to be distracted at those scenes no matter how violent they might be. However, when we get to the twist in the middle (and it's obvious) it gets somewhat interesting, and it's good to follow from here but until there we and the main character have to endure painful moments (more laughable to us in the audience who have to hear screaming each second). This was a new territory for director Roland Joffé (at one time the celebrated creator of "The Killing Fields" and "The Mission") and I wished he never direct this thing that didn't help his already damaged career. Not much his fault, it looks like more of those cases where you're in the Siberia of your career and you get the best of what's available. This wasn't the best but it certainly isn't the worst, it's just weak considering of this man has made almost 30 years ago. Certainly, it's his weakest film. I know fans of the genre will be positively disappointed with this film, better stick to the "Saw" films but there's good things here. Either way I don't see how can this be useful to someone except that it's just a gathering of thrills, screams, blood and a bunch of clichés altogether. Horror movies must be more than that to be spectacularly good. 5/10

There are no words to describe how awful this film is... I have joined IMDb because this movie is sooo horrible!! If I stop even just one person from wasting their time on this movie (if thats what you call it, it is more like torture.. for the viewers not the characters) then I have succeeded!The amount of loop holes in the story line is incredible, if anything. The writers have given a fair effort to try and add twists to the story... but fail miserably. The story line is predictable and undoubtedly horrible. The characters get shot, stabbed and the lot, and yet survive to attack another 15 minutes later...There is no lead up as to how the cops know to question the brothers and once they are satisfied that the brothers are not murders they ask to watch the game on TV...?? And not to mention the fact that Jennifer (the victim) could not escape the house, but after she finally kills (either Gary or the other brother, I still don't know who is who... the movie didn't do a good job at explaining this) she is able to walk out the front door...??!!!! WHATTT??!!I really don't know how to explain just how shocking this movie is, and I can just say if you want to spend an hour of your life watching a pointless movie, with no interesting story line that makes no comprehensible sense and then be left going "really? really? why did i waste my time"... then by all means don't let my review stop you... But if after you've wasted that hour don't say I didn't pre-warn you.