Mute Witness (1995)

How sad is this?

It's one of the most original films you'll likely see all year, which, depending on your threshold for certifiably crazy storylines, could be a rewarding experience or one that frustrates you.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

I had never heard about this movie prior to finding it by sheer random luck during a visit to the local secondhand DVD store, and at less than $2, it was an affordable chance to buy it.And having seen the movie already, I must admit that I sat there with a lacking sense of entertainment. The story in "Mute Witness" just wasn't particularly interesting or captivating. But giving the story the benefit of the doubt I stuck with it to the very end. But the story just never turned the interesting corner.The acting in the movie was actually okay, but the actors and actresses had very little to work with in terms of storyline and direction.I was surprised to see Alec Guineness making a short appearance in a movie of this type. Sure, his mere presence added something to the movie, but it just wasn't nowhere near enough to do anything to this train wreck of a movie."Mute Witness" just isn't really worth the time or effort.

Mute Witness begins strongly with a simple but intense set-up that has a mute American make-up girl accidentally getting locked in the decrepit Russian film studio in which she is working on a US film being directed by her brother-in-law. While trying to find her way out she inadvertently witnesses the filming of a snuff movie and subsequently finds herself hunted through the deserted studio's dimly-lit corridors. All of this is well paced and filmed – the murder scene, like Hitchcock's famous shower scene, cleverly uses the viewer's imagination to provide the gory details – and the film manages to create an increasingly claustrophobic atmosphere as the heroine's avenues of escape are systematically reduced.Unfortunately, it can't sustain this level of tension for long, and once the plot is opened out things start to unravel. For some unfathomable reason, writer/director Anthony Waller decides to introduce a 'comedy' element in the guise of the heroine's film director brother-in-law, and the whole thing nearly falls apart completely as he and his wife (the heroine's sister) are given increasingly larger amounts of screen time.The story grows a little confused as it widens from a lady-in-peril thriller to more of a conspiracy plot involving a shadowy figure called The Reaper (Alec Guinness in a cameo he filmed about nine years before the rest of the film was shot!) and police complicity in the snuff trade, and by its climax, Waller has thrown in so many twists and red herrings to try and disguise some glaring plot holes that you're left deflated by thinking about what could have been.. Waller was obviously trying to deliver a Hitchcock homage, but this is all the evidence you need that aiming for Hitch on your debut effort is aiming way too high.

This is, without doubt, one of my favourite horror films ever! I really cannot believe that it didn't gain much more popularity when it was released, especially when the main contenders at the time were the usual Wes Craven sequels and copycat horrors, Mute Witness has all the style, suspense and quickfire plot twists of a Hitchcock/DePalma movie, coupled with some very sharp black comedy and a great plot. It never promises to be any more than a good popcorn-and-hot-dog movie, but it is difficult not to just enjoy the film for what it is.The plot centres on Billie Hughes - a mute girl working on the set of a horror film being made in a Russian factory. By a series of events, she finds herself accidentally locked in, and stumbles on the filming of a snuff movie.One of the best things about the film is the lack of screaming that seems to invade every horror film ever made. As the main character is mute, she cannot make a noise - something which is a blessing at some stages of the movie, and a curse in others.The director seems to have studied his Hitchcock very well, Even the opening scene is a tongue-in-cheek nod to both Hitchcock's "Psycho" as well as fairly generic slasher movie scenes.While the acting can be hammy at times, the whole film does hold it together, not only throwing in a couple of excellent scenes that put you right on the edge of your seat, but a few neat little questions about how the film is going to end.All in all, a hugely overlooked, well-paced and action packed psycho-thriller which I would recommend for any jaded viewer looking for something a little different from the usual Freddy/Jason/Scream/Michael Myers/Damien regurgitation's at hallowe'en.

We all went to a Sony theater expecting to see another 1994 release, the theater did a test sneak and those who chose to stay saw Mute Witness, there was no press on it beforehand, the audience was the most scared and freaked out of any film I have viewed with an audience, more than The Exorcist or Halloween. Several people could not handle the material and left the theater, and after the picture opened, the theater soon pulled it, as it was over the top in suspense gore and subject matter, and reciepts may have been off as a result. If you pay attention, and stay with Billy on her struggle, allowing yourself to get caught up in it, this film is one HELL of a nail biter. On video, it isn't the same, you really need an audience, preferably one that hasn't seen it before, to get the full blood-curdling impact. Waller does a very good job and makes it look easy. It is a genre piece and moves the audience into safer territory near the end, I believe, to keep the form consistent with its stylistic opening. The film has its place in history with the most intense material ever put on screen.