Out of Bounds (2003)

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

CAUTION: Possible plot spoilers present.In the remote girl's boarding school of Lady Margaret Oaks, young student Louise Thompson is having an affair with the artist husband of the headmistress Veronica Van Huet. The affair is discovered but Veronica forgives Louise, inviting her to stay in the school over the holidays in order to work on school play that she had been setting up. At the same time, Veronica's husband, Matthew Van Huet is under increasing pressure to forge his artist father's signature on his own works in order to gain more funds for the school. But one day Matthew disappears without trace. Alone in the foreboding mansion & with only Veronica & her doctor friend for company, Louise begins to suspect that Matthew is probably dead & that Veronica is responsible.Out of Bounds is a cheap but relatively classy British thriller that was made as sort of a British version of POISON IVY with a few touches of SINGLE WHITE FEMALE thrown in for narrative kicks. The film is directed by Merlin Ward & stars his wife Sophie as the "evil" headmistress.The film is something of an obscure effort – copies of the film are hard to find & it hasn't been widely seen. But having said that, Out of Bounds is actually quite interesting in its own right. The script has clearly been written to accommodate a low budget – singular location for most of the running time; very few actors; little in the way of effects & so on. Ward does a reasonable job of conducting suspense on this shoestring budget & even gets in a few good twists, although the end revelation that George Asprey faked his death in order to get back at his wife is a little anticlimactic. The acting is good for the film's type, with Sophia Myles & Sophie Ward making a good team & Celia Imrie has a wonderfully polite but nasty underneath demeanor that will send shivers down your spine.

I'm actually no big fan of so-called thrillers. But out of different reasons I occasionally watch one. Since I admire Sophia Myles' acting I decided to order Out of Bounds but didn't really know what to expect. But I was positively surprised. There are only a few characters in the story but every one is being developed well. Thus the characters are believable, which gives a film MANY plus points. The ability of the director to tell the story without ever failing to rise the tension and suspection is awesome. While the story's unfolding we never know what we're supposed to believe - we are allowed to make up our own minds. When the next twist comes we'll probably change our opinion again ... and again and all the while we enjoy great entertainment. The high amount of tension etc doesn't leave the film sparse of humour. And even though many will agree that it is not an every day story (we don't all go to boarding schools where we have an affair with the married teacher, who later disappears, and are then hunted by nightmares) we totally forget this because everything (the characters, the script and the acting) is very much drawn from real life. All of this makes it a rare film that makes you wonder why it so far hasn't got more recognition!! It is certainly a shame! After watching the film I had my head full of thoughts and was for a long time not able to decide what it was that made the film so appealing to me. I have come to think that it's the perfect combination of everything in the film. And for me what is really standing out are the totally natural actors/actresses and that once in a while I'm again thinking about the film. Well, I will certainly not regret the day I ordered the film.

This shocker of movie comes highly recommended in several recent reviews, and foolishly I've been dragging my heels on giving it an eyeballing - but now I've cracked, and what a treat to behold! Writer Director Merlin Ward's movie debut OUT OF BOUNDS, is a genuine beacon of classy Brit storytelling, shining brilliantly against the usual slew of boring Brit fare, punch drunk on easy come easy spend lottery funds. Ward is a true left brain, right brain entrepreneur, having courageously funded his own movie and surrounded himself with the best in the business to realise this incredible result. Here's a story that delivers classic tension right from the opening titles - and which had me sweating on the edge of my seat till the final terrific twist in the tail - which I genuinely didn't see coming! The fine performances Ward extracts from his cast is a sharp measure of raw professionalism, and his stars Sophie Ward (no relation), Sophia Myles and understudy national treasure Celia Imrie, should be proud to add this outing to their career portfolios. Stealthily underlying the action, composer Mark Ryder's deadly score is an unnerving cardiac backcloth, worthy of Hitchcock's chilliest - and a very natural marriage to Ward's taught and frugal direction.In the set up, boarding school student Louise (Myles) pleads with her sexy headmistress Veronica (Ward) to let her stay on at school during half term, ostensibly for extra studies. But oh dear, the seemingly innocent little girl happens to be a regular item with Veronica's hunky American hubby and fellow teacher, Matt (George Asprey). So what happens when Veronica finds out? and does Ward's dark and driving script visually live up to the graphic shock horrors that inevitably follow? For my own part, I needed a couple of Lorazepam after what you might call one of Celia Imrie's more interesting scenes!For those lucky enough to see it, Sam Raimi's wonderful US movie A SIMPLE PLAN, creatively eclipsed the more media bullish but greatly inferior FARGO. In the same way, Merlin Ward's OUT OF BOUNDS does just this to all those tired British wannabe thrillers with nothing on board but a fat promotional budget. Clearly, OUT OF BOUNDS is a great Hollywood movie in all but country of origin, and if lacking in multi-million pound promotion, still has a massive audience in waiting, by way of good old fashioned word of mouth. Press Play and enjoy!Roger Hopkins

I thought this was a fantastic English thriller, and very well cast. It was gripping, the twists were fantastic, and it was lovely seeing that a great film can be made without spending a ridiculous budget. As a girl who has been to boardingschool it really was thrilling! I'd highly recommend it!