KNIFE EDGE (2008) (import)

!!!WARNING. MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!

Having made her fortune in America as a Wall Street trader, Emma(Natalie Press) returns to the place of her birth, England, with her young son Thomas. She has returned to be with her new husband Henri(Matthieu Boujenah). Expecting to be moving to the city, Henri suprises Emma by driving into the countryside. He then produces an even bigger suprise, a huge country pile that he announces he has owned for three years, keeping it a secret for her return to England. Emma has a suprise of her own. She is expecting Henri's child. All appears well and good, but soon Emma is experiencing terrifying violent visions and young Thomas finds a creepy old doll that he calls Tobias. Henri seems affected too, as his behaviour becomes increasingly erratic. Friend of Emma's family Charles Pollack(Hugh Bonneville) is concerned for Emma's welfare as it soon becomes apparent that she may be having a breakdown. However, what exactly did happen in Henri's house years before, and is it influencing events in the present day?
This is a very accomplished psychological thriller. It does rely on a few hoary old cliches to drive it along, but it is all directed with such aplomb so that aspect is soon forgotten. Director Hickox knows how a certain off kilter camera angle can add oodles of menace to a particular scene, and he also uses the great British countryside to creepy effect. The performances are very good, with Press bringing an essential vulnerability to the role of Emma, a character trait that is necessary to cast doubt in the audience's mind regarding Emma's sanity. Bonneville nicely underplays the role of Pollack, however Boujenah is a little overwrought as Henri. There is also a nice little turn from veteran actress Joan Plowright as Marjorie, Thomas's nanny.
What starts as a straightforward ghost story soon develops into a 'drive the heiress mad' thriller. Although it does have a supernatural bent, the ghostly element is a smokescreen for a more tangiable evil. So its a kind of a cross between What Lies Beneath and any of those great Hammer psychological thrillers from the 60's and 70's. The director's father, Douglas Hickox directed one of the all time great British horror films, 'Theatre Of Blood'. Whilst this does not quite reach those giddy heights, it does manage to both entertain and also provide the occasional 'jump out of your seat' moment. It's a very enjoyable film, and I would recommend it to fans of both the Horror and the Thriller genres. No extras on the disc, slightly dissapointing

Take a witheringly prosaic story that's been done more times than a street-walker, throw in a couple of old pros to help steady the shaky lead protagonists (even if the hubby, a French guy I've never seen before, and probably never will again, is scorchingly hot), set it in a beautifully rain-lashed out-dated country-pile, then market it like the ghost story it's assuredly NOT so it sits in the horror section of any HMV dumb enough to get it in-and sometimes even a seasoned veteran like me will get suckered in by yet another cheating dud that stinks to high heaven of sheer routine, unimportance, and enough duplicitous advertising to make you think, even if the last dozen releases were soap/bulletin drama turkey dressed as horror peacock, odds are a real raptor has to jump out somewhere.

Well, no actually, the only jumping I did was a leap of rage when the giant shape in the upstairs corrdior slowly revealed to the light was a bloody carving, and it says it all when the best scene 'Knife Edge' has to offer is Natalie Press's husband getting his top off. A recent short article on Natalie Press fretted why her 'My Summer Of Love' co-star Emily Blunt had flown into the stratopshere, while she's been grounded. Duds like this are the answer, plus a performance veering from too good for the material to achingly embarrassing Joan Plowright shines best in this puddle of ineptitude, if only cos she did 'The Spiderwick Chronicles' the same year-kid's film it may be, but as is so often the case it delivers more for the horror fan than these overworked adult cheats. High time it was declared illegal for every overstretched Midsomer Murders episode and brat documentary to be instantly packaged 'horror' by way of simple exposure to the market. Anthony Hickox may have directed the fun-horror 'Waxwork' and its sequel, but that was two decades back and on this evidence, he might want to try a remake.

Really this is just unrecommendable, except, perhaps for the pretty-ish yet unspecial photgraphy. I couldn't wait to bin it, even the title's falser than a Hollywood bust; blunt as a cheap razor and less edge than Spongebob. But if you sit on a knife's edge while viewing, you may approach a quarter of the pain I felt for 90 mins of being had-AGAIN! Though such a knife might be better off recommending certain directors/scripters/distributors and a fair amount of a blinkered audience that they remind themselves of what REAL horror is supposed to mean and be and to feel that pain every time they deliberately forget to take a stab at it.

Possibly one of the worst films ever made. Paper-thin, done-a-thousand-times-before plot. Not scarey, not a thriller - so obvious a plot I yawned all the way through. But the worst thing about this film - THE MOST DREADFUL ACTING OF ALL TIME by all cast (with exception of Joan Plowright). Who are these so-called "actors"???? Will actively avoid any other films they're in. Overall, wooden performances, oh-so-obvious plot and supposedly set in HUGE stately home somewhere in UK but filmed in just 3 of the rooms (obviously just small sets) so no feel of the grandeur of the place internally. So annoying, not just in lack of acting skills, but in her general demeanour throughout the film, I was desperate to stab the lead actress myself from the start. Don't waste your money - simply stand in your wardrobe for 10 minutes with the lights out for a more thrilling experience.