Captivity
Directed by: Roland Joffe
Written by: Larry Cohen and Joseph Tura
Starring: Elisha Cuthbert, Daniel Gillies, Pruitt Taylor Vince
At: suburban theaters
Running time: 85 minutes
Rated: R (strong violence, torture, pervasive terror, grisly images, language, and some sexual material)
One star
By Ty Burr
Globe Staff
Scarier than anything in "Captivity" was the drive to Danvers I had to go through to see it. The new horror film, a wan, derivative entry in the torture-porn cycle, didn?t screen for critics and is playing only in a few suburban multiplexes before scampering to DVD. This is what?s known as sneaking into town.
It?s a "Saw" rip-off with less smarts. (Take a moment, please, to allow that sentence to sink in.) Jennifer (Elisha Cuthbert of "24" and several not-so-hot movies) is a supermodel taken captive by a mysterious hooded man (Pruitt Taylor Vince); she awakens in a dungeon outfitted with surveillance cams and file drawers that pop out of the wall bearing unpleasant things.
Every so often she?s taken to a dank operating room, strapped to a table, and made to watch snuff films of previous victims. At one point, the villain forces her to drink a blender concoction made from eyeballs, ears, and less obvious body parts. You?ll probably want to skip the slushie on the way in.
Eventually the heroine discovers another captive, a hunk named Gary (Daniel Gillies), and the two trapped rats plot their revenge. Yes, it?s one of those movies that deplores sadistic acts visited upon nubile, trussed-up women while indulging the audience?s pleasure in same.
"Captivity" is stylish in a low-budget way, but it?s wholly pointless. There?s a twist fans of the genre will see coming a mile away, not to mention plot holes the characters could escape through. More bothersome is that Cuthbert?s character?s so bland (and the actress such a road show Kirsten Dunst) that it?s tough to care what happens to her.
I found myself caring more for poor Roland Joffe, who has sunk from directing "The Mission" and "The Killing Fields" to this. The script?s credited to Larry Cohen and Joseph Tura; Cohen, of course, is the B-movie veteran who has given us "It?s Alive," "Maniac Cop," and "Phone Booth," but his gift for inspired sleaze deserts him here (aside from the amusingly gruesome fate of Jennifer?s Bichon Frise).
Finicky film freaks will recognize "Joseph Tura" as the name of Jack Benny?s character in the classic ??To Be or Not To Be,?? which means someone?s hiding under a pseudonym and it?s probably Joffe. Anyway, the oddest thing about "Captivity" is that the movie?s a Russian-American co-production shot in a Moscow studio. How nice that the two former enemy superpowers can at last agree on something: that the world needs more crappy horror movies.
