Mute Witness

Before shaming massively with the lame turd that is AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS, Brit Anthony Waller wrote and directed this very fine horror/thriller.

Marina Sudina (or Zudina, as is her correct Russian surname) is American make-up artist Billy, working on the set of a horror film being shot in Moscow.

A stylish (and stylised) opening almost makes you wish you could watch the fictitious horror film in full! Not to worry, the story about to unfold is adequately gripping enough to cope with the 'film-within-a-film' concept.

As the studio shoot wraps up for the day, young Billy finds herself locked in the vacuous Russian studio - in the middle of nowhere. To make matters worse, she is a mute and therefore is unable to call out to the security guard as he walks away from the premises, having locked up for the evening.

Worse still, Billy stumbles across a couple of cameramen engaging a bit of extra-curricular activities in the studio …

Finding herself a (mute) witness to the shoot of a snuff film, Billy is trapped in the studio as the cameramen chase her through long corridors and generally leap out unexpectedly in time-honoured schlock tradition. Which is what we like!

Upon escaping the building, Billy has a tough time convincing her friends (including Fay Ripley of British TV's COLD FEET fame, and Evan Richards - outstanding as Ripley's obnoxious American boyfriend) or the police that a murder has taken place. But the killers - and their Mafia connections - want their witness dead …

MUTE WITNESS is a great horror film for it's first two thirds. It starts with a stylish, Argento-esque window shot, set to the strains of Wilbert Hirsch's score (very effective, if occasionally melodramatic).

The 'snuff' murder is strong without actually being too graphic (although blood is shed). It relies heavily on sharp editing and Sudina's onlooking distress. It's a great antidote to the hideous 8MM - a film so bad that it manages to make the ordinarily taboo subject of snuff films seem laughable.

But as strong as the opening scenes of WITNESS may be, the true power of the film's first hour lies largely within Sudina's performance. Her depth of character and range of emotions expressed through mere body language and doe-eyed facial expressions rival Holly Hunter's over-rated performance in that insipid dogshit THE PIANO.

The Mafia sub-plot may weaken the final third of proceedings (and the policeman with a beret was a bad idea) but by-and-large MUTE WITNESS holds it's momentum well and leaves it's viewer feeling suitably exhilarated.

Columbia's R2 release is priced reasonably, which is just as well - there's nothing on it.

The film itself looks fantastic. Seeing it widescreen for the first ever time (anamorphic 2.35:1) is a great bonus - the film looks better than ever before. Picture quality is very good - nice and sharp.

Audio is presented in 2.0 - in English, German, French, Italian or Spanish. The soundtrack is loud and clear without discernible blemishes. It's a shame we haven't been treated to the 5.1 English mix that graces the R1 release.

Removable subtitles are available in no less than 18 different languages!

As for extras, all we get are two trailers - for DARKNESS FALLS and IDENTITY. Shame on you, Columbia!!

The film has 28 chapters, and comes in a keepcase packaging.

Great film, solid presentation, decent price, no extras. Choose where your priorities lie …!

Review by Stu Willis