THE CELL

2000

Right from the very first frame, it's obvious that the director of this film, Tarsem Singh, came out of the world of music videos. The style, the colors, the music, the special effects, and the quick-cutting within scenes are all elements of this world. So is it a case of all style and no substance? Not at all. Singh uses all of the elements in his bag of tricks to SERVE the story, not to replace it. There is substance here, and it is horrifying! In fact, this film with its reminders of such fiilms as "The Silence of the Lambs," "Seven," "The Matrix," and even "Lawrence of Arabia," and "2001; A Space Odyssey(!), is the most terrifying film that I've seen in years. Once again, we are inside the mind of a serial killer, only now his nightmares appear to be directed by Federico Fellini! The key to getting into his mind is sort of a scientific Vulcan mind meld, in which a child psychologist and an FBI agent are placed into the mind of the killer...and vice versa. When you see it you'll understand how this is done; it's all very believable within the context of this stunningly beautiful horror film. In the '60's, we would have called it a bad acid trip! The actors(Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Lopez, and especially Vincent D'Onofrio) are all good; they must have had nightmares for weeks. Having seen "Psycho" last night, I can only say that that grand-daddy of all horror films seems like "Chitty Chitty, Bang, Bang" compared to this one!

4 Stars

NJB

Jennifer Lopez is a psycholgist and Vince Vaughn is the FBI agent who convinces her to go into the mind of a serial killer, Vincent D'Onofrio, in order to find where his latest victim is being held in this latest Silence of the Lambs-ish psychological thriller. Flashing between scenes that are absolutely beautiful and extremely bizarre and horrific, the cinematography is always perfect, helping to build the suspense and anxiety as the time slowly runs out. This isn't one for the squeamish. Its easy to focus on all the imagery, but hidden beneath it is a decent plot with a few minor holes. I couldn't help but to feel like there were some additional angles that the film began to explore, but were probably dropped due to wanting to keep the length down.

3 Stars

CDF