Nightwatch (1997)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Ole Bornedal

Writers (WGA):

Ole Bornedal (film Nattevagten)
Ole Bornedal (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 April 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

He's the prime suspect in a terrifying mystery. The police are after him and so is the murderer.

Plot:

Ewan McGregor plays a law student who takes a job as a night watchman at a morgue. He begins to discover...

Plot Keywords:

Morgue | Student | Corpse | Night Watchman | Suspect

Awards:

2 wins

US TV Schedule:

Thur. July 23

9:30 PM

TMC

Cast

Ewan McGregor	...	Martin Bells
Patricia Arquette	...	Katherine
Josh Brolin	...	James Gallman
Lauren Graham	...	Marie
Nick Nolte	...	Inspector Thomas Cray
Brad Dourif	...	Duty Doctor
Alix Koromzay	...	Joyce
Lonny Chapman	...	Johnson, Old Watchman
Erich Anderson	...	Newscaster
Scott Burkholder	...	College Professor
Michael Matthys	...	Guy in Pub
Alison Gale	...	Girlfriend of Guy in Pub
Robert LaSardo	...	Pub Thug
Mongo	...	Pub Thug
Candy Ann Brown	...	Female Paramedic

MPAA:

Rated R for strong, morbid violence, language, sexuality, and some drug content.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16 | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Chile:18 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Japan:R | Netherlands:16 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/18 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Dimension Films

Trivia:

Originally Ole Bornedal wanted Harrison Ford to play the part of Inspector Thomas Albert Cray.

Quotes:

Martin: You're insane!
James: No, I'm not.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Zulu Late Night, Live!: (#1.1)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Loops of Fury

Have you ever been killed before?

***SPOILERS*** Nick Nolte for all intents and purposes looking like Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein monster but without the use of makeup is police inspector Thomas Cray who's in charge of a special police task force trying to find and capture, dead or alive, a serial killer. The killer for some weird reason has a habit of cutting out the eyes of his dead victims, all women, and then raping their corpses. It seems that the killer wants to quit the business of serial killing but at the same time wants the police and the law to leave him alone and stop hunting him down so he can enjoy his retirement.

This sets up the story for young law student Martin Bell, Ewan McGeror, who just got a job at the local medical examiner building as a night watchman where all the recent murder victims of the killers are kept. The killer plans to frame young Martin as can then be free from being tracked down and arrested for the crimes that Martin will be jailed for.

"Nightwatch" has it's share of cheap thrills and a number of twists and turns in it's story but their very unconvincing in how the killer, who you can spot almost as soon as you see him, is so hard for the police to find when his actions are so insane and weird just like those of the murderer.

The film-makers put two people into roles that would make you think that their the real killer of the people in the movie. One is so obvious that you just know that he didn't do it and is just a red herring put into the movie to get you and the police off the track of the real killer.

There's also a fact that he, the killer, once worked in the medical examiner's office some time ago and was dismissed for messing around with the corpses. All that is in the medical examiners record department which should have been a dead give away to everyone involved just too who he really is.

There's also some scenes in the movie that focus on a photo of Lewis Paine, thats pinned to the wall in the night watchman's office one of the people executed for the murder of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. This seems to indicate to the audience that he, or his ghost, may have something to do with the killings but in the end nothing ever comes of it and he's completely forgotten well before the movie is over.

There's also a very mixed-up sub-plot in the movie between Martin's friend James, Josh Brolin, and a hooker he picked up at the local bus station Joyce, Alix Koromzay,who he's trying to get Martin to have an affair with her. This moronic attempt by James is to give him a high since it seems that the normal high he used to get with women by having sex is no longer there and even having the hell beat out of him to get high doesn't work either.

Joyce's relations with Martin, which are almost next to nothing, has his girlfriend Kathy, Pat Arquette, leave him and in the end. Sure enough Joyce ends up being a victim of the on the loose serial killer and Martin, becomes the prime suspect just like the killer wanted in the crime.

The ending of "Nightwatch" had the usual damsel as well as good guy both in distress with the crazed killer having them both tied down on a table in the mortuary and about to cut both their skulls open with an electric slicer. It's then when the person who was made to look like the killer during the entire movie coming to their rescue, minus a thumb, blasting the real killer away and sending him to his just reward.

"Nightwatch" is a watchable horror/suspense movie but it's hard to take seriously at all due it it's very predictable and unconvincing story and the killer is so obvious that you can easily spot him well before the movie reveals his true identity.