Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Sadly Over-hyped

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This formulaic, but occasionally diverting, thriller starring Rutger Hauer revolves around a serial killer who removes bones from his victims while they are still alive. He stops his killings and disappears. Years later Rutger Hauer's character, who headed the investigation against the killer, has since written a fictional novel in which the killer is actually caught. This sparks off more murders. Is it the killer returned or a copycat? That is what Rutger must find out.There is nothing really new but it is all professionally done for a B-Movie. The main twist is a surprise but is one of those twists that seem unfair to the audience. We have a secondary character, who is featured in the film for merely a few minutes, who turns out to be the killer. These thrillers work best when you get a character which you get information about, who has some impact on the plot, so that you can draw up your own conclusions as to whether he or she did it or not. In a who done it such as this you need to be given clues not have the killer pulled from literally nowhere, its unfair on the audience and gives them little chance of guessing who the killer is. What this does do well though is lead you up blind alleys where you suspect different people but they are not the culprits. The filmmakers do this well rather than some thrillers that will have a character acting very shiftily indeed to really ham up the possibility they may have done it.Anyway, this is by no means very good but is certainly worth a rental. The acting is good and despite a rather lackadaisical ending it is never boring. 5.5/10

This movie wants to be a serial killer suspense movie, but ends up being a bore. Predictable ending, flat characters, wooden acting. Nice photography of Chicago, but really not a good movie. Don't waste your time or money on this junk. Rating: 3/10

This movie is actually a pretty good little thriller. Rutger Hauer plays a former medical examiner who has now become a best selling mystery writer. When he writes a fictional account of an unsolved case, the murderer starts killing again, this time targeting people close the the writer.Unlike so many action films, this movie focuses on the characters more than the violence. Hauer's character, William Palmer, is an arrogant egotistic man who is estranged from his adult son. His attempts to connect with his angry offspring and his grandchildren are quite interesting (and eventually become central to the plot). In addition, Barbara Williams is quite good as the detective assigned to investigate the latest crimes. I had never seen her before, but I was impressed with her performance.The movie is set in Chicago. Since I live in a Chicago suburb and work in the Loop, a couple of things in the movie amused me. First, although there is some stock footage of the city, it could be obvious to anyone who lives here that none of the scenes were filmed in Chicago or the surrounding area. That impression was confirmed by the thanks to the Toronto Film Commission at the end of the credits. Second, the movie makes it seem that the Cook County Medical Examiner is a major public figure. To be honest, I doubt that 90% of the people in Chicago could tell you who the M.E. is. In addition, I don't think your average M.E gets paid enough to buy a huge mansion on the lakefront.Those are minor quibbles, however. Really, the movie is pretty good.

This was a very fine movie in the serial killer genre, and certainly my favorite direct-to-video of 1998. Rutger Hauer has his best roles in years. It is suspenseful and very entertaining . Not too gory either. During the same week I rented a godawful film titled "Trail of a Serial Killer"-Please avoid. Before you start wondering too much about the reviewers taste in film, I did rent "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" last week.In other words, I see just about everything. This could have been a decent theatrical release.