“Inside” / “Inside” (2023)
Veteran thief Nemo (Willem Dafoe) breaks into the luxury penthouse of a wealthy New York man who specializes in purchasing artwork. But expensive apartments are decorated not only with paintings by venerable masters, but also with a modern smart home system. When you try to leave someone else’s house with the stolen Nemo, he becomes the hostage of the apartment – the system closes all doors and bulletproof windows, blocking escape routes.
Now, surrounded by four walls, the hero must feed and drink himself (the water in the apartment is almost completely turned off, the refrigerator is empty), try to send signals for help to the indifferent world and do not go crazy.
“Inside” is a slow and reclusive film based solely on Defoe’s experience and talent. This is a psychological thriller, a magnificent drama and an aesthetic detective story – the viewer will find echoes of various genres in the world of this story. At the same time, the director of the project, Vassilis Katsupis, works not only on the opposition of all lines of genres, but also on aesthetics and vulgarity, beauty and ugliness, the high and the low.
“Scissors” / “Scissors” (1991)
Having a hard time coping with PTSD, Angela (attacked by a maniac) begins seeing a therapist to help her learn to trust the world again. He soon responds to a mysterious invitation and finds himself locked in a strange apartment whose owner lies dead in the next room.
Scissors is an undeservedly little-known thriller to a wide audience, in which Sharon Stone gave one of the best roles in her career. Finding himself in a new nightmare, the protagonist is tormented by doubts about whether the world around him is real. “Scissors” in many ways predicted the story “Inside” – the only difference was that instead of the “smart” house system, the fate of the female protagonist was controlled by a mysterious villain.
The painting became one of the brightest examples of a genre that does not need large budgets or large-scale landscapes for successful execution.
“Kick-Out” / “Detective” (1972)
Wealthy aristocratic and prosperous detective writer Andrew Wike (Laurence Olivier) lures his wife’s lover Milo Tindle (Michael Caine) into his luxury home. Perceiving life as the subject of one of his novels, Andrew intends to make fun of his rival. Adam plays a clever game of cat and mouse with Milo. However, gradually Kane’s hero turns from a victim to a hunter.
“Killot” is an example of the luxurious acting duo of the two giants of their era. In 2007, a remake of the movie “Detective” was released. It is curious that Milo Kane, who played in the original, tried on the image of a brutal aristocrat in the new movie, and Jude Law played the role of his rival.
“Lollipop” / “Hard Candy” (2005)
14-year-old Haley (Elliot Page) meets 32-year-old photographer Jeff (Patrick Wilson) online, whom she suspects is a pedophile. A man invites a new acquaintance to his home, without suspecting how dire the consequences of this face-to-face meeting will be for him.
“Lollipop” is an example of the tense thriller of the revenge subgenre, namely a story based on the idea of revenge. The events in the movie unfold at the mansion of Jeff, who is the hostage of his own property. The tape resembles a clever card game, in which a participant with a strong trump card loses the round, underestimating his opponent.
“The Incident or Case in the Subway” / “The Incident” (1967)
A thrilling noir thriller set in the New York subway. In an empty subway car at midnight, two hooligans begin to bully passengers. At first, the people around try not to react to the aggressive heroes, which provokes them even more and exacerbates the bullying.
Larry Pierce’s painting is a reference example of a hermetic thriller where limited space works to heighten the growing horror. The film will definitely appeal to fans of Michael Haneke’s Funny Games – in some ways it’s an homage to Pierce’s work. Both projects explore the limits of human patience and resistance to evil: It seems that it is not enough to simply close your eyes to eliminate it.