by: ahf
Posted on 11.11.09 in All Horror Films > Screenshots > Thriller/Suspense > Torture
Release Date: 2007

So, this movie had me at hello. I don’t know if it was a mood I was in, but right from the weird mummified tube tortured dude before the credits, I was ready for more. It seemed Captivity was gonna freak me out just a little. And it did. A little.

Jennifer Tree (Elisha Cuthbert) is everywhere. Billboards, television, magazines…she IS America’s next top model. But here, the famous blond is unhappy. She hardly gets anytime to herself. While Jennifer’s depression sinks in it lowers her guard and leaves it just a little easier for her to be stalked. After a long day of photo shoots Jennifer goes to a very uppity club with her dog, (Yes people with her dog. I don’t get it either.) where she is drugged with an Appletini and subsequently kidnapped by our unseen villain…

When Jennifer wakes up, she hears the ocean and even sees the beach from where she lies. However, it’s all a clever ruse to throw her off guard. The ocean is nothing but sound effects and a projected beach image on a screen. Jennifer soon realizes she’s in a sort of prison and freaks out.

Jennifer is coerced into doing things like change her clothes and eat vitamins by an ever present host that she cannot see. When she’s a bad girl and doesn’t do as her captor bids, she is gassed and punished. And by punished I mean fed a blender of freshly pureed body parts forced down her throat via funnel. Um…eww. It’s kind of an awesomely grotesque scene. The other punishments are just as great…threatened with acid in the face or having to shoot her own dog or herself. I hated that dog anyway.

After what seems like a day of imprisonment, Jennifer realizes there is someone is a cell next to hers and she’s not in this alone. Gary (Daniel Gillies) thinks he’s been in his cell for at least three days. The two decide they’ll find a way out together. Eventually Gary and Jen form a bond just in time to find out it’s probably the last day they will be kept alive. This is where the film offers us a twist, all be it the most obvious one, but a twist none the less.

Captivity has a great premise and it’s gonna suck you in. I loved it. The torture games Jennifer is forced to play are a bit reminiscent of Saw, but the movie as a whole is interesting enough that you forgive its unoriginal nature. And the scenes at the very end of the film brings us full circle to the mummified tube tortured dude at the beginning …I’ll let you decide if you find it a bit hack. So, yeah, it got me. Captivity sucked me in and for the most part it’s a thrilling horror film, it certainly made me look over my shoulder as I sipped my next Appletini.

1234...789►

• ★★★★★

  Acting:

• ★★★★★

  Blood:

• ★★★★★

  Violence:

• ★★★★★

  Partying:

• ★★★★★

  Language:

• ★★★★★

  Humor:

• ★★★★★

  Predictable:

• ★★★★★

  Girls:

• ★★★★★

  Gore:

• ★★★★★

  Sexuality:

• ★★★★★

  Torture:

• ★★★★★

  Overall: