Without even calling into question the morals of a film which seems to exist only to depict the suffering of multiple women through hideous tortures, the film is still an empty mess, offering only a minor afterthought of an explanation to who is doing the
Captivity (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:71
Fresh:5
Rotten:66
Average Rating:2.7/10
Consensus: Lacking scares or psychological insight, Captivity is a distasteful entry in the 'torture porn' subgenre.
Australian Rating: MA15+ [See Full Rating] Strong violence, Blood and gore
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Australian Theatrical Release:
May 8, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $2,626,800
Synopsis: Top cover girl and fashion model, Jennifer Tree (ELISHA CUTHBERT) has it all - beauty, fame, money and power. Her face appears on covers of hundreds of magazines. At the top of her game, Jennifer... Top cover girl and fashion model, Jennifer Tree (ELISHA CUTHBERT) has it all - beauty, fame, money and power. Her face appears on covers of hundreds of magazines. At the top of her game, Jennifer is America's sweetheart. She is loved and adored and sought after. Everyone wants her. But someone out there has been watching and waiting. Someone wants her in the worst way. Out alone at a charity event in Soho, Jennifer is drugged and taken. Held captive in a cell, Jennifer is subjected to a series of terrifying, life-threatening tortures that could only be conceived by a twisted, sadistic mind. Inspired by the fact that over 850,000 are reported missing every year in the United States, many of whom are never seen again, CAPTIVITY follows the story of one woman who is abducted and tortured, held against her will in a place where days turn into weeks. Her will to escape and survive is challenged every moment by a maniac's desire to demoralize innocent victims and play out his sick game that has been played many times before Jennifer was taken. A combination of SAW and HOSTEL meets SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, CAPTIVITY is a psychological thriller/horror film that shows us the true terror of the crimes of abduction and confinement that are committed every day by serial killers and psychopaths at large. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Roland Joffe (THE KILLING FIELDS, THE MISSION), CAPTIVITY delves deeply into the minds of both captor and victim with a fresh and terrifying view of this epidemic horror. Being released this summer in theatres nation-wide, CAPTIVITY has been called one of the most controversial films of the year. It's a disturbing and raw, yet classy and thought provoking film which will leave you terrified, and looking over your shoulder as you leave the theatre wondering if you could be next. --© After Dark Films [More]
Starring: Elisha Cuthbert, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Laz Alonso, Daniel Gillies
Starring: Elisha Cuthbert, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Laz Alonso, Daniel Gillies, Michael Harney, Mark Damon
Director: Roland Joffé
Director: Roland Joffé
Screenwriter: Larry Cohen, Joseph Tura
Producer: Mark Damon
Composer: Marco Beltrami
Studio: After Dark Films
Reviews for Captivity
Even in the fetid swamp of the torture porn genre, it stands out as a particularly awful movie.
Captivity is the kind of film that gives torture porn a bad name. It's disturbing in the most unpleasant ways possible outside of Abu Ghraib or battlefield snuff films.
Captivity has the compulsory quality of a straight-to-DVD movie -- and considering the fast-fading torture-porn movement, that's no doubt the destiny of similar offerings to follow.
Joffe and his screenwriter Larry Cohen deserve a little credit for pointing up the psychological horrors where they can, but Captivity is still a grubby, exploitative film with an extremely guessable twist and universally dull performances.
It's a Saw rip-off with less smarts. (Take a moment, please, to allow that sentence to sink in.)
Although shot with a modicum of style by a seriously slumming Roland Joffe... nothing terribly thrilling happens in this 'thriller.'
A film of two halves, while the first is original, bleak and psychologically disturbing, the second couldn't be more conventional if it tried. By the end, we're the ones feeling like we've been drugged and duped - into watching this nonsense.
It feels desperate from beginning to end, and is only offensive in that it presumes to be better than we think...
Inexplicável, como o director de A Missão pode ser também o responsável por este filme vazio, estúpido e repleto de momentos acidentalmente hilários em função de sua imbecilidade.
The irony is that Captivity is ABOUT the things it's hated for - a culture that views women as objects, fascination with death and mutilation, turning to the misery of others for our entertainment.
What could have at least been a halfway decent house-of-horrors scary movie digresses into a puddle of fake blood in this stale little thriller that peaks when its resident baddie mixes a batch of eyeballs in an electric blender.
It flunks because it’s one of the daftest, dullest films I’ve seen in an absolute age.
Captivity is an abomination, and perhaps a new low in the torture-porn genre: a film I liked even less than Hostel.
One has to worry about a world where there is a constant appetite for films like this one.
Some inventive individual moments aside, Captivity is off-puttingly derivative and clumsily written.
. . .sitting through it is a form of torture that far outstrips anything seen on the screen.
I never, ever imagined the experience of spending 80 minutes watching Elisha Cuthbert could be so punishing and vile.
Latest News for Captivity
January 22, 2008:
I Know Who Killed Me, Norbit, Daddy Day Camp Lead Razzie Noms
No awards season -- even a strike-tainted one -- would be complete without the Razzies, right? Of course not. And that's why we've thoughtfully assembled all of this year's... More...
December 19, 2007:
MPAA Rejects Taxi to the Dark Side Poster
The poster submitted by ThinkFilm for Taxi to the Dark Side -- the Alex Gibney documentary opening January 11 -- has been rejected by the MPAA. More...
August 09, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Chan and Tucker Back in Action
Another wide assortment of summer offerings will hit the multiplexes across North America this weekend. The action-comedy sequel Rush Hour 3 leads the way as the main course and... More...
July 20, 2007:
Larry Cohen Plans Remakes of It's Alive, Black Caesar, and The Stuff
Long before he wrote movies like "Phone Booth," "Cellular," and (ugh) "Captivity," filmmaker Larry Cohen was making horror movies about killer babies. And (guess what?) he just... More...
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