When housewife Frances Hannon is abducted and buried alive, detective Madeline Foster is brought in. With only 24 hours before Frances' oxygen runs out, Madeline pursues the trail laid by a killer calling himself Harry Houdini. After capturing him, Madeline brings Harry back to the police station, but is unable to get him to confess where Frances is buried. As time runs down, Harry gets inside the head of unstable, alcoholic Madeline.
Acting
Brody's slippery menace vs. Tierney's unraveling ferocity.
Direction
Shepard squeezes maximum dread from minimal locations.
Writing
Smart inversion: the killer caught in act one, tension still escalates.
Director
Richard Shepard
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of a weird 1999 buried-alive mini-wave with The Vanishing and U.S. remake, but this one's the grimy indie cousin nobody remembers.
Brody filmed this right before The Pianist—watch his hands, that physicality of controlled performance became his signature.
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