Octane (2003)

Director:

Marcus Adams

Writer:

Stephen Volk (written by)

Release Date:

14 November 2003 (UK)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Driven by Evil

Plot:

While on a late night road trip home, a woman must save her rebellious teenage daughter who runs off with a bizarre group of blood-letting psychos.

Plot Keywords:

Drugs | Rest Stop | Road Trip | Nightmare | Kidnapping

Cast

Madeleine Stowe	...	Senga Wilson
Norman Reedus	...	Recovery Man
Bijou Phillips	...	Backpacker
Mischa Barton	...	Natasha 'Nat' Wilson
Jonathan Rhys Meyers	...	The Father
Leo Gregory	...	Joyrider
Gary Parker	...	Vacation Man
Amber Batty	...	Vacation Woman
Jenny Jules	...	Highway Patrol Sergeant
Patrick O'Kane	...	Trucker
Martin McDougall	...	Motivational Speaker
Shauna Shim	...	Paramedic #1
David Menkin	...	Paramedic #2
Nigel Whitmey	...	Detective Ned Stephens
Samuel Fröler	...	Marek Wilson
Stephen Lord	...	Carjacker
Dean Gregory	...	Christian Missionary
Sarah Drews	...	Christine
Raffaello Degruttola	...	Highway Patrol Cop #1
Glenn Wrage	...	Highway Patrol Cop #2
Monika Hudgins	...	Southern Woman
Cesar Bayona Pinto	...	Latino Busboy
Véronique Koch	...	Cashier #1 (as Veronique Koch)
Ase Dunbar	...	Cashier #2
Nicolette Christie	...	Teenage Girl with Mobile
Rachel Pollack	...	Metro Girl
Emma Drews	...	Teenage Girl in Video
Tom Hunsinger	...	CSI Man
Sam Douglas	...	Crash Site Detective
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pedro Barreira	...	Leo James (uncredited)

Directed by
Marcus Adams

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Stephen Volk		written by

Produced by
Bill Allan	....	executive producer
Bob Bellion	....	co-producer
Al Burgess	....	line producer
Jimmy de Brabant	....	co-producer
Carlo Dusi	....	executive producer
Keith Evans	....	executive producer
Alistair MacLean-Clark	....	producer
Melvyn Singer	....	executive producer
Tim Smith	....	executive producer
Basil Stephens	....	producer

Original Music by
Simon Boswell		(supervising composer)
Paul Hartnoll		(as Orbital)
Phil Hartnoll		(as Orbital)
Orbital

Cinematography by
Robin Vidgeon		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Trevor Waite

Casting by
Leo Davis
Elaine Fallon
John Papsidera
Tania Polentarutti

Production Design by
Max Gottlieb

Art Direction by
Teresa Weston

Set Decoration by
Anna Lynch-Robinson

Costume Design by
Stewart Meachem

Makeup Department
Aurélie Elich	....	assistant makeup artist
Sarah Love	....	chief of hair
Trefor Proud	....	chief makeup artist
Evelyne Sittig	....	assistant hair stylist

Production Management
Bénédicte Humbel	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jane Burgess	....	second assistant director
Sébastien Fernandes Tasch	....	third assistant director
Stefan Magnusson	....	third assistant director
Roger Simons	....	first assistant director
Basil Stephens	....	second unit director

Art Department
Alfie Burgess	....	stand-by props
François Dickes	....	props buyer
Billy Edwards	....	stand-by props
Thomas Ferrandis	....	carpenter
Ricardo Galvao	....	art department assistant
John Greaves	....	storyboard artist
Graham Mitchell	....	carpenter
Eddie Murphy	....	carpenter
Edouard Pallardy	....	head painter
Olivier Wojcik	....	scenic painter
Eddie Wolstencroft	....	stand by painter
Terry Woods	....	property master

Sound Department
Howard Bargroff	....	sound re-recording mixer
Keith Batten	....	boom operator
Gianluca Buttari	....	foley editor
Alistair Crocker	....	sound recordist
Colette Dahanne	....	adr mixer
Simon Gershon	....	supervising sound editor
Alex Hudd	....	sound consultant: dolby
Dan Johnson	....	assistant sound re-recording mixer
Ben Meechan	....	sound effects editor
Bernard O'Reilly	....	sound effects editor
James Perry	....	assistant sound effects editor
Joakim Sundström	....	dialogue editor

Special Effects by
Alain Couty	....	special effects coordinator
Lawrence Michael	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Henry Badgett	....	digital compositor: MPC
Martin Cook	....	title design
Mark Curtis	....	digital compositor
Stefan Drury	....	visual effects producer
Rob Hill	....	digital camera operator
Douglas Larmour	....	supervising compositor
Stuart Lashley	....	digital compositor
Charlotte Loughnane	....	visual effects coordinator
Jessica Norman	....	supervising compositor
Gregory Salter	....	supervising compositor
Sally Spencer	....	visual effects coordinator
Ben Thompson	....	3D animator: MPC
John Van Hoey Smith	....	data operator

Stunts
Michel Bouis	....	stunts
Sarah Franzl	....	stunt driver
Alain Gaudiard	....	stunt rigger
Véronique Koch	....	stunt driver
Alexandrine Roux	....	stunts
Loïc Saintilan	....	stunts
Paul Weston	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Alex Aach	....	clapper loader
Alex Bailey	....	still photographer
Pierre Dermience	....	best boy
Pierre Dermience	....	electrician
Kevin Dresse	....	electrician
Johnny Feurer	....	assistant camera
Mike Frift	....	camera operator
Rab Harling	....	clapper loader: second unit
Paul Hatchman	....	key grip
Mark Hryma	....	camera operator: Wescam camera
Clyde Miller	....	assistant camera: Wescam camera
Simon Mills	....	focus puller: second unit
José Alberto Pinto de Jesus	....	electrician
Mike Roberts	....	video assist operator
Luis Santos	....	electrician
Uli Schmidt	....	assistant camera
Théodore Theodorides	....	additional clapper loader
Théodore Theodorides	....	assistant camera
Roger Tooley	....	Steadicam operator
Wolfgang Wesemann	....	assistant camera
Michael 'Indy' Whiting	....	assistant camera
Peter Wignall	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Magdalena Marczynska	....	wardrobe assistant
Mike Skorepa	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Nicola Armstrong	....	post-production coordinator
Martin Corbett	....	first assistant editor
Gina Tornatore	....	second assistant editor

Music Department
Simon Boswell	....	soundtrack producer
Geoff Foster	....	score recordist
Allan Jenkins	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Svet Hrouchoff	....	action vehicles
Gaby Meyers	....	facility/truck driver
Igor Pecirep	....	driver: Madeleine Stowe
Olivier Printz	....	car wrangler

Other crew
Sallie Beechinor	....	production coordinator
Bob Bellion	....	financial manager: Delux Productions
Mona Benjamin	....	contact: London
Peter Brown	....	location assistant
Peter Eardley	....	assistant production accountant
Giles Edleston	....	location manager
Ambroise Gayet	....	production assistant
Laura Gwynne	....	script supervisor
Véronique Koch	....	stand-in: Backpacker
Véronique Koch	....	stand-in: Nat
Patricia Kretschmer	....	assistant to producer
Nick Leese	....	head of marketing and publicity
Annick Lockman	....	assistant production coordinator
Roberto Longobardi	....	production accountant
Claude Ludovicy	....	location scout
Francois Muller	....	facilities
Francois Muller	....	location security officer
Lisa Neeley	....	head of development
Clive Noakes	....	laboratory contact
Sébastien Peiffer	....	assistant to location manager
Roger Phillips	....	end titles
Julie Smith	....	unit publicist
Maxine Stanley	....	post-production accountant
Diana Stiegler	....	location runner
Otfried Suppin	....	assistant location manager

Production Companies

• Delux Productions
• Four Horsemen Films
• Random Harvest Pictures

Special Effects

• Moving Picture Company (MPC)
• SFX Factory S.A.

Other Companies

• Arion Facilities  telecine dailies
• Compuhire  video playback
• Film & Television Facilities  facility vehicles
• Freeway CAM B.V.  world revenues collected and distributed by
• Location Consulting & Facilities  facilities vehicles
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services
• Scotts Film Management  sale and leaseback provided by

Also Known As:

"Pulse" - USA (DVD box title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, language, some drug and sexual content

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

UK | Luxembourg

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | Germany:16 | UK:15 | USA:R | Italy:T | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:18 | Norway:15 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Luxembourg

Company:

Delux Productions

Trivia:

Mischa Barton had her belly button pierced specially for her role in this movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Senga and Nat drive past the scene of the first accident, the background chatter on the police radio loops.

Quotes:

Backpacker:How do you feel?
Natasha 'Nat' Wilson:Different.
Backpacker:Do you wanna look different?
Natasha 'Nat' Wilson:Yeah.

Soundtrack:

F.E.A.R.

If Only...

The involvement of Johnathan Rhys-Meyers and Madeline Stowe made me interested in seeing Pulse/Octane. For the first part of the movie I was rewarded with cool photography, a nightmarish tone and the increasingly complex portrayal of a messed up mother-daughter dynamic. I began to get excited about what was to come as I was reminded of great classics like The Hunger, Aliens or Near Dark. Unfortunately, this potential never came to fruition.

What begins as an examination of a mother's will to protect her petulant daughter from herself soon decays into just another "B" horror movie full of clichés and buffoonish action. Shifting the perspective from Stow's character to the daughter's (Micha Barton) removes all weight and tension from the story since Barton's character is as fluffy and foolish as any MTV V-Jay. Why should we root for the mother when the heroin-chic daughter would so obviously be more happy partying with Bijou Phillips' vacuous hitchhiker?

Jonathan Rhys Meyers uses his trademark sensuality to good effect here, but his character, "The Father," is given such short-shrift that he never becomes more than a caricature. Still, if he is some kind of symbol for wanton lasciviousness, it looks so good on him one roots for Barton to accept his advances and ditch her mother's increasingly silly attempts to save her.

Movies like this are really irritating because of what they could have been with a bit more vision on the part of the writer and director. I'm sure Stowe and Rhys-Meyers saw the potential in the script and were then disappointed. For me, Pulse/Octane is one that got away...