Compliance (2012)

A normal Friday service at a fast food restaurant becomes interrupted by a police officer who claims an employee stole from a customer, but something more sinister is going on.

Director:

Craig Zobel

Writer:

Craig Zobel

Stars:

Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy

7 wins & 33 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ann Dowd	...	Sandra
Matt Servitto	...	Supplier
Dreama Walker	...	Becky
Pat Healy	...	Officer Daniels
Philip Ettinger	...	Kevin
Ashlie Atkinson	...	Marti
Nikiya Mathis	...	Connie
Ralph Rodriguez	...	Julio
Stephen Payne	...	Harold
Bill Camp	...	Van
Amelia Fowler	...	Brie
John Merolla	...	Customer
James McCaffrey	...	Detective Neals
Desmin Borges	...	Officer Morris
Matt Skibiak	...	Robert Gilmour (as Matthew Skibiak)

Storyline

At a fast food restaurant, the manager, Sandra, is having a bad day. Suddenly, she gets a phone call from a man claiming to be a police officer who has a complaint that one of her young female employees has stolen from a customer. At the orders of this authoritative sounding stranger, Sandra takes the apparent accused, Becky, to a back room to search her before she is picked up. Once there, the phone scammer manipulates the gullible personnel into participating in Becky's sexual humiliation that grows more twisted with every new sucker on the phone. Only when one final person has the conscience to revolt do they realize the crime they were tricked into, which the real police are hard pressed to solve.

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Plot Keywords:

fast food restaurant | telephone call | boss subordinate relationship | authority | gullibility | 

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Taglines:

Power. Manipulation. Obedience.

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sexual content/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 September 2012 (France)

Also Known As:

Compliance

Box Office

Budget:

$270,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$16,427 (USA) (17 August 2012)

Gross:

$318,622 (USA) (26 October 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Cop Bad Cop Film Productions, Dogfish Pictures, Muskat Filmed Properties

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nearly all of the events in this movie are true. The movie centers on the incident in April 9th 2004, a call was made to a McDonald's in Mount Washington, Kentucky; In the real life incident, the girl's name was Louise Ogborn and she worked at McDonald's. Her assistant managers name was Donna Summers and the caller on the other line was 'Officer Scott' and the call had originated from a pay-phone in Panama City, Florida. The card he had used was a AT&T phone card that he had bought at Wal-Mart.

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Goofs

When Becky is first stripping down, her hair is up/down between shots.

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Quotes

Supplier: You're fucked without bacon, I tell you that!

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Connections

Featured in The 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards (2013)

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Soundtracks

White Dress
Performed by Ashley Robertson
Written by Ashley Robertson
Published by Pubadminourstage (ASCAP)

User Reviews

Zobel Will Make You Cringe

"Compliance" is a shockingly terrifying film. As I watched the events unfold on the screen, knowing that they were tightly based off a true story, I had difficulty maintaining my breathing. With a sinister visual style from the start, filled with tight macro shots and a simply greasy aura, as well as powerful performances from all of the cast members, most exceptionally Ann Dowd, "Compliance" transcends from its fast-food setting into something much darker, and much more haunting. The abuse of the young cashier is repulsive. "How could you do that?!" you will continually wonder, wishing the words would escape your head in the form of a scream. This film is frustrating, vexing, and equally engrossing, almost as if the story itself doesn't satisfy man's need for vicarious horror. "Compliance" forces me to question my fate in humanity and the limits of the 7 billion people with whom I share this Earth. Ultimately this film is a sickening narrative, a narrative I might as well wish I had never seen. Must you watch this? No. Is this a vital piece of cinema? No. Is "Compliance" paralyzing, appalling, thought provoking, and, most brutally, true? More than you could ever imagine.