Knife Edge

I cant recognise the work of a competent editor, nor can I see an editor credited. Just who edited this mash up?

The storyline is all over the place, The characters just aren't believable - one just doesn't care what happens. Back to the story, it has a "readers age" of sub 13, indeed intelligent 10, 11 and 12 year olds would find it vacuous.

Yet they save the worst aspect till last - it has absolutely no cinematic justification.

This film trashes whatever vestiges of a reputation Anthony Hickox may have had.

He should stick to vacuous action movies.

Emma (Natalie Press) is a successful trader who has some kind of clairvoyant powers. She and her family move to her husband's old family home in the English countryside. She finds it haunted in some way and has visions of what could be a murder. There's a weird creepy giant tree in the woods. Her husband doesn't care.

This British horror essentially threw a whole lot of stuff into this movie. Natalie Press is that likable. She seemed cold and distant. I was watching this more for Hugh Bonneville and he has a minor role. There is nobody to care about. It's obvious that this was a pretty bad fail. I'm not sure if I can pinpoint its failure on just one thing.

Yee gads, this is a good one. This is a true gem, a hokey haunted house movie in the lines of House On Haunted Hill that will scare the living daylights out of you. In the tradition of The Changeling (the one with George C. Scott not the one about the missing kid) and The Sentinel (the scary one not the one about government agents), this is an excellent fright fest that isn't camp and doesn't play it for laughs. The only scary horror movies are the ones that are serious, and this one is, with a lot of twists. If you liked The Shining or Amityville Horror, you will love this movie. This is what horror movies were like before Jason and Freddy and Saw, when frights came in the form of The Omen or Beyond The Door and the characters actually had mysterious motives. This movie has the patience to allow the atmosphere to startle you rather than resorting to cheep gore. I don't think I've seen a horror movie this engaging since What Ever Happened To Baby Jane; cross that with Stir of Echoes and you have Knife Edge. In Race With The Devil they had to go to a library that somehow had the exact book on satanic rituals that they were looking for, but in this modern movie they have Google, which is about the only thing that distinguishes this fine thriller from those great flicks that were made in the 70s and 80s, and even some of the movies made in the 60s such as Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte. The ending is a mixture of Sixth Sense and Psycho. Knife Edge is a modern masterpiece. It is creepy in a Rosemary's Baby type of way.

KNIFE EDGE is a psychological horror thriller produced and set in England.

In its heyday of 1957-1983, Britain produced some of the greatest horror movies ever. It all took off with THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN in 1957 (however the excellent DEAD OF NIGHT from 1945 was the first great production IMO). Hammer, Amicus and Tigon competed against each other in the 1960s and early 1970s. All three have superb productions to their name. After their decline in the second half of the 1970s, two excellent independent directors - Pete Walker and Norman J. Warren - took over the mantle for a few years.

Other classics such as THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES and THEATRE OF BLOOD were made here in Britain by other companies.

The last true British horror movie was HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS, the final and highly underrated masterpiece from Pete Walker in 1983.

British horror in its prime was truly fantastic. Americans and Europeans had no time for any of it back in the day but have since realised just how good it was. Some half-decent attempts such as HAUNTED came along to try re-igniting the old magic.

We now have the travesty known as KNIFE EDGE. Those who claim this is somehow a return to form need to watch some British horror classics again.

The plot here is compelling on paper. A married couple, along with their son, move into a country house. In the following days and weeks they begin having disturbing dreams and becoming paranoid.

It saddens me to see the comparisons made to classic movies here on IMDb.

KNIFE EDGE is nothing like THE CHANGELING.

It is nothing like THE OMEN.

It is nothing like WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?.

It is nothing like THE BIRDS.

And it is certainly nothing like Hitchcock's finest - PSYCHO.

The one thing this movie is unable to escape from is its drama-like feeling, reminiscent of TV shows like MIDSOMER MURDERS, but which are so out of place on the big screen.

The main problem here is the characterisation and the acting.

Emma and Henri do not make a convincing couple at all. There is no chemistry between the actors and the characters themselves seem to have incompatible personalities. One is a somewhat quiet but talented financial trader. The other is a smooth-talking Frenchman up to his eyeballs in debt and who gets irritated very easily. The tensions between the characters should have been great but the emotion just seemed absent.

Henri is played by Matthieu Boujenah, a French actor. The accent was clearly genuine and fit the character well but the emotions did not. After boring me to tears with his ramblings throughout, he then overacted very badly in one scene that made me laugh out loud.

Emma is played by an incredibly bland, charisma-free, dour actress known as Natalie Press. She was just boring to watch, full stop.

The one actor who does deliver a good performance here is Hugh Bonneville. He would have been equally great in the leading role. He has the right level of charisma and energy to pull it off. He was interesting to watch even though those he interacted with were so dull.

I have always thought that Joan Plowright would make an excellent villainess - someone very cold-hearted with malevolent intent. Sadly she is wasted here in a thankless role as a nanny.

The script is fatally flawed, with very boring dialogue. It tries to redeem itself by keeping scenes short and constantly changing setting. The tactic seemed good and would in theory help to keep things moving. But it doesn't.

Anthony Hickox brings very different direction from his father, Douglas Hickox (director of the masterpiece THEATRE OF BLOOD). His direction brings some superb disturbing imagery. But the effect of these was undermined by poor editing. Editing needed to be much sharper, character reactions needed to be much stronger and some better sound effects were needed.

Without giving anything away, I can say that the twists in the second half of the movie try to emulate those seen in movies such as HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE. But the revelations are done in a very low-key manner that makes it easy to miss something.

The final 10 minutes of the movie pick up some steam. But by this point it is too late. The finale is worth seeing on its own but not worth enduring the rest for.

Overall, KNIFE EDGE is an incredibly boring movie that tries but fails miserably to re-ignite British horror. With so many better thrillers such as DISTURBIA out there, it is difficult to recommend this to anyone. Instead, I would recommend seeing something from Britain's horror heyday and find out what true British horror is all about.

I saw the screening in Cannes. Still don't know if I understood all of it but it gave me a real chill... That's quite an achievement those days, it doesn't happened very often! I usually smile or laugh at those movies... The only weakness is the leading lady. All the other cast seemed to be enjoying the crazy ride but she looked like she just wanted off!! But the movie is so watchable and the rest of the cast is so gorgeous you won't even care!I especially like this french actor Mathieu Bougenah,Hugh Bonneville is sexier than I have ever seen him and I think we will see a lot more of Lorcan O'Toole very soon.. Overall, it's a big thumbs up!