The Wolf Hour

A well played agoraphobic writer in the time of serial murderer Sam trapped in her slum apartment made suspenseful by the good acting of Naomi Watts.

This film is an odd bird. It's set in NYC in 1977 and Naomi Watts plays a woman who is terrified to leave her apartment which is located in a rundown Bronx ghetto. You gradually learn her story in her interactions during visits by the few outsiders she allows into her life as she hovers near a mental breakdown. It's more a play than a film. No violence and a relatively positive ending.

You probably need to have lived through the 70s to appreciate it. But I liked it a lot.

It has its flaws, the title being the most significant. Not sure what they were thinking. But it in no way deserves all the snarky 1 and 2 numeric ratings. IMDB please! drop the numeric rating and make people justify their gripes. A plus or minus for those too lazy to write something would be sufficient.

Naomi Watts is one of the most gifted and underrated actresses of our time. She commands this role as a depressed author sheltered in a Manhattan tenement apartment during the height of the Son of Sam murders. She is being tormented by a stranger, or is she? As the story unfolds we learn that her novel caused a family uproar and may have contributed to her father's death. The attention to dated details is very, very good. The cinematography is well done. The sense of heat, humidity, and filth in Watts' apartment is palpable. This is more like a play than a movie in some ways. The movie is a one woman show and, while Watts is commanding, I do see how one might find it slow as it was advertised as a thriller and is more of a psychological drama with the emphasis on drama. New York is a central character in this one. There are some peripheral characters, including the S. O. S., and all are relatively damaged. Add a Summer blackout for extra drama.

I kept waiting for something that never happened. I missed the point or there was none. Watts was great and some plot twists were interesting but it didn't lead to anything, so this movie left me disappointed. There was so much to explore, such a shame it's all a big meh in the end.

This film tells the story of a woman who locks herself in her home.

What I can tell you, the film is definitely not a thriller. There is no thrill or suspense. In fact, it is full of boredom. The story is not engaging, not captivating and not sensical. If she is so scared of the outside, I struggle to find it sensical that she keeps the windows wide open. The story doesn't go anywhere either. It is just really boring.