Truly Dreadful Film

A Disappointing Continuation

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

In case you don't know, the writer/director of 'Surveillance' is Jennifer (daughter of renowned master of the surreal David) Lynch. So, if you've seen anything from Blue Velvet to Mullholland Drive (or any other of 'Daddy' Lynch's work, you'll probably know what to expect from his offspring.Like her father, she delves deep into places most of us would rather not go. Here, two FBI agents arrive in a small town, hot on the trail of a couple of wanted serial killers. Unfortunately, they're too late to stop a spree of killings, but do their best to piece together the carnage from the handful of survivors who have made it out alive.The characters are a wide and varied bunch, but, what unites them is that they're all pretty unlikable. Yes, there is a little girl who brings a touch of innocence to the film and – rightly so – she even won an award for her performance. But the rest of them are pretty dark – even the ones who you're supposed to root for! Much of the tale is told through the eyes of the survivors, making the film mainly a series of flashbacks which are open to interpretation.You get a fair amount of (what I'd call) 'Pulp Fiction-esque' dialogue which shows us more about the characters, rather than speeds the plot along. This can either work well, or drag the story along. I'm glad to say that it does the job here. Again, like her father, the dialogue is pretty cringe worthy to listen to, largely due to its content and how awkward and uncomfortable it makes the (few innocent) characters feel.However, unlike David Lynch's films, this one is a little more straight forward. His tend to be very open to interpretation, whereas Surveillance has a definitely 'beginning, middle and end.' Yes, it can be a little jumbled sometimes, but you shouldn't have any trouble keeping up, especially if you're in the mood for something very dark and twisted.

A pair of killer is on the loose in Nebraska of all places,, a massacre occurs, and their are 3 survivors,, they are picked up by the local police and brought in for questioning,, alas the FBI shows up and has questions of their own,, a young woman 20 ish,, a little girl,, and a cop with a bad reputation are our survivors,, they each have different stories to tell and each one is different from the other, and leaves bits and pieces out so you're not sure who the heck the killer or killers really are,, Bill Pullman,, and Michael Ironside do great jobs in their perspective roles, later on as things are slowly revealed we start to get a clearer picture of who the killers may be,, nice big twist at the end I never seen coming, excellent thriller with lot's of twists.

This movie shows just how far as a society, which is reflected in its movies, that we have fallen. It is as disgusting and worthless a movie as one could ever possibly image. The pointless blood and gore that fill it and the supposed surprise ending which is simply Freddy Kruger gone hog wild are symptoms of the failure of Hollywood to come up with anything approaching a redeeming movie. To say that this movie sucks would be the understatement of the year. If you watch this and then feel that you enjoyed it then I think that would say a lot about you as a person. I will be seeking to find out who wrote, produced and directed this piece of trash so that in the future I can avoid anything they ever do again. It is a violent retread built on top of a repeat built on top of an endless flow of sickening and disgusting Hollywood movies that are supposed to sicken and shock us into a state where we think we were entertained by the end of the movie. I wasn't! StocktonRob

Jennifer Lynch, daughter of David Lynch, tries her hand at directing again after a long exile from film due to the disastrous reception of her last attempt, Boxing Helena. This is definitely a better film than Boxing Helena, but Lynch still has a long way to go as a filmmaker. Featuring an odd cast and a script that showcases bizarre dialogue exchanges, Surveillance is all over the place in the story department. However, there is enough here to entice you into exploring just what the heck is going on. Bill Pullman, Julia Ormond, Cheri Oteri, French Stewart, Michael Ironside, Pell James and a great Kent Harper (who looks a lot like Anthony Cumia of O&A) form one of the weirder casts seen lately in a film. It's all at once a dark comedy, a killer thriller and just plain strange. It doesn't always succeed in what it's trying to do, but there's some interesting imagery and a couple memorable scenes that keep it from being lost in the shuffle of quirky thrillers surrounding it. If you've seen a lot of thrillers and horror flicks, you might be able to guess who's doing the killing, but that's not the point of the flick and relying on that for satisfaction might just leave you more disappointed than most.