Skip to content

THE CAPTIVE

Written By:

Paul Mount
thecaptive

DVD REVIEW: THE CAPTIVE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: LUKE MASSEY / SCREENPLAY: LUKE MASSEY, BENJAMIN READ / STARRING: JOSEPH MORGAN, MATT RYAN, WILLIAM TROUGHTON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Royal Marine AJ Budd (Morgan) wakes up in a strange house. He doesn’t know where he is or how he got there, but every now and again he gets attacked by things which looks like cut-price orcs. Alone and isolated, he starts to lose his grip on sanity as the days roll by with no end in sight for his inexplicable predicament.

There is the kernel of a good idea lurking somewhere in the middle of The Captive. The movie’s psychological conceit – one man’s slow mental deterioration in an impossible situation – has a lot of potential, but in the end it all amounts to not really very much as there’s just not enough going on even to justify the film’s meagre 60-odd minute running time. What we have here might just about pass muster as an episode of a supernatural anthology series, if such a thing were to still exist, but it’s thin gruel indeed across an extended running time.

There are other problems. Paying careful attention to the very beginning of the movie pretty much flags up the ‘twist’ ending, and the limitations of the film’s clearly pitiful budget are impossible to overlook. The Captive looks as if it was filmed almost entirely in someone’s living room (and occasionally their cellar) and Budd‘s “grotesque inhuman opponents” (who attack one at a time) are clearly just the same bloke in the same ropey costume. Although Joseph Morgan gives his role as the disintegrating soldier his all, he’s hampered by the fact that he really hasn’t got enough to do and the story lacks the breadth of material needed to give the film or his performance any real momentum.

But despite its shortcomings, The Captive isn’t entirely without merit. Director Luke Massey makes the best of the meagre resources available to him and whilst he’s not able to rustle up a silk purse out of this sow’s ear, he makes the best of a bad job and churns out a workmanlike and watchable film. But it could have been so much better with a bit more cash and a slightly more ambitious script.

Extras: None

Paul Mount

You May Also Like...

andy and barbara muschietti, aka the muschiettis, teaming with skydance for horror label nocturna

The Muschiettis Launch Horror Label NOCTURNA With Skydance

The It-team are joining forces with Skydance to launch a brand new horror division named Nocturna, THR reports. The brother-sister filmmaking duo known as the Muschiettis – Andy and Barbara
Read More
patty jenkins returns to the star wars film rogue squadron

Patty Jenkins Returns With STAR WARS’ ROGUE SQUADRON Film

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has given an encouraging update on what was presumed to be a dead project, stating that she’s back in active development on her Star Wars
Read More

Comic Book CAPITAL P Launched

Capital P Book One is the first part of a twelve-issue comic book maxi-series from writer Sam Gardner Jr and artist Jerome Canty. The official tag line is “A hero
Read More
neve campbell as sidney prescott in scream

Neve Campbell Returns To SCREAM Franchise

In an unexpected turn of events, Neve Campbell is confirmed to be returning to the Scream franchise, after several upsets to the production of Scream VII. It’s particularly surprising news
Read More

The First Trailer for THE CROW is Here

The highly anticipated remake of The Crow has its first trailer, which you can check out below. The film stars Bill Skarsgård as Eric Draven and FKA Twigs as Shelly
Read More

Submit Your Film to THE RAY HARRYHAUSEN AWARDS

The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation is once again holding an awards programme to recognise excellence in the field of stop-motion effects. This year’s submission fees have also been reduced!
Read More