D-Tox - Im Auge der Angst

Moving film contains a twisted intrigue , good eye cinematography and a support cast actually good . An alcoholic FBI enforcer named Jake Malloy (Sylvester Stallone) attempts to recover himself from a grisly killing , as his only way results to be a deep rehab . As Malloy resorts to drink but then takes the advices of his superior (Charles S Dutton) to go to snowy Wyoming detox centre conveniently located in the middle of nowhere . This defunct nuclear command and control outpost is only accessible by snow-mobile . As he checks into a rehab clinic that specializes in treating law enforcement officials with unexpected consequences . But is is not the ordinary clinic , being run by ex-cop (Kris Kristofferson) and staffed by a doctor (Polly Walker) and bitter as well as sneering loonies (Tom Berenguer). There takes place horrible crimes and Jake is taunted by a serial murderer .

Thrilling suspense movie packs chills , noisy action , gratuitous violence , intriguing events , gruesome slaying and winds up into an astonishing finale . Exciting and stirring development , though predictable , when starring finds that his fellow patients are being murdered one by one . This is an acceptable thriller but contains several flaws and gaps , in fact there was trouble brewing on the set because of overages and creative concerns between the director and the studio ; as producers let it sit on the shelf for many months and after over a year it was decided to do a re-shoot . Nice production design and spectacular snowy scenarios, in fact , the film's snowstorm sequences were shot in Canada . Decent acting by Sylvester Stallone , as he comes off lightly as a cop who comes undone after witnessing a brutal scene on the job . Very good support cast though really wasted , all of them play ex-cops patients varying from psychotically aggressive , paranoids , drunken , suicidal person ; being performed by Robert Prosky , Sean Patrick Flannery , Christopher Fulford , Jeffrey Wright , Angela Alvarado , Robert Patrick , Courney B Vance , among others . Suspenseful and frightening musical score, fitting to action , by John Powell . Colorful cinematography in Panavision by Deam Semler , shot on location in Vancouver , Whistler, New Westminster, British Columbia, Toronto, Ontario ,Canada

This killer-chiller was professionally directed , though with no originality, by Jim Gillespie . After the movie was finished in 1999 Universal studio decided to screen it to a test audience but all screenings of the first cut got very bad reactions by them , it was then shelved for quite some time while re-shoots and story changes were being done , in conclusion , the movie debuted in USA in home video . Jim Gillespie is a director and assistant director, known for ¨Venom¨ and his big hit : ¨I Know What You Did Last Summer¨ . He also has produced and directed for TV such as ¨World without end¨ , ¨The legacy¨ , ¨Shooting Gallery¨ and ¨Cardiac arrest¨

Well, having not only spent two years on the shelf but getting released straight to video AND the original studio - Universal - disowning it (removing its logo and "Universal presents..." as well as giving it to another studio to release on DVD and video) I was expecting yet another Stallone bomb. Actually, while I would never say it's a good movie, it nowhere as bad as you might think - it's certainly better than recent Stallone turkeys like GET CARTER.

It's actually starts surprisingly well. Not only is Stallone's character given a lot of dialogue, Stallone actually *acts* when delivering it. The subsequent events that traumatize his character are well done, with a genuine eerieness to them. Things continue well for a while longer, showing the utter pit of despair Stallone's character has fallen in, and Stallone once again is up to this challenge.

Then he goes to the detox center, and the movie quickly falls apart. The biggest problems are:

(1) WAY too many characters. It was extremely difficult to remember who was who with all these people walking in and out of the camera. It's also difficult to separate each person in your mind because we hardly learn a thing about each character - if we are lucky.

(2) REALLY bad editing. Scenes (and some individual cuts) go by so quickly that we often don't get the chance to properly digest what we're given to ponder. Two things happening at the same time (in different places) are cut back and forth with no seeming purpose, and no coherent flow. Though the DVD has eight deleted scenes, it's obvious that there was originally a lot more shot. I have to agree with another poster that there are signs there was a desperate effort to save the movie in the editing room.

(3) Once in the detox center, poor Stallone has almost NOTHING to do. He's given almost nothing to say, and frequently sits on the sidelines while things are happening. Not exactly a star vehicle, this movie.

Still, there is a good amount of atmosphere, the movie is briskly paced (though sometimes incoherent because of this), and the sets/production values are pretty decent. While I wouldn't have recommended anyone to see it at a theater if it had gotten released there, you have to remember there have been far worse films (with and without Stallone) that did get such releases.

Sly Stallone stars as an FBI Agent who turns to drink when the love of his life becomes the victim of a crazed serial killer who has been targeting cops for death. So struck by the tragedy, he is coerced into signing up for a rehab programme at a remote asylum facility, but soon it becomes clear that the serial killer is still in his midst.

Famously delayed from being released for quite some time, D-Tox is like an itch on Stallone's CV that he will never be able to scratch. In truth it's quite serviceable as a formulaic thriller, but it's so derivative and, yes, dumb, it's hard to recommend with any sort of confidence.

Any number of thriller films you have probably seen will spring to mind when viewing this, but in short it's like a "10 Little Indians" meets "The Thing", with a side order of "Seven" thrown in for good measure. The first half is actually well built by the makers, establishing Stallone's emotional chaos, his dive into the bottle, and then setting him up in an institution that is frighteningly monolithic in a grey and steely way. His co-patients are all troubled coppers in search of a dry run, and this also sets things up neatly for some rich characterisations, unfortunately it all descends into cliché hell and wastes what is a rather superb cast - while Stallone unfortunately shifts from a believable tortured soul into a muscle head with a gun. Cest la vie!

Good moody atmosphere and some heart jolting deaths keeps the pic on the boil, but ultimately the pandering of the norm renders a promising thriller to being distinctly average. 5/10

The movie has some terrific performances and a nice buildup. However, once you reach the wilderness..... it goes wild! The way they have made the last 15 minutes of the movie makes me feel that the story writer lost interest in the movie altogether. Stallone is top notch though he does look a bit tired in the first half of the movie.

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Stallone and the director of I Know What You Did Last Summer sound like an intriguing combination.But this belated picture isn't really.Sly's performance works more thanks to the script than to him,thanks to some emotive scenes at the beginning,otherwise he's as blank as he was in the Rambo movies.Worse than that,the story is told in a really straight-forward,unoriginal way,you can see scenes coming before you've even seen them.There are few real jolts or surprises.There's some okay action in between,but to be honest,it's hard to understand why this didn't go straight to video.**