D-Tox - Im Auge der Angst

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.**

The real mystery of D-Tox (hereinafter referred to by its video tile, "Eye See You") is why it never found a distributor in North America. I thought it was a good movie. You have to give star Sylvester Stallone a little credit for trying to shed his Rambo he-man image and playing a distraught and tragic hero.

The story involves a serial killer who has been murdering cops and whose murders will be investigated by FBI agent Jake Malloy (Stallone). When the killer murders Malloy's girlfriend Mary (Dina Meyer) he goes into a funk and finds solace at the bottom of a bottle to the point of contemplating suicide. Malloy's friend and partner Hendricks (Charles S. Dutton) convinces him to go to an isolated D-Tox center in Wyoming run by shrink Kris Kristofferson.

Malloy is thrown in with other cops from various locations who also have demons to exorcise. Among them are Christopher Fulford as Slater who tries to befriend him, Noah (Robert Patrick) who has a chip on his shoulder, McKenzie (Robert Prosky), Jones (Courtney B. Vance), Brandon (Mif) and Lopez (Angela Alvarado) among others. Polly Walker plays Jenny a sympathetic nurse and Tom Berenger and Stephen Lang as two suspicious workers at the facility.

It turns out that the serial killer that Malloy thought he had killed earlier, has in fact infiltrated the D-Tox Center and has begun systematically murdering the people there. But who is he or she?

Director Jim Gillespie gives us a murder mystery rather than an action film. It has the isolation and claustrophobic feeling reminiscent of John Carpenter's "The Thing" (1982) except in this case the killer is human and not alien.

Stallone is good in the lead role experiencing a wide range of emotions. Its one of his better performances in recent years. Of the supporting players, Patrick stands out as well as Fulford, Dutton, Prosky, Vance, Alvartado and Lang. Berenger hardly has anything meaningful to do and is wasted here. And watch for Ron Howard's dad Rance Howard as the proprietor of the lodge that Dutton stays at. "Eye See You" is an under appreciated film and deserves a chance to find an audience. It is hoped that the video release will give it proper visibility.

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¨

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.

I just watched a screener copy of this movie. I was thoroughly entertained. The plot was very sharp, and for a Stalone movie the acting was better than average. The movie was filled with actors that enjoy acting. Maybe the best part of the movie was just when you think you have the plot figured out there is a complete change of direction. I think that helped keep my attention. I actually got interested in the charactors and really wanted to figure out who the bad guy was. I could recommend, with a clear conscience, this movie to anyone.