Le Rapt

My review was written in May 1986 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Abducted" is a modest little picture, which achieves its goal of presenting a simple story of survival in the mountainous wilds of British Columbia. Tameness of treatment indicates its best market will be for tv audiences.

Shot on handsome, treacherous locations, the story ironically recalls the strictly claustrophobic tale "The Collector". Renee (Roberta Weiss) is a beautiful, young student out jogging in the woods who is kidnapped by primitive backwoodsman Vern (Lawrence King-Phillips). He forces her to climb steep rock faces and trek for several days with him to his remote mountain cabin where he plans to live with her.

Though Renee gradually comes to understand Vern and even pity him, she resists his frequent attempts to assault her and is finally saved from a fate worse than death by the appearance of Vern's dad, Joe (Dan Haggerty) on the scene. Joe warns his son not to hurt the lady and agrees to return her safely to civilization.

After an altercation with some hunters (out to kill the mountain sheep Joe loves and protects), Vern runs off. An Oedipal conflict occurs when he returns, savagely bashes his father with a rifle butt and leaves Joe for dead. Ever the rugged survivor, Joe manages to recover and track Vern down in a predictable conclusion that spells freedom for Renee.

Director Boon Collins smoothly handles this basic material, pulling his punches in the frequent scenes that promise some sex or nudity but never delivers. Robeta Weiss is easy on the eyes even under such a tasteful approach while Lawrence King-Phillips chews the woodsy scenery as a young villain reminiscent of John Drew Barrymore. Haggerty is perfectly cast as a kindly mountain man not too distantly related to his Grizzly Adams persona.

Tech credits are modest but effective, with an assist provided by nice wildlife photography by Tommy Tompkins.

Well, this was … good, but certainly not what I expected! According to the cover of the ex-rental VHS I picked up, "Abducted" is based on a true story and it even has bits and pieces of authentic Canadian newspaper clippings illustrated on the back. However, I can't find any information regarding this allegedly "true story" on the whole internet. I'm still somewhat tempted to believe the film is at least loosely inspired by true events, though, because the plot and the story twists are just too weird be fictional. "Abducted" is quite unique, actually. It's a prototypic exploitation movie, only it doesn't feature any exploitation trademarks. This movie basically deals with the kidnapping of a young and beautiful girl by a bewildered and socially alienated mountain man, but strangely enough it doesn't feature any sleaze, nudity or rape. Instead, this is a slow-moving and (wannabe) harrowing drama that makes some very unusual twists around halfway and mainly focuses on the breathtaking filming locations and environmental scenery. During her morning jog in the woods, Renee Aldrich is surprise-attacked by a madman. He scares and provokes her and then literally drags the poor girl deeper into the woods – by a rope around her neck – to his cabin. His attempts to rape her might be unsuccessful, but still his behavior towards her grows increasingly hostile. Then the film makes a weird twist when suddenly the freak's father shows up and turns out to be a "one-with-nature" Good Samaritan type of guy. Joe Evans, played by Grizzly guy Dan Haggerty, heavily disapproves his son's acts and even confesses to Renee that the came to live in the remote woods to keep Vern away from people. Grizzly guy also swears to guide her back home, but Vern is not willing to let her go that easy. On their way back to civilization, "Abducted" changes into some sort of educational nature & wildlife documentary, with Dan Haggerty vividly trying to pass on the message of preserving our forests. Undeniably the filming locations are staggering, but if I wanted to see deer or birds, I could always watch National Geographic. The bizarre triangular situation and the continuously present tension between Renee and her aggressor Vern provide a handful of noteworthy atmospheric sequences, but overall "Abducted" is a dull film and a missed opportunity for sure.

I just noticed there also exists a sequel to this film, entitled "Abducted II: the Reunion", which features Vern's resurrection from the dead and three scarcely dressed women on a camping trip. Now, that's all the more proof this film can't possibly be based on a true story, because that would be the ultimate in shamelessly exploiting a human drama. But with a director named Boon Collins, you never know, of course

I saw this movie late one night on a movie channel here in Canada. It has received some medicore reviews here, but I think the movie is slightly above average, all things considered.

Yes, it was a low budget movie and that's quite obvious. The beautiful scenery of the Canadian wilderness is breathtaking. The characters played by Haggerty, and his son were quite well-developed and believable. Haggerty and Weiss also have some great dialog on their trip back to civilization. Roberta Weiss looks great too, and that doesn't hurt.

You won't be able to find this one DVD yet, your only hope is to catch on TV one night, or find a used copy of the VHS.

This movie has a lot going for it. The plot is simple: a psychotic mountain man kidnaps a young woman while she is out on her morning jog. The problem is the director came up short. Most of the time, the movie tries to focus in on the intensity and insane look in the kidnapper's eyes. There are also a lot of chase scenes in the Canadian rockies. Not much else.

There are some good points. Dan Haggerty plays the madman's father and does a good acting job, but I kept flashing back to his TV series "Grizzly Adams". I half-expected Ben the bear to come trotting out of the bushes at any time. Roberta Weiss at the start of the movie played the role of the damsel-in-distress rather lamely, however she did seem to improve once the madman's cabin had been reached.

The problem is that this movie was not what you'd come to expect from this genre. The danger of sexual assault was there every time Vern got close. However, for a guy that had been out in the woods for two years without a woman, you'd think he could have gotten past the bra. Give this same script to David Cronenberg and you'd have a successful NC-17 movie and a better ending where the hunted becomes the hunter. As is, it is barely PG and not worth renting.

When it comes on Showtime or TNT, take a look if you like Dan Haggerty, as long as nothing else is on.

Exciting from start to finish-not only is this one of those movies of which you just HAVE to see the ending, but it's also one of those gems that actually has you talking out loud to the screen and as you know, not every movie involves you so much, it makes you want to do that. Weeellll, it did have that affect on me, anyway. I found the acting to be excellent-so good, you can easily forget you're just watching a movie as it seemed so real. The casting was absolutely perfect. I'm also glad they made a sequel to it, too. Energetic but not overdone, no hammy performances, everything was just right. I thought this movie was absolutely great. Interesting, suspenseful, not dull at all...can't remember a "slow" spot. Just extremely well done in all ways, in MHO.