Beyond Bedlam

To those of us keen on this type of thing, a sexy, druggy, brutal serial killer flik starring Craig Fairbrass, Keith Allen and Elizabeth Hurley has to be fab, right ?

No. It's a clunky, pretentious, stupidly directed mess. Not NECESSARILY bad things for films - some of us even view them as positives - but it's biggest crime is it has no cult potential. It's just yuck. And not good yuck at that.

There's a rank psycho (Allen) banged up in a secure hospital. Dr Hurley reckons she can 'cure' him by means of an experimental drug. The drug gives him telekinetic powers which, of course, he uses to torment her and her numbskull cop mate (Fairbrass) in the outside world. Y'see, he sees their dreams ..

'BB' is nasty, but only in a 'For God's Sake Let's Try And Make This More Interesting!' way. We like our unpleasantness to evolve from a film's plot, maybe a character trait .. just shoving stuff in - like a tacky 'fisting' - simply doesn't cut it.

There's a few bits of lean meat to push around your plate : Jesse Birdsall - Mr 90's himself - gets offed early on .. Anita Dobson, dead but still funny, doing household chores over and over again while expanding gunshot blood soaks her blouse .. Georgina Hale is her usual finery as a sinister nun, cruelly taunting Hurley for her sinful past, but it's all for nought.

Allen does just enough in a ranty role made for him, but the point of Craig Fairbrass? Beats me. His cop is clichéd, sweary and solid from the neck up. The day's 'loose' fashions don't do him any favours as he struts around but don't let him off the hook, either. 'Beyond Bedlam' could be seen as part of a dreaded Fairbrass Trilogy of mind-bogglingly bad horror films he made in the 90's but that wouldn't be supportive.

As for Hurley, astonishingly attractive, no question - voted World's Hottest Woman by Maxim Mag when you're pushing 60 is achievement high - but as an actress, she's rock bottom of the range. She'd make a great lamp in a movie .. stick some Tiffany on her, stand her in a corner and tell her to keep still.

If 'Beyond Bedlam' was truly as challenging as it thinks it is, it would end with a hand-in-hand Allen & Hurley skipping off into the distant sunrise to begin a wonderful new life together. As it is, it's just ho-hum blood and violence.

Often compared to 'Lambs', 'Elm Street' etc, it's origins go further back: Ray Danton's mid-70's shlocker 'Psychic Killer', which is a far better choice. If the idea of a (very) brief flash of lush Liz's bumpers is likely up your street (tempting, no?), go for it, but us true trash cognoscenti need more than that.

Dr. Stephanie Lyell (Elizabeth Hurley) works at "The Institute", where she's been working with a psychopath named Gilmour (Keith Allen) to see if he can be made "normal". Dr. Lyell uses a combination of chemicals on Gilmour with unexpected results.

Meanwhile, Lyell's neighbors begin dying in bizarre, unexplained ways (i.e.: hanging, spontaneous combustion, etc.). Is Gilmour somehow responsible? If so, are paranormal abilities involved?

Now, this may sound great. It's not.

NIGHTSCARE is a ludicrous tale presented in a disjointed way, making it seem as though huge chunks of the story are missing. This results in a confounding experience for the viewer. Weird things happen, only to go nowhere.

Gilmour, while quite repugnant, just isn't all that menacing or frightening. While attempting to portray him as a sort of Hannibal Lecter / Fred Kruger hybrid, he comes off more like a parody of both. There's also the cardboard cop, the "creepy" nun, etc.

Alas, if this movie hadn't been so utterly bland, it could have been a schlock masterwork. Ms. Hurley is a good actor, but she has no hope of wading through this visual sub-sludge...

Oh, the pain, the pain! This was a truly awful movie. I saw it on video as Nightscare, and it claimed to be as good as Hellraiser.

Dr. Lyell (Elizabeth Hurley) has developed an injection that is supposed to supply the neurotransmitter that psychopaths lack, giving them the positive social traits everyone else has. She apparently only tested it on one other person other than the serial killer Gilmour - herself. Two people die under strange circumstances in the apartment building she lives in. Detective Hamilton feels Gilmour must be involved. None of these characters are interesting, and the acting all around is pretty sub-par.

What is going on is unclear, not so much because of any surreal or Lynchian, etc. elements at work, but poor storytelling, editing, directing, etc. Apparently the drug gives Dr. Lyell bad dreams that come true. Or perhaps they create a link whereby Gilmour can make Lyell's dreams come true. However, Lyell and Hamilton both see and feel things happen to them while they are awake, that apparently Gilmour is causing while he is also awake. Lyell and Hamilton encounter people from their lives who are now dead, including people they inadvertently killed themselves. Lyell and Hamilton realize these people are dead, and the dead people tend to repeat whatever they say like broken records, and yet Lyell and Hamilton can't stop themselves from listening to the dead and conversing with them. At other times, Gilmour can apparently transfer himself out of his cell, and transform himself into other people. A mess.

The ending is truly awful, the sort of open ending one would expect from someone who hoped to make a sequel. Please, let there be no sequel to this, please!

Basically the only reason i watched this film was for Craig Kelly. As it happens he was only in it for 5 mins, so anyone else thinking of doing the same thing..don't, its not worth it(although he does look cute). Craig Kelly aside i thought this film lacked the power to reach its potential...because it certainly had some, the ideas were there, the plot was actually ok, but sadly they tried too hard to make it surreal and it ended up as one gigantic confusing mess. I was quite confident that Liz Hurley and Keith Allen might be able to save it (from reading the back review u aren't exactly running for the counter) but the acting in this was pretty awful. The lead male was terrible, Keith Allen was good enough, but he wasn't saying much, so that leaves Craig Kelly...who..despite all my biased..i must truthfully admit was pretty good for the small role he had. So contrary to all i said at the beginning if the only reason you are watching this is for Craig Kelly then i must say thats a pretty good reason, at least u know there's one bit u will enjoy, because quite frankly the rest of it is a pile or c**p and not worth the bother. If anyone wants to rewrite it though then i'd probably watch it again cos like i said its definitely got potential :)

Yes, this is that film, the one where the luscious Liz Hurley decided it was time to do her bit for tabloid journalists everywhere and stripped. Is is worth it to see her?

It is a dark and strange film. Hurley is a scientist experimenting with a new drug to control psychos. She is using it on a grade A psychopath Marc Gilmour (Keith Allen) when Terry Hamilton (Craig Fairbrass), a policeman who death with Gilmour in the past finds out and tries to stop her.

Too late. The drug enables Gilmour to make his dreams become real. He never leaves his cell, but is manipulating the world around them, using their guilt and fears to terrorize them.

It all sound a little preposterous, and it is confusing to follow. The ending is most unsatisfactory.