Review by Michael_Elliott

Hostage (1983)

** (out of 4)

This movie is based on the true events of Christine Maresch (Kerry Mack) who ended up marrying a man named Walter (Ralph Schicha) and turn her life into a living hell. Before you know it they have a child but Walter turns out to be a Nazi sympathizer and before long he is abusing Christine and taking her on a crime spree that she didn't want.

Before watching this film I had no idea about the true story behind it. Apparently it was very big new in Australia and it managed to produce a best-selling book as well as this movie, which goes under several titles including SAVAGE ATTRACTION. I must admit that the movie really let me down for a number of reasons but the biggest is the fact that you really never learned too much about either of the characters.

I'm going to guess that the filmmakers felt most people would be familiar with the tale so they'd just show off the highlights of the couple's life together as well as the various violent ones. The entire film pretty much as Christine playing a victim to Walter who will either beat her, force her into robberies or threaten harm to their child. There's no question that this here is rather ugly story but I didn't think either character was fully developed and as the movie went on I had more questions than anything else.

I thought both Mack and Schicha were good in their roles. Again, I thought the characters were as simple as a victim and a bully but both actors did a fine job. The screenplay felt like something you'd see on American television but I think the lackluster direction is what really killed the film. I say this because there's never any tension to anything you're watching and the deadly slow pace just really drags the film out and makes it feel much longer than it actually is.