Hangman

"Hangman" is yet another by-the-numbers TV serial killer mystery with that sun-never-shines Canadian dreariness all over it. Featuring two under-rated B-movie stars, Phillips as a homicide cop and Amick as a rich and retired shrink, "Hangman" spins a yarn about murder using the child's word game of the title name played via computer with real people getting hung. The film does little to distinguish itself and many will find the ending unsatisfying. However, it also does little wrong, making it a worthwhile small screen watch, albeit marginally so. Just drama with no stunts, shootouts, sex (almost), or sensationalism. (C)

This was an OK thriller, the plot is especially good, but it just isn't as good as it could/should have been, even for a TV movie. The plot seemed great when I read about it, but it just wasn't very special once you got into it. The movie is another typical "guess who did it" mystery thriller, and it primarily fails because it's almost instantaneously obvious who the perpetrator is, and from there, it's just watching the cops get to the bottom of the case, which you've already done. The acting ranges from good to just above average, but none of it's totally bad. The excitement of the movie is barely ever present, as most of the movie consists of the mystery of who did it(which is obvious very early on in the movie), and not the possible suspense of "can we save someones life?". It's just above average, and I guess it's worth watching if it's on TV, and there's absolutely nothing else interesting to watch. You could do a lot worse than this though, as a thriller it's just above average, and that's good enough, as this type of thriller rarely is more than that. 6/10

Lou Diamond Phillips and Madchen Amick are the only Americans in a Canadian made for television film Hangman. It's a complex psychological homicide thriller about a bunch of murders by hanging that center around some psychologists.

Phillips is the lead detective assigned to a group of killings known as the Hangman murders. That's the way these victims depart this mortal coil and all of them seem to center around former psychologist Madchen Amick.

The film has more twists then those pretzels you see at your local bar. During the course of Hangman, Phillips and his team come up with several theories of the crimes.

There's not a shot fired and the physical violence is kept to a minimum, in the manner of Alfred Hitchcock. Yet things are kept pretty tense in true Hitchcock manner.

Lou does a fine job underplaying his role as a detective who just can't get a handle on the case. His foe is an incredibly cunning one which you won't appreciate until the end.

I wouldn't miss it, especially if you're a fan of Lou Diamond Phillips.

This movie smells like something that has been sitting on the shelf for a long, long time and is finally being brought down. HANGMAN is one of the worst suspense thrillers that I have ever seen. It isn't even thrilling. Or interesting. Nothing about this tripe is good. None of it. The "twists" at the end were stupid too. There wasn't even a good final blowout. Instead it just ends with Lou Diamond Philips walking off into the distance. There is very little originality. It is just the same as many of those other cop movies that we see. Killer kills people and two cops must team up with the hott witness who can help them find the killer. Same old, same old. The best parts of the entire movie were probably the sex scenes. Don't see this. The back of the box makes it sound like some good scary suspense movie. What it is, is a steaming pile of dog s*** disguised as a movie.....1/5.

This isn't a masterpiece, still it's a smart and interesting thriller. Although the genre is a bit over-exploited, this movie has a capturing and really original story. The brutal techniques of the Hangman are something I've never seen on screen before. The acting is OK, not very overwhelming, however convincing. The ending might seem as a let-down, yet it's not stereotype compared with other films.