Description

A young boy tries to protect his sightless mother from a serial killer who attacks blind women. Starring James Fox. Year: 1992 Director: Mark Peploe Starring:James Fox, Fanny Ardent, Paul McGann ... Read more

Reviews (7)

The one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind
I know that this is meant to be a drama of great power with startling insights into the human condition, man's inhumanity to man's, the lives of quiet despair we all face, or some other pretentious nonsense. I just found it confusing as well!

The basic plot centers on young Frank. Just starting his school holidays, Frank offers to help his blind mother down to walk to the local center for the blind. There he meets her blind friends, listens to the gossip about the local serial killer (who attacks blind people), and then goes about his merry day stalking some of the blind residents who live near the center. Unseen he pries into their lives and, is actually able save one the victims from the serial killer.

Reality check ! It was all in the kid's mind ..

Young Frank has imagined a world in which he is the hero and saves the day. In reality the little boy is the one going blind and his fear has caused an imaginary world in which he is the sighted hero.

The boy's behavior becomes increasingly erratic and dangerous as the movie progresses. Because the adults have so many other things going on it takes a long time before anyone realizes how dangerous Frank has become. By the time they do clue in, it might be too late.

This was confusing and often times dark movie. I like the first part in the boy's fantasy where he silently prowls the neighborhood. I even enjoyed the first part of the 'real' section where half the fun was spotting the people and places from the child's imagination. But every time you get used to something in the film they ratchet it up to a new level of cruelty. That was a little overdone.

Fear is a Man's Best Fiend
James Fox, Fanny Ardant and the incredible Ben Keyworth create a very strange family triangle in Afraid of Dark. The film is structured much like David Lynch's Lost Highway, it's like a puzzle that viewer puts together. I'll leave it at that, as not to spoil any of the vivid suprises.

Mark Peploe's Afraid of the Dark
Mark Peploe, one of the Oscar winning screenwriters behind "The Last Emperor," comes up with his own tale of a little boy overwhelmed by his situation, and in the process scares the living daylights out of the viewer.

Ben Keyworth is young Lucas, a morose little boy whose blind mother Miriam (Fanny Ardant) dotes on him. His father, Frank (James Fox), is a cop and Lucas' hero. A madman is running around London slashing the faces of blind women, and the blind community is in a panic. Lucas is a little boy, hardly noticeable, and begins observing prime suspects. The ice cream man, the window washer, the photographer, even the overly helpful locksmith (played by a young David Thewlis), are all under the boy's suspicion. A neighborhood golden retriever is Lucas' only friend and confidant, and eventually Lucas has a showdown with the slasher, stabbing him in the eye with his trusty knitting needle...and then the film does a complete 180!

We find out Lucas was only imagining the first half of the film. The characters from the first half were not blind at all. Instead, it was Lucas who is slowly losing his sight. The day of his older half-sister's wedding, he is shunted aside. His mother goes into labor at the reception, and everyone forgets the poor little boy. Lucas still has the trusty dog Toby along, but his imagination gets the best of him. Toby is killed, and Lucas sets his next target as his new baby sister with the pretty blue eyes everyone comments on.

Ben Keyworth, as Lucas, is incredible. Some might see his delivery as flat and monotonal, but I thought his cold exterior was perfect. You will feel sorry for him, even in the throes of the madness that grips him in the latter part of the film. The beautiful French actress Fanny Ardant is great as his mother, and James Fox is always reliable as the dad.

Peploe's direction is so creepy it becomes uncomfortable often. The graveyard scenes are chilling, as is Lucas' hallucinations. Peploe also co-wrote the screenplay (with Frederick Seidel), so he knows these characters better than anyone. None of them are stupid, or do horror film-stupid things, and this adds to the squirm level. Plus, if you have any sort of phobia about things getting too close to your eyes (like I do), this may not be for you.

The pace is slow, as Peploe builds his characters, and this is actually a relief. The entire cast is good, and Peploe should direct more. All in all, "Afraid of the Dark" is one of those films that you will find bothering you days after you see it. I highly recommend it.

This is rated (R) for physical violence, gore, female nudity, some sexual references, and strong adult situations.

Best film ever
I have never seen a film as thrilling as this in my life. The young actor who plays Lucas is even more impressive than the boy who reviewed video games for big breakfast. But where is he now?

hair-raising
Every so often a movie comes around that is different that the usual sludge that passes through our VCRs. More often than not, these films are foriegn. "Afraid of the Dark" is no exception... it is a mystery from the word "Go" and does an excellent job at showing how a child's mind can be traumatized by the vicious acts of a local serial killer who targets blind women (a particularly frightening scene is when the boy, Luke, stabs the offender in the eye).

This movie has all the eye-candy eeriness of movies like "The Shining", "The Omen", "The night of the living dead" and others, but it contains not one iota of anything paranormal.

Whatever your taste in movies, I'm sure you'll all agree that this tale is more than it seems. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

An Intelligent Adaptation
Victory (the novel) is hardly one of Conrad's masterpieces, and is his most melodramatic piece of fiction. These melodramatic elements lend themselves very well, however, when it comes to translating Conrad to film (which hasn't been done very well to this stage, apart from Coppola's loose adaptation of Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now). Director Mark Peploe, a sometime collaborator with Bernardo Bertolluci, has fashioned a script that comes close to the spirit of Conrad's novel. The changes that have been made have to do with the book's ending, yet they don't hinder the artistic flow of the film in any manner.

The story is a classic good vs. evil allegory, with Heyst (Willem Dafoe) representing a fallen Adam trying to make his way back to paradise. Just for reinforcement of the concept, Heyst's father stares down in glaring disapproval from a painting Heyst has had delivered from his old digs in San Francisco. He's now living in a paradisical setting (the Javanese vistas the camera captures are beautiful indeed), yet is living in isolation. His loneliness is cured when he rescues a young, French violinist playing in a travelling all-female orchestra which is performing at Herr Schomberg's hotel. Schomberg, who hates Heyst, is in the process of purchasing Lena (who we learn is actually named Alma) from San Giacimo, the oily impresario who conducts the orchestra and who, along with his iron-fisted wife, has absolute control over the female orchestra members.

After Heyst has rescued Alma and hidden her away on his island retreat, Schomberg receives a trio of unwelcome guests at his hotel. These are the Satanic duo of the mysterious Mr. Jones and his "secretary," Ricardo. A swarthy henchman named Pedro also acts a criminal aide-de-camp to Ricardo. In order to get rid of the trio and to exact his revenge on Heyst, Schomberg tells them that Heyst has swindled a former partner and had him killed, and that he then cashed in a huge insurance policy, the proceeds of which Heyst has secreted away somewhere on his island.

In the meantime, Heyst, who had been a reluctant benfactor at first, has fallen in love with Alma, who appears to have fallen for him as well. Suddenly, the trio appear at Heyst's dock in an open boat, and they look to have suffered from water deprivation and exposure. Heyst is suspicious of them from the outset, but acts the samaritan and gives them food, drink and shelter. Plot description beyond this stage would involve spoilers.

This movie is extremely well directed and well cast. Dafoe fits the bill for the Conradian westerner isolating himself in the far east. Sam Neil captures the "please allow me to introduce myself" quality of Jones and Sewell is a perfect Ricardo. Irene Jacob, who slept-walked like Lady Macbeth in her role of Desdemona in the 1995 Othello, is a convincing Alma. Ho Yi, Simon Callow, and Jean Yanne as Schomberg round out an excellent ensemble. Yet the major credit goes to Peploe for an intelligent script and assured direction. It's not easy adapting psychological novelists to the screen, which is why there are so few efforts at it. Nostromo, Conrad's masterpiece, for instance, reads almost like cinema, yet it hasn't been atttempted in a screen version, save for a rather weak BBC television adaptation. The Peter O'Toole Lord Jim was nothing like the novel. This neglected version of Victory may not be perfect, but it's as close as a filmmaker has come thus far.

BEK

too smart for American audiences?
Conrad is difficult. Conrad is difficult? Who are we kidding? Exotic locales, action, angst, and history, what's not to like? This may be the most accessible Conrad story for a movie-length treatment. A stronger female character than he's usually known for... a more straight-forward plotline that resolves more quickly... and a message. Ah, now, the message is the trouble isn't it? The explanation of how the title applies is a bit too philosophical for American audiences, I'm sure. And yet people sat through drivel like the Bridges of Madison County in droves? I don't get it.

Casting. Rufus Sewell is the shining star -- and he's not even on the cover of the box. As is so often the case with his supporting performances, he injects a level of energy into this film that should have come from its stars. Sam Neill can be forgiven; he's playing an opium addict aristo. But Dafoe is so understated he seems to be sleepwalking at times. He should have watched Peter O'Toole in "Lord Jim" before playing this part. (And yet, the tiredness of his character and others makes you feel the oppressive heat and barbaric surroundings they live in, so it is not altogether uncalled-for.)

As someone else said, Sam and Rufus are the best part of the film, wonderfully scummy and intensely watchable. Conrad is the next best (even adapted to film, the complexity of his stories shines through), and the setting follows. It's a great story that takes its time and rewards smart viewers, but this isn't the kind of movie you can watch with six people in the room blabbing at the same time. Pay attention, and you will find yourself transported to another time, another world, another way of thinking that could only come from the mind of someone who lived there. That is what makes Conrad great, and the people who made this movie wanted to be true to his themes even where they may not have been entirely true to the book. I think they did an admirable job.

Racier than the book--and the book's better
The film "Victory" is based on Joseph Conrad's novel. The story takes place before WWI and revolves around Heyst--a man who lives a solitary life on a remote island. On a rare trip from his island, Heyst encounters Alma (Irene Jacob) a violin-playing prostitute who is attempting to stave off some very unwelcome attentions.

Heyst takes Alma back to his island, and there of course, they fall in love and take off their clothes several times.

A trio of thugs, urged on by wild rumours that Heyst has a fortune hidden away on his island, arrive suddenly. Heyst insists that Alma puts her clothes on and hides her in his hut.

The film became much more interesting with the advent of the thugs. And really the thugs were the best part. Sam Neill played the rather oily, misogynistic "Mr Jones," and Rufus Sewell played the insane, violent and lust-driven "secretary." Both Dafoe and Jacob played their characters too flatly, and there was just no chemistry between them. Dafoe really makes a problematic hero even at the best of times. The ending, unfortunately, was ruined as always happens when a book is turned into a screenplay. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

The one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind
I know that this is meant to be a drama of great power with startling insights into the human condition, man's inhumanity to man's, the lives of quiet despair we all face, or some other pretentious nonsense. I just found it confusing as well!

The basic plot centers on young Frank. Just starting his school holidays, Frank offers to help his blind mother down to walk to the local center for the blind. There he meets her blind friends, listens to the gossip about the local serial killer (who attacks blind people), and then goes about his merry day stalking some of the blind residents who live near the center. Unseen he pries into their lives and, is actually able save one the victims from the serial killer.

Reality check ! It was all in the kid's mind ..

Young Frank has imagined a world in which he is the hero and saves the day. In reality the little boy is the one going blind and his fear has caused an imaginary world in which he is the sighted hero.

The boy's behavior becomes increasingly erratic and dangerous as the movie progresses. Because the adults have so many other things going on it takes a long time before anyone realizes how dangerous Frank has become. By the time they do clue in, it might be too late.

This was confusing and often times dark movie. I like the first part in the boy's fantasy where he silently prowls the neighborhood. I even enjoyed the first part of the 'real' section where half the fun was spotting the people and places from the child's imagination. But every time you get used to something in the film they ratchet it up to a new level of cruelty. That was a little overdone.

Fear is a Man's Best Fiend
James Fox, Fanny Ardant and the incredible Ben Keyworth create a very strange family triangle in Afraid of Dark. The film is structured much like David Lynch's Lost Highway, it's like a puzzle that viewer puts together. I'll leave it at that, as not to spoil any of the vivid suprises.

Mark Peploe's Afraid of the Dark
Mark Peploe, one of the Oscar winning screenwriters behind "The Last Emperor," comes up with his own tale of a little boy overwhelmed by his situation, and in the process scares the living daylights out of the viewer.

Ben Keyworth is young Lucas, a morose little boy whose blind mother Miriam (Fanny Ardant) dotes on him. His father, Frank (James Fox), is a cop and Lucas' hero. A madman is running around London slashing the faces of blind women, and the blind community is in a panic. Lucas is a little boy, hardly noticeable, and begins observing prime suspects. The ice cream man, the window washer, the photographer, even the overly helpful locksmith (played by a young David Thewlis), are all under the boy's suspicion. A neighborhood golden retriever is Lucas' only friend and confidant, and eventually Lucas has a showdown with the slasher, stabbing him in the eye with his trusty knitting needle...and then the film does a complete 180!

We find out Lucas was only imagining the first half of the film. The characters from the first half were not blind at all. Instead, it was Lucas who is slowly losing his sight. The day of his older half-sister's wedding, he is shunted aside. His mother goes into labor at the reception, and everyone forgets the poor little boy. Lucas still has the trusty dog Toby along, but his imagination gets the best of him. Toby is killed, and Lucas sets his next target as his new baby sister with the pretty blue eyes everyone comments on.

Ben Keyworth, as Lucas, is incredible. Some might see his delivery as flat and monotonal, but I thought his cold exterior was perfect. You will feel sorry for him, even in the throes of the madness that grips him in the latter part of the film. The beautiful French actress Fanny Ardant is great as his mother, and James Fox is always reliable as the dad.

Peploe's direction is so creepy it becomes uncomfortable often. The graveyard scenes are chilling, as is Lucas' hallucinations. Peploe also co-wrote the screenplay (with Frederick Seidel), so he knows these characters better than anyone. None of them are stupid, or do horror film-stupid things, and this adds to the squirm level. Plus, if you have any sort of phobia about things getting too close to your eyes (like I do), this may not be for you.

The pace is slow, as Peploe builds his characters, and this is actually a relief. The entire cast is good, and Peploe should direct more. All in all, "Afraid of the Dark" is one of those films that you will find bothering you days after you see it. I highly recommend it.

This is rated (R) for physical violence, gore, female nudity, some sexual references, and strong adult situations.

Best film ever
I have never seen a film as thrilling as this in my life. The young actor who plays Lucas is even more impressive than the boy who reviewed video games for big breakfast. But where is he now?

hair-raising
Every so often a movie comes around that is different that the usual sludge that passes through our VCRs. More often than not, these films are foriegn. "Afraid of the Dark" is no exception... it is a mystery from the word "Go" and does an excellent job at showing how a child's mind can be traumatized by the vicious acts of a local serial killer who targets blind women (a particularly frightening scene is when the boy, Luke, stabs the offender in the eye).

This movie has all the eye-candy eeriness of movies like "The Shining", "The Omen", "The night of the living dead" and others, but it contains not one iota of anything paranormal.

Whatever your taste in movies, I'm sure you'll all agree that this tale is more than it seems. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

An Intelligent Adaptation
Victory (the novel) is hardly one of Conrad's masterpieces, and is his most melodramatic piece of fiction. These melodramatic elements lend themselves very well, however, when it comes to translating Conrad to film (which hasn't been done very well to this stage, apart from Coppola's loose adaptation of Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now). Director Mark Peploe, a sometime collaborator with Bernardo Bertolluci, has fashioned a script that comes close to the spirit of Conrad's novel. The changes that have been made have to do with the book's ending, yet they don't hinder the artistic flow of the film in any manner.

The story is a classic good vs. evil allegory, with Heyst (Willem Dafoe) representing a fallen Adam trying to make his way back to paradise. Just for reinforcement of the concept, Heyst's father stares down in glaring disapproval from a painting Heyst has had delivered from his old digs in San Francisco. He's now living in a paradisical setting (the Javanese vistas the camera captures are beautiful indeed), yet is living in isolation. His loneliness is cured when he rescues a young, French violinist playing in a travelling all-female orchestra which is performing at Herr Schomberg's hotel. Schomberg, who hates Heyst, is in the process of purchasing Lena (who we learn is actually named Alma) from San Giacimo, the oily impresario who conducts the orchestra and who, along with his iron-fisted wife, has absolute control over the female orchestra members.

After Heyst has rescued Alma and hidden her away on his island retreat, Schomberg receives a trio of unwelcome guests at his hotel. These are the Satanic duo of the mysterious Mr. Jones and his "secretary," Ricardo. A swarthy henchman named Pedro also acts a criminal aide-de-camp to Ricardo. In order to get rid of the trio and to exact his revenge on Heyst, Schomberg tells them that Heyst has swindled a former partner and had him killed, and that he then cashed in a huge insurance policy, the proceeds of which Heyst has secreted away somewhere on his island.

In the meantime, Heyst, who had been a reluctant benfactor at first, has fallen in love with Alma, who appears to have fallen for him as well. Suddenly, the trio appear at Heyst's dock in an open boat, and they look to have suffered from water deprivation and exposure. Heyst is suspicious of them from the outset, but acts the samaritan and gives them food, drink and shelter. Plot description beyond this stage would involve spoilers.

This movie is extremely well directed and well cast. Dafoe fits the bill for the Conradian westerner isolating himself in the far east. Sam Neil captures the "please allow me to introduce myself" quality of Jones and Sewell is a perfect Ricardo. Irene Jacob, who slept-walked like Lady Macbeth in her role of Desdemona in the 1995 Othello, is a convincing Alma. Ho Yi, Simon Callow, and Jean Yanne as Schomberg round out an excellent ensemble. Yet the major credit goes to Peploe for an intelligent script and assured direction. It's not easy adapting psychological novelists to the screen, which is why there are so few efforts at it. Nostromo, Conrad's masterpiece, for instance, reads almost like cinema, yet it hasn't been atttempted in a screen version, save for a rather weak BBC television adaptation. The Peter O'Toole Lord Jim was nothing like the novel. This neglected version of Victory may not be perfect, but it's as close as a filmmaker has come thus far.

BEK

too smart for American audiences?
Conrad is difficult. Conrad is difficult? Who are we kidding? Exotic locales, action, angst, and history, what's not to like? This may be the most accessible Conrad story for a movie-length treatment. A stronger female character than he's usually known for... a more straight-forward plotline that resolves more quickly... and a message. Ah, now, the message is the trouble isn't it? The explanation of how the title applies is a bit too philosophical for American audiences, I'm sure. And yet people sat through drivel like the Bridges of Madison County in droves? I don't get it.

Casting. Rufus Sewell is the shining star -- and he's not even on the cover of the box. As is so often the case with his supporting performances, he injects a level of energy into this film that should have come from its stars. Sam Neill can be forgiven; he's playing an opium addict aristo. But Dafoe is so understated he seems to be sleepwalking at times. He should have watched Peter O'Toole in "Lord Jim" before playing this part. (And yet, the tiredness of his character and others makes you feel the oppressive heat and barbaric surroundings they live in, so it is not altogether uncalled-for.)

As someone else said, Sam and Rufus are the best part of the film, wonderfully scummy and intensely watchable. Conrad is the next best (even adapted to film, the complexity of his stories shines through), and the setting follows. It's a great story that takes its time and rewards smart viewers, but this isn't the kind of movie you can watch with six people in the room blabbing at the same time. Pay attention, and you will find yourself transported to another time, another world, another way of thinking that could only come from the mind of someone who lived there. That is what makes Conrad great, and the people who made this movie wanted to be true to his themes even where they may not have been entirely true to the book. I think they did an admirable job.

Racier than the book--and the book's better
The film "Victory" is based on Joseph Conrad's novel. The story takes place before WWI and revolves around Heyst--a man who lives a solitary life on a remote island. On a rare trip from his island, Heyst encounters Alma (Irene Jacob) a violin-playing prostitute who is attempting to stave off some very unwelcome attentions.

Heyst takes Alma back to his island, and there of course, they fall in love and take off their clothes several times.

A trio of thugs, urged on by wild rumours that Heyst has a fortune hidden away on his island, arrive suddenly. Heyst insists that Alma puts her clothes on and hides her in his hut.

The film became much more interesting with the advent of the thugs. And really the thugs were the best part. Sam Neill played the rather oily, misogynistic "Mr Jones," and Rufus Sewell played the insane, violent and lust-driven "secretary." Both Dafoe and Jacob played their characters too flatly, and there was just no chemistry between them. Dafoe really makes a problematic hero even at the best of times. The ending, unfortunately, was ruined as always happens when a book is turned into a screenplay. ... Read more