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- Release Date: February 26, 1999
- Directed by: Joel Schumacher
- Written by: Andrew Kevin Walker
- Runtime: 2 hours 3 minutes
If someone asked me what my favorite Nicolas Cage movie would be, it would be this one. Color Out of Space would be a very close second! Snuff films have always been a subject that I've been fascinated by in fiction ever since I saw Roger Watkins' Last House on Dead End Street when I was in high school. So, seeing Nic Cage play a detective who dives into the crime underworld to investigate a snuff film was right up my alley.
The thing I always remember first about this movie is the scene where Cage watches the film for the first time. With no music, all we hear is the clattering of the projector as we watch flashes of the film along with his face. As it goes on, he gets more and more distressed, breathing heavily and crying. It conveys so much at such an ealy point in the film. Cage's character is the one good guy in a world of depravity. The version of Hollywood that he dives into is so grimy and scuzzy. It's completely full of drugs, sex, and every kind of awful vice you could think of. So many characters are complete irredeemable sleazeballs. I'd love to see this same plotline take place in 70s-80s New York just to amp up the sleaze. The movie gets a little action-heavy at the climax, but it's such a dirty and intriguing ride to get to that point.
It's kind of shocking to me that Joel Schumacher made this movie only two years after Batman & Robin. This one, along with The Lost Boys and Falling Down, are all examples I use to remind myself that he really could make a fantastic movie when he wanted to.