Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Leofwine_draca Straightforward horror-cum-suspense flick with the emphasis on action over storyline, this is a slight step up from the usual ho-hum slasher flicks that it seeks to emulate. For a start, the largely underused plot device – the mythical "snuff movie" – is given an impressively dark airing, with the full emphasis on the sex and horror of the situation. Such violence is fairly graphic and disturbing. Secondly, the film has an interesting setting in Moscow, which provides some different characters from the ones you are used to seeing and some varied locations. You can sense that first-time director Anthony Waller (who went on to make the lamented but largely enjoyable B-movie AN American WEREWOLF IN Paris) wants to make something above the run-of-the-mill horror film despite the small budget, striving to create something worthwhile in terms of suspense and atmosphere. The result is partially successful.Not that the film is without flaws, far from it. Instead MUTE WITNESS seems to have a lot more flaws than I usually see in a film. The acting is painless but you can sense something lacking in Russian lead Marina Zudina, an attractive lady who fails to evoke much sympathy for her character's plight. Being mute, she is forced to do a lot of emoting with only her eyes and expression and at times goes over the top. More bad acting comes from the people playing the supposed American student friends of Zudina's who also sound like they have been dodgily dubbed. On the other hand, the bad guys are pretty effective and/or creepy in the parts, especially with a surprising cameo appearance from Alec Guinness as "The Reaper" whose heavyweight presence adds a lot to the film, and an enigmatic performance from Oleg Yankovsky as a cop who may or may not be an ally of our heroine.MUTE WITNESS starts off with the set-piece, the snuff movie, before becoming a game of cat-and-mouse between our witness, the director of the film, and the killer as she desperately attempts to flee the large warehouse building in which she is trapped. Cue lots of climbing up and down lift shafts, near-misses and some highly suspenseful moments on stairways. From then on the film becomes focused on present-situation antics (the whole running time takes place over one night) as our heroine is pursued across town by the Russian Mafia and plenty of violence erupts, including a gripping set piece inside a mundane apartment room which becomes the scene of a literal bloodbath.Most of the twists, turns, and surprises are forecasted a mile off, and there are many jokey situations to get on your nerves like the stupid squib moment at the finale which any viewer will find far too obvious. Humour is laboured and only occasionally funny. Plus, the film falls into the trap of having two many climaxes put all together in quick succession. Despite the myriad of flaws, MUTE WITNESS is still an entertaining and offbeat horror production, quirky enough to be worthwhile, but hardly the masterpiece that some people would claim.

daggersineyes The first half to 3/4 of this movie are top quality suspense with a fine smattering of dark humor. The director uses camera angles and location beautifully and the screenplay makes a brilliant job of using the lead characters vulnerabilities (her inability to speak and being in a foreign country)as a major plot device. The chase through the building sequence is one of the most thrilling chase scenes I've witnessed - and all without special effects or big explosions! The movie had me on the edge of my seat and I lost several nails due to biting them, which no movie has managed in quite some time!! It reminded me of Wait Until Dark & The Spiral Staircase (original) and was every bit as beautifully directed as those awesome classics of old. I particularly loved the use of some very well thought-out close-ups and slo-mo camera sequences that added a unique style to the movie and enhanced it's sense of dread and danger.BUT I have to agree with other reviewers that unfortunately things fall apart a bit in the last half hour. Not enough to completely ruin the movie but certainly enough to pull the viewer out of the suspense and involvement that we'd been enjoying until then. (for some viewers this might actually be a good thing tho!!) I liked the ambiguity of the character that was introduced, I thought that worked well because we could not tell where he stood. But the other "surprises" and strange plot twists became a bit over the top and the movie lost a lot of it's very well developed feeling of reality. As for the sister/husband act in that last bit, they could easily have been left out (they were not important to the plot) and the movie would have been far better off for it. It really does feel like someone else took over and put together the ending because it's so different to the rest of it.But in the end this still rates as one of the best thrillers I've seen in recent times - as long as you don't count the ending. I highly recommend it. (I gave it a 7 but with a few adjustments to the screenplay it could easily have been a 9 & a new classic)

Claudio Carvalho In Moscow, the clumsy director Andy Clarke (Evan Richards) is making a slasher movie in a studio set with Russian and American cast and crew. The responsible for the makeup is the mute Billy Hughes (Marina Sudina), who is the sister of Andy's girlfriend Karen Hughes (Fay Ripley).One day, Billy needs to find a mask for the shot on the next day and she stays after hours in the studio set seeking out the object. However, the janitor locks her in the studio alone and Billy cannot find a way out.When Billy sees light in the studio, she accidentally witnesses the Russians Arkadi (Igor Volkov) and Lyosha (Sergej Karlenkov) making a porn snuff movie and brutally killing a woman. Billy succeeds to escape, but the police officers do not trust on her. Further, the powerful Russian mafia chases her believing that Billy has a diskette with evidences against the mobsters.I saw "Mute Witness" eighteen years ago and I loved this film. Yesterday I saw it again, now on DVD, and it still is a great film that combines thriller and horror with black humor in a plot with many twists. The director Anthony Waller masterly raises tension and relieves with black humor, startling the viewer and then making him or her laugh. Unfortunately the conclusion is a little disappointing but it is worthwhile watching this wonderful little film. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Testemunha Muda" ("Mute Witness")

ccthemovieman-1 This may be the most tension-filled movie I have ever seen.In fact, it's so nerve-wracking, I haven't been able to watch it again after viewing it two years ago, but I will since I have the DVD. There were a couple of scenes in here that are almost too much to watch....so if you've got problems and need to "escape" for an hour-and-half this film will get your mind off anything else. The Russian actress Marina Zudina did a super job in facial expressions alone, which she had to do since her character in here is a mute. She plays a cute and wholesome makeup artist for a sleazy filmmaker. After the day's shooting is done and "Billie" is about to leave, she hears something. She takes a peek into the room where they were filming and discovers they are now shooting a "snuff film" and actually killing someone. Billie's eavesdropping is discovered and she runs for her life as the killers go searching for her in this big warehouse-type building.There are two extended scenes in which our heroine is running for her life and both of them will wear you out. The first I described above. The second scene, the climactic one, goes on too long and isn't as well done as the first. In fact, the film should have been trimmed a bit but, overall, since it's so good at keeping our attention, then it served its purpose as entertainment.