Lying in Wait (2001)

For those of you who haven't yet seen "Lying in Wait," please let me take a moment to list for you some props used by Rutger Hauer. Accordion - Rutger Hauer plays the accordion on more than one occasion, one of which is a seduction scene. The other accordion scene occurs in the waning hours of a sexy party, complete with upright jazz bass accompaniment.Cold hard cash - Rutger Hauer flashes a substantial wad of money he then bets on a horse. It's perhaps the most exciting moment of the first half of the movie.Red helmet - Rutger Hauer wears a red helmet, the type the severely retarded or hyperactive will wear. After wearing the helmet a few times, he then dons non-protective headwear, specifically a woolen ski cap. Motorized wheelchair - Rutger Hauer, avec woolen ski cap, implausibly forces another character over her own balcony by ramming her with his motorized wheelchair. Keep in mind this is a 3 1/2 foot balcony designed to keep people from falling, yet Rutger's wheelchair employs a type of metaphysics to thrust (was it Lois?) over, through, the railing to her doom below. Thomas Newton - Rutger Hauer uses actor Thomas Newton as a sort of personal hand puppet while the two of them excitedly watch a horse race. The action is thinly implied, yet when one advances the film frame by frame, one can almost see an expression of terror momentarily flash across Newton's face. It is the unmistakable look of doom caused by having a big, old Dutchman's fist in his rectum.Urea - Rutger Hauer goes to an art opening and pees on the floor from his motorized wheelchair, causing the uncaring art crowd to titter. While not technically a prop (urea may be considered a special effect,) it is an artistic choice agreed upon by the screenwriter, director, producer, art department, financiers, etc. and executed by Mr. Hauer in a convincing fashion. Motorized wheelchair redux - Rutger Hauer pushes a TV actor into a swimming pool using the wheelchair, pinning the man to the bottom and drowning him. For all you doubters, know that there's more than just one way to kill with wheels. Paraplegics rejoice! You are the rolling hurt machines of woe for us all.Bloody Nose - Rutger Hauer has a bloody nose in the penultimate scene. It trickles into his mouth and gets on his teeth. Note - Rutger Hauer spends over half of this movie in a persistent vegetative state and the fact that he's able to use props at all is remarkable.Listing props is the only way to get through the movie. Good luck.

While it is surely not for every taste, I highly recommend "Lying in Wait" to anyone who enjoys an off-beat thriller, with a talented cast and some surprising plot twists. Fans of Virginia Madsen will relish her fine performance here, another in her gallery of memorable femmes fatales ("Gotham," "Hot Spot," et al). Miss Madsen's seductive dance at the beach, with thundering surf as a backdrop, is one of those transcendent moments she often delivers -- even in her more mediocre films.But "Lying in Wait" is not a mediocre film. On the contrary, it is more art film than conventional thriller. The young neighbors (wonderfully portrayed by Vanessa Dorman and Thomas Newton) intrigue us with their innocent eccentricity. The story unfolds in dream-like fashion. It demands of us a "willing suspension of disbelief," but what psychological thriller does not?Finally, those who complain about murky photography are missing the point. "Lying in Wait" is best viewed as a waking dream and we must not expect to see everything clearly when we are dreaming. I believe the director and cinematographer were quite deliberate in taking this heavily stylized approach. (You can find this same kind of high-contrast photography and lighting in the film noir classics of the 1940s; the only difference being that most of those were shot in b&w.)

Where do I start??? Horrible direction. Bad acting. Bad writing. Oh yeah, did I mention the directing was awful?This could have been a decent thriller had it a tiny smidgen of subtlety and taste in how it was delivered. As it stands, it's just another waste of an hour and a half.Avoid this like the plague!!!

Obviously a low budget film that went straight to video, but hugely better than most that fit that bill, and better than many so-called studio thrillers as well. While it's not jump in your seat scary, it's more creepy, foreboding, and surprisingly literate. How many movies quote from "Day of the Locust" which ties into the plot as well. This movie is saying quite a bit, I think, about Hollywood, illusion and reality, etc. And it's got Virginia Madsen showing us her thong underwear on the beach!