The Ungodly (DVD)

Whatever happened to Wes Bentley? While a number of the younger cast members of American Beauty, such as Thora Birch and Mena Suvari, achieved a reasonable degree of success and fame after the film’s success, ten years on Bentley has never really capitalised on his memorable turn as a voyeuristic, video camera obsessed adolescent.

There are elements of that earlier role here, where he plays Mickey, an unemployed filmmaker who unwittingly captures a serial killer in action on film during a night’s shooting. While most of us would (I hope) immediately turn the footage over to the police, Mickey senses a career opportunity. Approaching the serial killer (co-writer Borkowski) himself, Mickey embarks on a deadly game of blackmail, promising not to turn the killer in provided he cooperates in the filming of Mickey’s very own documentary about the murderer’s homicidal line of work.

Initially this seems a promising enough premise, enabling us to share Mickey’s unease over his degree of complicity in his subject’s crimes, while offering plenty of scope for disturbing insights into  the serial killer’s psychological makeup . Unfortunately after the first half, debut director Thoma Dunn steers the film firmly in the direction of a traditional serial killer thriller and not a particular good one at that.

This won’t revive Bentley’s career. He and Borkowski are fine but with a number of weak performances in the supporting cast and a few flaws creeping into the plot towards the end, The Ungodly, which also goes by the name The Perfect Witness in the US, sadly falls far short of perfection.

Overall Verdict: An intriguing premise that ultimately disintegrates into a run of the mill killer thriller.

Special Features:
None

Reviewer: Chris Hallam