Well, I've wanted to see this film for so long that I actually put off watching it when I first got myself a copy for fear that it might disappoint. It is my greatest pleasure, therefore, to state that Nightwatch did not in any way disappoint me! This film is an out and out masterpiece and by far and away the best film I've seen in some time! Nightwatch is an intriguing blend of slow burn horror and murder mystery that manages thrills and surprises throughout. Denmark is not a country that springs to mind when thinking about horror films, but that hasn't stopped director Ole Bornedal from giving the best directors that the genre has to offer a real run for their money! The plot centres on a morgue where a young law student named Martin has just taken a job smoking, drinking, listening to rock music
and checking up on the corpses at night. It just happens that around the same time there's a maniac going round bumping off prostitutes, and of course the bodies are being taken to the morgue where Martin works, and that's where his troubles start as he finds himself getting caught up in the investigation...
The plot runs rather slowly, but the director ensures that the film is always interesting. Nightwatch is predominantly a horror thriller, but there are also themes of romance and comedy thrown into the mix which help to ensure that the film always feels fresh. Nightwatch is very high quality too, the acting is superb and it's clear that the director values this art form as the attention to detail is stunning and there isn't a shot in the movie that feels wrong or out of place. The characters are the most interesting thing about the film; they're all well defined, and that's a huge positive since the story really relies on that. The way that the director keeps the action mysterious and brooding means that the audience is always expecting something to happen, which ensures that the film is always full of tension. The director throws in a lot of red herrings and leads the audience astray before unleashing a well worked and really quite shocking twist towards the end. Overall, Nightwatch is everything you could want a thriller to be and more. There's not a great deal of films out there that are good as this one so if you're lucky enough to come across a copy of Nightwatch, make sure you don't pass it up!
The plot runs rather slowly, but the director ensures that the film is always interesting. Nightwatch is predominantly a horror thriller, but there are also themes of romance and comedy thrown into the mix which help to ensure that the film always feels fresh. Nightwatch is very high quality too, the acting is superb and it's clear that the director values this art form as the attention to detail is stunning and there isn't a shot in the movie that feels wrong or out of place. The characters are the most interesting thing about the film; they're all well defined, and that's a huge positive since the story really relies on that. The way that the director keeps the action mysterious and brooding means that the audience is always expecting something to happen, which ensures that the film is always full of tension. The director throws in a lot of red herrings and leads the audience astray before unleashing a well worked and really quite shocking twist towards the end. Overall, Nightwatch is everything you could want a thriller to be and more. There's not a great deal of films out there that are good as this one so if you're lucky enough to come across a copy of Nightwatch, make sure you don't pass it up!