Suicide Kings (1997)

Summary: Four college students (Henry Thomas, Jay Mohr, Sean Patrick Flanery, and Jeremy Sisto) kidnap a mob boss (Christopher Walken) to enlist his help in locating one of their sisters who is kidnapped as well.

The movie really threw me for a loop. Peter O'Fallon (director) and Josh McKinney, Gina Goldman, and Wayne Allan Rice (screewriters) did such a good job of messing me up. I spent the majority of the movie assuming it was all one kid, then they tried to cast the suspicion on another which I knew was crap, but when it turned out to be the third kid . . . man. Especially Peter O'Fallon. Whoa. Tension is so much more taut when drawn against the patience of friendship.

Regardless, what is up with Graeme Revell's score? There is this one scene which is supposed to be especially tense, only it isn't because of his rushing score. The scene would have been much more tense if there was no music at all, you know? The crackling fire in the background, the crunch of broken glass, the buzz of the bone saw. I would have bought that. A good composer knows that silence is just as powerful (if not more so) than sound.

I now have no doubt that Sean Patrick Flanery has got it. Jeremy Sisto, for the first time ever, wasn't the scariest character in the movie. And, I'm sorry to say it, but Henry Thomas is always going to the Elliot from E.T.. I know that's unfair, but it's true. Every time I see him in anything, I think, "Is that the kid from E.T.?" And then I spend the whole movie thinking, "That's the kid from E.T.!" I don't know why this phenomenon does not occur when I see Drew Barrymore.

So, is this movie good? Not particularly. But I will admit that it did, to a certain extent, blow my mind. I keep making this whoosh noise with my mouth, like all the air being forced out between pursed lips, but you can't hear it. If you have a vivid imagination and can figure out what I am doing, then you will know exactly what I think of the movie. Good Luck.