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Nightwatch loses much of what made its inspiration entertaining - and proves that when remaking a foreign film, hiring the original director is no guarantee of success. Read critic reviews
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Rent Nightwatch on Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon Prime Video, or buy it on Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon Prime Video.
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Movie Info
Law student Martin Bells (Ewan McGregor) needs to make some money, and so he takes a side job as a night watchman in a morgue. He thinks he'll have time to study, but with a serial killer on the loose -- one with a propensity for necrophilia -- he has to be more alert than ever. While at work, Martin starts putting together the clues and realizes that the police, including Inspector Thomas Cray (Nick Nolte), have good reason to make him their prime suspect.
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Rating: R
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Genre: Horror, Drama
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Original Language: English
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Director: Ole Bornedal
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Producer: Michael Obel
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Writer: Ole Bornedal, Steven Soderbergh
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Release Date (Theaters): original
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $1.2M
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Miramax Films
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Production Co: Dimension Films
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Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital
Cast & Crew
Critic Reviews for Nightwatch
Audience Reviews for Nightwatch
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If they would have just stuck to the Ewan McGregor being scared at work premise, this movie would have been so much better...cuz that was fantastic, scary, and funny! Unfortunately, they decided to try to add a strange storyline with Nick Nolte. Not a good decision...
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Nightwatch offers some creepy moments, and is appropriately atmospheric, but suffers from an ill-conceived plot. There's too many cliches, and not enough originality. Still, the cast and generally effective direction keeps it interesting enough, though not particularly memorable. 3/5 Stars
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Nick Nolte for all intents and purposes looking like Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein monster but without the use of makeup is police inspector Thomas Cray who's in charge of a special police task force trying to find and capture, dead or alive, a serial killer. The killer for some weird reason has a habit of cutting out the eyes of his dead victims, all women, and then raping their corpses. It seems that the killer wants to quit the business of serial killing but at the same time wants the police and the law to leave him alone and stop hunting him down so he can enjoy his retirement. This sets up the story for young law student Martin Bell, Ewan McGeror, who just got a job at the local medical examiner building as a night watchman where all the recent murder victims of the killers are kept. The killer plans to frame young Martin as can then be free from being tracked down and arrested for the crimes that Martin will be jailed for. "Nightwatch" has it's share of cheap thrills and a number of twists and turns in it's story but their very unconvincing in how the killer, who you can spot almost as soon as you see him, is so hard for the police to find when his actions are so insane and weird just like those of the murderer. The film-makers put two people into roles that would make you think that their the real killer of the people in the movie. One is so obvious that you just know that he didn't do it and is just a red herring put into the movie to get you and the police off the track of the real killer. There's also a fact that he, the killer, once worked in the medical examiner's office some time ago and was dismissed for messing around with the corpses. All that is in the medical examiners record department which should have been a dead give away to everyone involved just too who he really is. There's also some scenes in the movie that focus on a photo of Lewis Paine, thats pinned to the wall in the night watchman's office one of the people executed for the murder of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. This seems to indicate to the audience that he, or his ghost, may have something to do with the killings but in the end nothing ever comes of it and he's completely forgotten There's also a very mixed-up sub-plot in the movie between Martin's friend James, Josh Brolin, and a girl he picked up at the local bus station Joyce, Alix Koromzay,who he's trying to get Martin to have an affair with her. This moronic attempt by James is to give him a high since it seems that the normal high he used to get with women by having sex is no longer there and even having the hell beat out of him to get high doesn't work either. Joyce's relations with Martin, which are almost next to nothing, has his girlfriend Kathy, Pat Arquette, leave him and in the end. Sure enough Joyce ends up being a victim of the on the loose serial killer and Martin, becomes the prime suspect just like the killer wanted in the crime. The ending of "Nightwatch" had the usual damsel as well as good guy both in distress with the crazed killer having them both tied down on a table in the mortuary and about to cut both their skulls open with an electric slicer. It's then when the person who was made to look like the killer during the entire movie coming to their rescue, minus a thumb, blasting the real killer away and sending him to his just reward. "Nightwatch" is a watchable horror/suspense movie but it's hard to take seriously at all due it it's very predictable and unconvincing story and the killer is so obvious that you can easily spot him well before the movie reveals his true identity. Inspector Thomas Cray: Have you ever been killed before? I'll be back in a minute. Martin Bells: Don't you see it, that's all I've gotta do. Just sit on my ass. Sit. On. My. Ass. Martin Bells: You're a fucking nutcase! James Gallman: That's Mr. Fucking Nutcase to you! Katherine: You had strange dreams last night. Martin Bells: I did? Katherine: Mmm. You were breathing really heavily. Kept kicking your legs and moaning. Martin Bells: You sure we weren't having sex? Katherine: Pretty sure. Yeah. Martin: You're insane! James: No, I'm not. Martine Bells: [Of James' thumb] : Does it hurt? [James smiles] Martin Bells: Let's grow old together. James: Let's get older. Martin Bells: Now, there's a challenge. Martin Bells: The police have a suspect. James Gallman: Who is it? Martin Bells: It's me. Katherine: Oh my god. Martin Bells: This just doesn't happen! This is not happening! Cray, why are you doing this? What the hell are you doing? Inspector Thomas Cray: Stop asking for the "how" and "why" Martin! Martin Bells: How do you know it's just the one guy? Inspector Thomas Cray: Can I trust you? Martin Bells: Well yeah, absolutely. Inspector Thomas Cray: Can I trust you with a bit of privileged information? Martin Bells: Oh yeah. Inspector Thomas Cray: He has his signature. Martin Bells: Signature? Inspector Thomas Cray: He takes their eyes. Inspector Thomas Cray: Most people, when they see something like this, their immediate reaction is to ask how could somebody do this and why. Even when we catch the killer, they want to know the how and why. In movies or television, the killer always explains the how or why. He always has some reason, however crazy, with a mad gleam in his eye. But I've interrogated murderers like this one before, and let me tell you, they are well beyond the need to justify what they do. They just do it. Explanations are just a fiction to make us feel safe. Because if it can't be explained, then it's just meaningless chaos. It could touch any one of us at any moment. Which is exactly what it is. Inspector Thomas Cray: Martin, if all this is what I think it is, there is someone very dangerous standing right behind you in the dark, breathing down your neck.
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Very eerie movie, I couldnt figure out who was the murderer until the end.
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