Oxygen

R

Released Nov 12, 1999

1 hr. 32 min.

Mystery & Thriller

List

77%

13 Reviews

Tomatometer

55%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

When housewife Frances Hannon (Laila Robins) is abducted and buried alive, detective Madeline Foster (Maura Tierney) is brought in. With only 24 hours before Frances' oxygen runs out, Madeline pursues the trail laid by a killer calling himself Harry Houdini (Adrien Brody). After capturing him, Madeline brings Harry back to the police station, but is unable to get him to confess where Frances is buried. As time runs down, Harry gets inside the head of unstable, alcoholic Madeline.

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Audience Member

The cops were all terrible actors 2.7. Story kept you interested though

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/06/23

Full Review

peter k

A fun thriller to put on.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

don s

In my quest to see all things Maura Tierney has done, I came across this extremely dated "psychological thriller" that plays more like a TV movie of the week than a theatrical release. Tierney is always good,but she had so little to work with here you really couldn't tell. Brody overplays his role, and the bits about her broken psyche being like his because she enjoys pushing the line between pleasure and pain is more Psych 101 than actual thought process. Ho hum.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Just horrible. corny writing and poor acting. Impossible plot holes and though I tried to get my wife to turn it off 3 times we stuck to the dreary end. Also one of the most boring car chases in screen history! Avoid at all costs

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Oxygen (Richard Shepard, 1999) [originally posted 13Jul2000] You knew I couldn't get through a post this long without at least one thoroughly awful review. Welcome to it. This has a fine premise to it, I must say. A sociopath (Adrien Brody) kidnaps the claustrophobic wife of a millionaire and buries her in a box with about a day's worth of oxygen. A husband-and-wife cop team (Terry Kinney, Maura Tierney) have about that much time to figure out where she's buried. Brody was the only thing worth watching in Summer of Sam. Tierney does well in almost everything. Same with James Naughton, who plays the millionaire, and Paul Calderon as Tierney's on-again off-again partner. But this is bad. Bad, bad, bad. Despite wonderful sociopathy by Brody-once again the only decent thing about the flick (that's starting to become a refrain with me)-a number of subplots are started and never finished, no suspense is ever built up, the relationship between Tierney and her onscreen husband is just silly, the cliched battles between the cops and the bottle are trotted out with absolutely nothing new. All in all it's a jumbled, silly, unwatchable mess that should have been left on the cutting room floor. If you've got two hours to kill, spend them with Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead instead. *

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I love this movie, I wish someone would upload.. Ashley M..

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

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Richard Shepard

Director

Maura Tierney

Madeline Foster

Adrien Brody

Harry

Terry Kinney

Tim

James Naughton

Clark Hannon

Laila Robins

Frances Hannon

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Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: B

Sep 7, 2011

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Entertainment Weekly

Rated: B

Jan 1, 2011

Full Review

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

Tierney definitely has what it takes to carry a film; it's unfortunate that this vehicle doesn't give her much of substance to carry.

Rated: 2/4

Oct 23, 2006

Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Writer/director Richard Shepard manages a skilled, brilliantly-acted thriller with plenty of genuine suspense and fresh ideas.

Rated: 3/4

May 26, 2006

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Sep 3, 2005

Full Review

Robin Clifford

Reeling Reviews

Rated: C+

Apr 9, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

When housewife Frances Hannon (Laila Robins) is abducted and buried alive, detective Madeline Foster (Maura Tierney) is brought in. With only 24 hours before Frances' oxygen runs out, Madeline pursues the trail laid by a killer calling himself Harry Houdini (Adrien Brody). After capturing him, Madeline brings Harry back to the police station, but is unable to get him to confess where Frances is buried. As time runs down, Harry gets inside the head of unstable, alcoholic Madeline.

Director: Richard Shepard
Executive Producer: Andrew Farkas, Karen Lauder, William Lauder, Marcus Ticotin
Screenwriter: Richard Shepard
Distributor: Ascot Video, Ardustry Home Entertainment LLC, A-Pix Entertainment, UNAPIX Entertainment
Production Co: Curb Entertainment, Abandon Pictures, Paddy Wagon Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 12, 1999, Wide
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby