Rampage | |
---|---|
Directed by | William Friedkin |
Screenplay by | William Friedkin |
Based on | Rampage 1985 novel by William P. Wood |
Produced by | William Friedkin David Salven |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Robert D. Yeoman |
Edited by | Jere Huggins |
Music by | Ennio Morricone |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $7.5 million [1] [2] |
Box office | $796,368 [3] |
Rampage is a 1987 American crime drama film written, produced and directed by William Friedkin. The film stars Michael Biehn, Alex McArthur, and Nicholas Campbell. Friedkin wrote the script based on the novel of the same name by William P. Wood, which was inspired by the life of Richard Chase. [4]
The film premiered at the Boston Film Festival on September 11, 1987, but its theatrical release was stalled for five years due to production company and distributor De Laurentiis Entertainment Group going bankrupt. In 1992, Miramax obtained distribution rights and gave the film a limited release in North America. For the Miramax release, Friedkin reedited the film and changed the ending.
Charles Reece is a serial killer who commits a number of brutal mutilation-slayings in order to drink blood as a result of paranoid delusions. Reece is soon captured. Most of the film revolves around the trial and the prosecutor's attempts to have Reece found sane and given the death penalty. Defense lawyers, meanwhile, argue that the defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity. The prosecutor, Anthony Fraser, was previously against capital punishment, but he seeks such a penalty in the face of Reece's brutal crimes after meeting one victim's grieving family.
In the end, Reece is found sane and given the death penalty, but Fraser's internal debate about capital punishment is rendered academic when Reece is found to be insane by a scanning of his brain for mental illness. In the ending of the original version of the film, Reece is found dead in his cell, having overdosed himself on antipsychotics he had been stockpiling.
In the ending of the revised version, Reece is sent to a state mental hospital, and in a chilling coda, he sends a letter to a person whose wife and child he has killed, asking the man to come and visit him. A final title card reveals that Reece is scheduled for a parole hearing in six months.
Charles Reece is loosely based on serial killer Richard Chase. [5] The crimes that Reece commits are slightly different from Chase's, however; Reece kills three women, a man and a young boy, whereas Chase killed two men, two women (one of whom was pregnant), a young boy and a 22-month-old baby. Additionally, Reece escapes at one point—which Chase did not do—murdering two guards and later a priest. However, Reece and Chase similarly had a history of mental illness and an obsession with drinking blood. Unlike Reece, Chase was sentenced to death, but he was found dead in his prison cell, an apparent suicide, before the sentence could be carried out. [6] [7]
The film's score was composed, orchestrated, arranged and conducted by Ennio Morricone and was released on vinyl LP, cassette and compact disc by Virgin Records. [8]
Rampage was filmed in 1986 in Stockton, California, where it had a one day only fundraising premiere at the Stockton Royal Theaters in August 1987. It played at the Boston Film Festival in September 1987, and ran theatrically in some European countries in the late 1980s. Plans for the film's theatrical release in America were shelved when production studio DEG, the distributor of Rampage, went bankrupt. The film was unreleased in North America for five years. [9] During that time, director Friedkin reedited the film, and changed the ending (with Reece no longer committing suicide in jail) before its US release in October 1992. [2] [10] The European video versions usually feature the film's original ending.
In retrospect, William Friedkin said: "At the time we made Rampage, [producer] Dino De Laurentiis was running out of money. He finally went bankrupt, after a long career as a producer. He was doing just scores of films and was unable to give any of them his real support and effort. And so literally by the time it came to release Rampage, he didn’t have the money to do it. And he was not only the financier, but the distributor. His company went bankrupt, and the film went to black for about five years. Eventually, the Weinsteins' company Miramax took it out of bankruptcy and rereleased it. But this was among the lowest points in my career." [11]
The film received a polarized response. [12] [13] Some critics ranked Rampage among Friedkin's best work. [2] In his review, film critic Roger Ebert gave Rampage three stars out of four saying, "This is not a movie about murder so much as a movie about insanity—as it applies to murder in modern American criminal courts...Friedkin['s] message is clear: Those who commit heinous crimes should pay for them, sane or insane. You kill somebody, you fry—unless the verdict is murky or there were extenuating circumstances." [14] Gene Siskel opined the film needed more scenes in the courtroom. [15] Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the acting and commented, "'Rampage' has a no-frills, realistic look that serves its subject well, and it avoids an exploitative tone." [16]
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called the film "despicable", saying that the "movie devolves into hateful propaganda" and "its muddled legal arguments come off as cover for a kind of righteous blood lust". [17] Stephen King, an admirer of Rampage, wrote a letter to the magazine defending the film. [2]
In retrospect William Friedkin said: "There are a lot of people who love Rampage, but I don’t think I hit my own mark with that". [11]
In 2021, Patrick Jankiewicz of Fangoria wrote, "Half-serial killer thriller, half-courtroom drama, Rampage is an unnerving study on the nature of evil and what society should do about it." [18]
Friedkin's original cut featuring the alternate ending and some additional footage was released on LaserDisc in Japan only by Shochiku Home Video in 1990. [2]
The American edit of the film was released on LaserDisc in 1994 by Paramount Home Video. [2] The film received a DVD release by SPI International in Poland. [19]
Kino Lorber announced plans to release Rampage on Blu-ray in 4K UHD sometime in early 2024. [20]
The French Connection is a 1971 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by William Friedkin and starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider and Fernando Rey. The screenplay, written by Ernest Tidyman, is based on Robin Moore's 1969 non-fiction book of the same name. It tells the story of fictional NYPD detectives Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo, whose real-life counterparts were narcotics detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, in pursuit of wealthy French heroin smuggler Alain Charnier.
William David Friedkin was an American film, television and opera director, producer, and screenwriter who was closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in the early 1960s, he is best known for his crime thriller film The French Connection (1971), which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and the horror film The Exorcist (1973), which earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Director.
Manhunter is a 1986 American thriller film directed and written by Michael Mann. Based on the 1981 novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, it stars William Petersen as FBI profiler Will Graham. Also featured are Tom Noonan as serial killer Francis Dollarhyde, Dennis Farina as Graham's FBI superior Jack Crawford, and Brian Cox as incarcerated killer Hannibal Lecktor. The film focuses on Graham coming out of retirement to lend his talents to an investigation on Dollarhyde, a killer known as the Tooth Fairy. In doing so, he must confront the demons of his past and meet with Lecktor, who nearly killed Graham.
Blink is a 1993 American neo-noir thriller film directed by Michael Apted and written by Dana Stevens. Starring Madeleine Stowe and Aidan Quinn, the film follows Emma Brody, the recipient of a corneal transplant who works with a police detective to track down a serial killer whose latest murder she inadvertently bore witness to.
To Live and Die in L.A. is a 1985 American neo-noir action crime thriller film directed and co-written by William Friedkin and based on the 1984 novel by former United States Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich, who co-wrote the screenplay with Friedkin. The film features William Petersen, Willem Dafoe and John Pankow among others. Wang Chung composed and performed the original music soundtrack. The film tells the story of the lengths to which two Secret Service agents go to arrest a counterfeiter.
Nightwatch is a 1997 American horror thriller film directed by Ole Bornedal and starring Ewan McGregor, Patricia Arquette, Josh Brolin and Nick Nolte. It was written by Bornedal and Steven Soderbergh. It is a remake of the 1994 Danish film of the same name, which was also directed by Bornedal.
Cherry Falls is a 1999 American slasher film directed by Geoffrey Wright, and starring Brittany Murphy, Jay Mohr, and Michael Biehn. The plot focuses on a small Virginia town where a serial killer is targeting teenaged virgins. After being submitted to and rejected by the MPAA numerous times, Cherry Falls premiered in May 1999 at Marché du Film in France and subsequently screened at several film festivals in some countries in early 2000, but did not have a theatrical release in the United States. Finally it was purchased by USA Films, who telecast it in the fall of 2000.
Cruising is a 1980 American crime thriller film written and directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, and Karen Allen. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by New York Times reporter Gerald Walker about a serial killer targeting gay men, particularly those men associated with the leather scene in the late 1970s. The title is a double entendre, because "cruising" can describe both police officers on patrol and men who are cruising for sex.
Memories of Murder is a 2003 South Korean crime thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho, from a screenplay by Bong and Shim Sung-bo, and based on the 1996 play Come to See Me by Kim Kwang-rim. It stars Song Kang-ho and Kim Sang-kyung. In the film, detectives Park Doo-man (Song) and Seo Tae-yoon (Kim) lead an investigation into a string of rapes and murders taking place in Hwaseong in the late 1980s.
Copycat is a 1995 American psychological thriller film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, and Dermot Mulroney. The score was composed by Christopher Young. The film follows a criminal psychologist and a homicide detective who must work together to find a serial killer who is committing copycat crimes modeled after notorious murderers.
Jade is a 1995 American erotic thriller film written by Joe Eszterhas, produced by Robert Evans, directed by William Friedkin, and starring David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Richard Crenna, and Michael Biehn. The original music score was composed by James Horner based on a song composed by Loreena McKennitt. The film was marketed with the tagline "Some fantasies go too far."
Shooter is a 2007 American action thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Jonathan Lemkin, based on the 1993 novel Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter. The film follows Force Recon Marine Scout Sniper veteran Bob Lee Swagger, who is framed for murder by a mercenary unit operating for a private military firm. The film also stars Michael Peña, Danny Glover, Kate Mara, Levon Helm, and Ned Beatty.
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. Tension is created by delaying what the audience sees as inevitable, and is built through situations that are menacing or where escape seems impossible.
The Exorcist III is a 1990 American psychological horror film written for the screen and directed by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1983 novel Legion. It is the third installment in The Exorcist film series, and the final installment in Blatty's "Trilogy of Faith". The film stars George C. Scott, Ed Flanders, Jason Miller, Scott Wilson, Nicol Williamson, and Brad Dourif.
The arthouse action genre is an emerging film genre in contemporary cinema that traces its roots back to Asian and European films. Characteristics of arthouse action films include stylized action, an arthouse atmosphere, metaphysical subtext, psychological characterisation and a disjointed, fragmented narrative with more complexity than the typical action film. These come together to create a sense of "dreamy surrealism."
Confession of Murder is a 2012 South Korean action thriller film directed by Jung Byung-gil, starring Jung Jae-young and Park Si-hoo. It is about a police officer who is haunted for failing to capture a serial killer 15 years back, and returns to the case after a novelist publishes the book I Am the Murderer, claiming responsibility for the crimes.
Paul Bateson is an American convicted murderer and former radiographer. He appeared as a radiologic technologist in a scene from the 1973 horror film The Exorcist, which was inspired when the film's director, William Friedkin, watched him perform a cerebral angiography the previous year. The scene, with a considerable amount of blood onscreen, was, for many viewers, the film's most disturbing scene; medical professionals have praised it for its realism.
The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil is a 2019 South Korean action thriller film directed by Lee Won-tae. The film stars Ma Dong-seok, Kim Mu-yeol and Kim Sung-kyu. In the film, a gangster and a cop join forces to catch a serial killer, but face challenges from their respective enemies at work.
Pattampoochi (transl. Butterfly) is an 2022 Indian Tamil-language period psychological crime thriller film written and directed by Badri, produced by Khushbu Sundar, under the banner of Avni Cinemax. The film stars Sundar C. and Jai in the lead roles, alongside Honey Rose, Imman Annachi and Manasvi Kottachi. The film was released on 24 June 2022 to mixed reviews from critics, with criticism towards the screenplay and violence but Jai's performance received praise. Despite this, the film performed well at the box-office.
Footfairy (2020) is a crime-thriller Hindi and Marathi language film directed by Kanishk Varma and produced by Anurag Bedi, Ruchir Tiwari and Nithin Upadhyaya. It starrs Gulshan Devaiah, Sagarika Ghatge, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Muskan Bamne, Karan Arvind Bendre, Ashish Pathode, Shamal Rokade and Yogesh Soman.