Two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.
The emotions of the victims are clear and complex -- their conflicts dominate our experience of the narrative as powerfully as all the devices telling us to look elsewhere for the movie's themes.
– Lisa Alspector,
Chicago Reader,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
The basic puzzle is why this sophisticated director chose this tired formula.
– Stanley Kauffmann,
The New Republic,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
This beautifully acted and paced German variant of Cape Fear ... is tricked out with a number of Brechtian devices to catch audiences in a voyeuristic trance.
– Stephen Holden,
New York Times,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Brilliant, radical, provocative, it's a masterpiece that is at times barely watchable.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
rotten:
The film outstays its welcome and is more than a little too knowing in its manipulation of standard audience expectations for the genre.