Isaacs Picture Conclusions

NOISE (2007) FOUR TOP HATS

2006_CJWRAP_test

(Here’s an oldie that no one’s ever seen) (That I recently watched again)

There’s nothing finer than digging through the trash pile that is horror / thriller and finding something very good. There are two stories that intertwine here: a woman innocently gets on a subway to head home from her new job, sits down and realizes that there are seven murdered people strewn around the car (how horrifying would that be?) and she can’t even get off for awhile; there’s also the story of a cop who has developed Tinnitus (a debilitating ear condition) that renders him either unconscious or unable to hear things over the loud “noise” in his head. As she takes the steps to clear her traumatized mind, as well as help the police figure out who committed the brutal slayings, he is placed on “light duty” at a mobile police station (the picture above) taking interviews from the locals near the crime scene at the location of another killing.  I found the acting very good (for this type of movie) the plot excellent, the shooting, the special effects and even the score very effective. I also really enjoyed the “no big twist” ending which is so popular nowadays. I was also thoroughly pleased that I didn’t have to read anything into anything, that this was just a straight up, here you have it thriller, made well. Those Aussies sure can make a good movie when they want to.

So, Maia Thomas plays the twenty something character Lavinia, who makes her unfortunate way into the train full of dead bodies. She totally shits herself with this and is stuck for however long the trip lasts. In the train station, our other lead, Graham McGahan, played by Brendan Cowell, appears confused and then passes out on the elevator. Next up, the police have been called, the train stops and they bust in on a screaming Lavinia, assuming she’s the killer (this was a pretty tense scene). As we move on, McGahan is moved to the mobile trailer where he interacts with the locals who’s names aren’t two important with the exception of “Lucky Phil” (Simon Laherty), a mentally challenged fellow who steals things from houses on the street and takes pictures of these items placed on or around his dog (and gives them out as Christmas cards). In the other story, Lavinia spends her time recounting her incident with the cops – it turns out she wasn’t the only living person on that train – so was the killer – and he wasn’t kind to her. In the McGahan story line, he interviews various not very kind locals, has interactions with Lucky Phil who stops by innocently for some biscuits and has a pretty tense run in with a drunken man who has just lost his wife.

Most of the action in the first half is found in the Lavinia story (while, honestly McGahan’s beginning is kind of boring) and then the heat is turned up in the second half as pieces of these murders start dropping into McGahan’s lap – even though he doesn’t want them too. There is a really cool, drawn out scene where some toughs are beating up Lucky Phil and McGahan and the drunk head out to save him (I actually watched that twice). While they are out saving Lucky Phil, the killer leaves an ominous message there on the steps of the trailer. I think they way they put the end together here really worked for me too – it was believable and very well done. While I don’t think this is a “must see” as much as Amber Lake, this is a good one that I would totally watch again.

29 comments

  3. jjames36

    Sounds interesting, and it’s easy to support Film Movement (I was even one of their original members, though I let my membership wane long ago). I’ll try to make a point of checking this one out at some point.

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  7. Smash

    Oh man, getting on the subway and seeing all of those murders would actually be quite terrifying. It’s also terrifying when you’re crammed into the car like sardines and the train stops in the tunnel between stations…

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