Verdict
Summary
One of the most underrated films of the ’00s, and certainly one of the best (it happens to be my choice for the best) serial killer movies ever made, Suspect Zero is a highly original and stylish thriller that completely engages with its stylish direction, great performances – especially by Kingsley – and a cool (and still unreleased) score by Clint Mansell.
Plot:
An FBI agent is tracking down a serial killer who hunts serial killers.
Review:
FBI agent Mackelway (Aaron Eckhart) is demoted for reckless behavior, and he’s assigned to a bottom of the barrel division where he is all but handed a string of serial killing cases that seem to be directed to him by an elusive killer named O’Ryan (Ben Kingsley) who has a frightful ability to remotely – telepathically – tap into the minds of serial killers. O’Ryan targets Mackelway as the agent who will help him find the most prolific serial killer no one even knows exists – so named “Suspect Zero” – a guy who very well could be responsible for hundreds of individual killings, all random, but all connected by the connective tissue of the killer’s own devious method, which is to snatch children, as well as men and women, and do what he will to them, and then bury them on his property, a sprawling estate in the middle of nowhere. Mackelway becomes obsessed by O’Ryan’s extraordinary abilities, which the FBI doesn’t believe in the slightest, but it is because of O’Ryan’s clues that he leaves for Mackelway along the way on his own path to killing other serial killers that the FBI even becomes aware that hundreds of seemingly unrelated cases are all connected. As Mackelway careens through a virtual mental and nervous breakdown as the horrors of what he’s encountering threaten to rattle his very sanity, he edges closer and closer to an encounter with O’Ryan … and Suspect Zero.
One of the most underrated films of the ’00s, and certainly one of the best (it happens to be my choice for the best) serial killer movies ever made, Suspect Zero is a highly original and stylish thriller that completely engages with its stylish direction, great performances – especially by Kingsley – and a cool (and still unreleased) score by Clint Mansell. Director E. Elias Merhige gives the film a supremely creepy vibe, but he’s somehow able to tap into the weird and haunting aspects of the lurid subject matter and makes it commercial, and yet very highbrow for a mass market-intended thriller. The film flopped hard when it came out (I saw it theatrically and loved it), but I hope that the film will continue to build a cult following. Tom Cruise produced it (uncredited), which is interesting.
Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray release (it also comes in a 4K Ultra HD version) contains a nice, crisp brand new HD transfer from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative, and special features include the same content featured on the original DVD release – an audio commentary by the director, a 4-Part feature about the making of the film, a remote viewing demonstration, and an alternate ending.
