Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Sofie Gråbøl, Lotte Andersen,
Kim Bodnia, Ulf Pilgaard, Rikke Louise Andersson,
Stig Hoffmeyer, Gyrd Løfquist, Niels Anders Thorn
Written by Ole Bornedal
UK certification 18 | UK RRP £17.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 105minutes
Directed by Ole Bornedal
Known as Nattevagten in its native Denmark, Nightwatch was remade for Hollywood in 1998, starring Ewen McGregor and Josh Brolin (who now seems to be in every second film that's made). But this one here is the 1994 original, and as you'd expect, is the better of the two. The question, though, is why has it taken 14 years to find its way on to DVD?
Martin (Coster-Waldau) is a Copenhagen law student who takes a part-time job as night watchman at the local morgue (which begs the question: why does a morgue need a night watchman? It's not as if the residents are going anywhere). He has a girlfriend, Kalinka (Gråbøl), who is studying to be an actress, and his best friend is fellow law student Jens (Bodnia) who is a bit of a shitstirrer. Oh, and to spice things up a little, there's a serial killer on the loose. Who fancies prostitutes. Very young ones. And he likes to take their scalps as a souvenir, too. Charming. So from the start you know that somehow, the killer's and Martin's paths are going to cross. And, inevitably, they do when the real killer decides to frame Martin.
Tense and atmospheric, Nightwatch is light on the gore but director Bornedal lays on the suspence with a trowel. The plot takes a little while to get going — unusually for a serial killer thriller, Bornedal spends some time setting the scene and building the characters — but once it does, the tension mounts and the film almost races to its conclusion. Although the American remake — again directed by Bornedal — is the better known of the two versions, this original is far superior in all ways.
EXTRAS ** You'd think that with 14 years up their sleeves the filmmakers could have come up with more than a "behind the scenes" featurette and the theatrrical trailer. But no, they didn't. The Region 1 DVD edition features an audio commentary with writer-director Ole Bornedal, which is sadly missing here.