The team who made Assault reunited for this a much better movie. A family have lost a young girl to a murderer (we never see this scene or them finding out... we start the movie at the funeral). When the main suspect gets let off they decide to kidnap him.
James Booth is dad, Joan Collins his new wife, the sister resents the stepmum, there's a brother. Aussie Ray Barrett is the father of another girl killed.
They keep the dude in the cellar and decide to torture him to confess, only he doesn't confess so they don't know whether to kill him or let him go. And it sends everyone nuts - Barrett takes off to another city to avoid responsibility, the son can't get it up for his girlfriend (Sinead Cusack) and is hot for stepmum Collins who seems to be into it then he rapes her while the captured guy watches then Booth finds out and smacks them both around so Collins takes off with the son and the daughter finds out and freaks out. And you're never sure until the very end whether the guy did it.
They tried to sell this in the US as a horror film. It's not, it's a vigilante film and a good one - I really enjoyed it. I recognise the dodginess, especially that rape sequence, but the film has a cohesion and goes for it. Heightened melodrama.
I'm not a big Booth fan in other movies but he's effective here - his intensity works. Collins very good. I didn't recognise the son actor - he was fine. Cusack pretty. I liked the younger daughter. The captured guy was terrific. I got a little confused over whether there were two killers or one - there were two, yes?
I think the filmmakers made a mistake not showing the girl going missing/family finding the dead body. That would've been the big gut punch the film needed. I understand why they didn't want to show it.
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