Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2478 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-10-26
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Arabic
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 124 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Although it received mixed reactions from critics and audiences alike when released in 1998, this supernatural thriller benefits from a sustained atmosphere of anticipation and dread, and its combination of detective mystery and demonic mischief is handled with ample style and intelligence. Under the direction of Gregory Hoblit (who fared better with Primal Fear), Denzel Washington plays detective John Hobbes, who witnesses the gas-chamber execution of a serial killer (Elias Koteas). But when another series of murders begins, Hobbes suspects that the killer's evil spirit has survived and is possessing the bodies of others to do its evil bidding. Even Hobbes's trusted partner (John Goodman) thinks the detective is losing his grip on reality, but the dire warnings of a noted linguist (Embeth Davidtz) confirm Hobbes's far-out theory, and his case intensifies toward a fateful showdown.

Although its idea is better than its execution, and the story's film noir ambitions are never fully accomplished, this slickly directed thriller has some genuinely effective moments in which evil forces are entwined into the fabric of everyday reality. Among the highlights is a memorable scene in which Detective Hobbes must track the killer as the evil spirit is transferred between many people via physical contact. Even if the film is ultimately less than the sum of its parts, it's an intriguing hybrid that resides in the same cinematic neighbourhood as Seven and The Silence of the Lambs with a cast that also includes Donald Sutherland and James Gandolfini. Included on the DVD is a full-length audio commentary by director Hoblit, screenwriter Nicholas Kazan and producer Charles Roven. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Special Features
Wide Screen
DVD 5
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Interactive Menus
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailer
Audio Commentary
Arabic
English

Synopsis
After capturing and prosecuting a brutal serial killer, detective John Hobbes is puzzled by a string of bizarre murders that seem to suggest that the killer is alive--or at least somehow present on Earth. With the help of a beautiful theosophist and his stalwart partner, Hobbes realizes that the killer's spirit is being transferred between the bodies it possesses--and that it may be impossible to stop him now.

Customer Reviews

Demon quality
Denzil Washington stars in this high class chiller in which he plays a cop trying to deal with an opponent who could literally be anybody at any time. A good cast including John Goodman and Donald Sutherland provide excellent support. Combine this with a surprisingly clever script and decent direction and you'll find a film that thrills and surprises in equal measures. No more so than the ending which has a lovely twist which I certainly didn't see coming.

Fortunately for us there is no basis in reality for this story. If there was you'd look at people a little bit differently in future. Its also worth mentioning that I shall never hear a certain Rolling Stones song in the same way again after watching this film.

This is a much better film than its fairly obscure status would tend to indicate.

good film but fallen
I think when people cease in believing in God, they begin to believe in anything. This doesn't mean you must be officially Christian, Muslim, Jewish or from every another religion, as Atheism is at last. This is a good movie, better than middle productions of this class, but it's in the wave of supposed supernatural happenings, and police it's very dubious the ideal organisation to cope with such things. Devils or Daemons are I suppose a little difficult to put in jail. Personally I think this is a temporal fashion but it can become more than this and a source of mental troubles for many people, weaker than others.

one of my fav films!
i don't buy many dvd's but when i saw this i had to buy it, really good story, denzel is great in this film, as are the rest of the cast, the soundtrack is really good too!