The Disappearance of Alice Creed

They say good things come in threes and that is certainly the case with British kidnap thriller The Disappearance Of Alice Creed. The film is shot in three locations and has only three actors; former Bond girl Gemma Arterton, Martin Compston and Eddie Marsan. It opens with former crims Benny (Compston) and Vic (Marsan) meticulously preparing an apartment to hold their kidnap victim Alice Creed (Arterton). Once abducted and chained to a bed in the apartment, Creed is repeatedly humiliated by her captives and forced to make a plea to camera begging her rich father to give the men the $2 million ransom they are demanding.

On the surface The Disappearance Of Alice Creed sounds like your standard kidnap caper. But within 15 minutes writer/director J Blakeson is throwing more twists at you than the Col de Turini. He clearly has a very dark sense of humour and he has laced this intense film with black comedic moments. Blakeson has made an astounding first feature and he squeezes every bit of potential out of his story with the minimalist camera work and competent performances. Arterton is especially captivating, despite spending a large portion of the movie topless and chained to a bed.

Yet it is Blakeson who emerges as the true star in this gritty, unpredictable and raw thriller that will have you second-guessing your assumptions again and again. For instance, what you could assume about his attitudes towards women the first half, dramatically begin to evolve in the second as the short and sweet flick powers toward a `Final Girl’-esque ending.

VIA «Creed is good»