While it is surely not for every taste, I highly recommend "Lying in Wait" to anyone who enjoys an off-beat thriller, with a talented cast and some surprising plot twists. Fans of Virginia Madsen will relish her fine performance here, another in her gallery of memorable femmes fatales ("Gotham," "Hot Spot," et al). Miss Madsen's seductive dance at the beach, with thundering surf as a backdrop, is one of those transcendent moments she often delivers -- even in her more mediocre films.
But "Lying in Wait" is not a mediocre film. On the contrary, it is more art film than conventional thriller. The young neighbors (wonderfully portrayed by Vanessa Dorman and Thomas Newton) intrigue us with their innocent eccentricity. The story unfolds in dream-like fashion. It demands of us a "willing suspension of disbelief," but what psychological thriller does not?
Finally, those who complain about murky photography are missing the point. "Lying in Wait" is best viewed as a waking dream and we must not expect to see everything clearly when we are dreaming. I believe the director and cinematographer were quite deliberate in taking this heavily stylized approach. (You can find this same kind of high-contrast photography and lighting in the film noir classics of the 1940s; the only difference being that most of those were shot in b&w.)
But "Lying in Wait" is not a mediocre film. On the contrary, it is more art film than conventional thriller. The young neighbors (wonderfully portrayed by Vanessa Dorman and Thomas Newton) intrigue us with their innocent eccentricity. The story unfolds in dream-like fashion. It demands of us a "willing suspension of disbelief," but what psychological thriller does not?
Finally, those who complain about murky photography are missing the point. "Lying in Wait" is best viewed as a waking dream and we must not expect to see everything clearly when we are dreaming. I believe the director and cinematographer were quite deliberate in taking this heavily stylized approach. (You can find this same kind of high-contrast photography and lighting in the film noir classics of the 1940s; the only difference being that most of those were shot in b&w.)