DVD review: 388 Arletta Avenue, (15), (83 mins), new on DVD from Blockbuster.

Director Randall Cole's chillingly-effective thriller is seen entirely through the spycameras which an unknown killer has set up in an ordinary, unsuspecting couple's house and lives.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th Sep 2012, 09:41 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 19:23 BST

Quite how he got them all there in the first place probably needs a little more explaining than the film actually offers, but there’s no doubting that the perspective gives the film its horribly-sinister edge.

It all starts when the couple (Nick Stahl and Mia Kirshner) discover a CD mix in their car which neither of them remembers making or receiving – an unsettling start which nosedives when the woman is abducted.

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The police are strangely loathe to treat seriously her unexplained, sudden disappearance in the absence of any signs of violence; and it is left to the man to attempt to work through the clues the kidnapper is apparently leaving.

The man is forced to confront elements of his past and also to face up to his estrangement from his wife’s sister, but nothing seems to get him closer to his tormentor, a foe who – unbeknown to him – is actually tracking his every move.

Stahl gives us the full run of emotions from frustration to terror as events close in around him – utterly at a loss and utterly baffled at the constant disadvantage he finds himself at.

Cole’s skill as a director is that he maintains the killer’s eye view to the bitter end of this twisted and disturbing tale.

Phil Hewitt

Rental courtesy of Blockbuster. For details of other new releases, see www.blockbuster.co.uk.