RUPTURE

RUPTURE

Little known director Steven Shainberg has written and developed a nifty flick that addresses two human weaknesses: the fear of disappearing without a trace and the fear of having to face our worst fears. It is very cool how he tied them both together in this well constructed indy starring Noomi Rapace (aka "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo").

Noomi plays Renee, a divorced mother who is at odds with her ex-husband and experiencing constant flack from her young son Evan (Percy Hynes White). The husband becomes irrelevant and there is only a latent concern for her son as the story quickly moves to her getting abducted by a group of mostly men who taze her, bind her and drive her off to places far from home.

The facility where she is taken by the group led by Thing portrayer Michael Chiklis and Kerry Bishe (Halt and Catch Fire), is a run down building one would see as an abandon insane asylum. She is strapped down and grilled as if by the FBI.

In fact, her first thought is that they are with the government - or a government - and are using her for an experiment of some sort. She got the experiment part correct as they inject her with drugs and torture her using none other than her fear of spiders. Her fears, they maintain will transform her.

In the background, Renee can hear others screaming as they face their fears with the same promise. Director Shainberg does a great job of infusing the tortured scream of the other abductees to stir that other fear we have - If I scream, what if nobody can hear me?

Naturally, these are not government agents and for at least a brief moment, Renee makes a daring almost escape before the story becomes clearer with a cute little twist at the end. While you might groan at the discount special effects used, the pacing and suspense is fairly tight and Noomi does what she always does - gets you pulling for her.

Chiklis works out well as the big guy in a suit who is deadly serious and imposing. Bishe is adequate as the officious mystery woman who tries to keep Renee calm. Camera work by Karim Hussain helps as he keeps the characters tight with a claustrophobic atmosphere.

The film suffers from minor items like Noomi's heavy accent that sounded out of place in Kansas City, I probably would have changed the setting to Minnesota or something.

"Rupture" is a better than average thriller/sci-fi/horror flick that is well cast and fairly well directed. Noomi Rapace carries each scene and gets you on her side in a hurry. -- GEOFF BURTON

GEOFF BURTON

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