This is a review of a 2007 film called 'Captivity' which I watched on TV the other night. Bear with me as I don't usually review films but as I managed to stay awake through the whole of this late night horror (and alone I might add) I thought it was worth me reviewing it as I usually fall asleep half way through which prevents a decent review!

About
In 'Captivity' a model (Jennifer) wakes up in a sort of dingy basement room, surrounded by all her own belongings and lovely clothes, underwear and toiletries (at this point I was thinking, oh, it's not so bad if you could have a bit of undisturbed pamper time to yourself) but clearly not in her own home. She is confused and disorientated before realising she has been kidnapped and trashes the room in her anger. Smoke is pumped in and she falls out of consciousness and wakes in a room of torture, watching a video of a previous occupant being tortured with acid and she realises she is in great danger and begs forgiveness. In her room, a video plays clips of herself in her interview and TV coverage she has done in the past, perhaps giving clues as to why she is there. An attempted escape through the air vents also results in further punishment and threats of torture.

At this stage, Jennifer is largely unharmed but just deeply unhappy that she is stuck there. After a few days, a flashing light catches her eye and she manages to scrape the paint off the window in the dividing wall to find a very handsome male who manages to communicate to her that he is also being held there against his will. The couple join forces against their mysterious kidnapper and plot to escape their awful plight.

Who's in it?
There aren't an awful lot of characters in this film. Most of the action takes place in the basement although there is a chase scene through the house. Elisha Cuthbert plays Jennifer the pretty model and Daniel Gillies plays Gary Dexter the male captive. There's a couple of dumb coppers and obviously the kidnapper too but that's about it.

Reminds me of...
I don't know why but some of this reminded me of 'Panic Room' as a film. It was mainly dark and most definitely a horror genre with some quite horrific scenes in the film. I think that was what helped to keep me awake! Another part of it was in some challenges the couple had to work out and that reminded me of some of the Saw movies. The IMDB site says you might like this film if you enjoyed 'house of wax' which, incidentally, I did enjoy despite others saying it was a terrible film.

My thoughts
Half way through the film I kind of guessed what was going on and then of course I had to stay up to see if I was right. I was shocked by the film and also digging for Jennifer to get out of the house alive. She had guts and was brave and at the same time made some really stupid moves. At one point she sees a dead cop and kind of twigs that he is not a kidnapper... why didn't she have a quick dig about to see if he had a phone or walkie talkie on him so she could get help.

Final word
I have tried hard in this review to not give away any key moments or spoilers as it might just be on your 'to watch' list. It seemed to last a long time although running time is 96 minutes according to IMDB. Watching horror is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me and this film definitely ticked the boxes.