Lower Level - Todesangst im Hochhaus

The "action" starts off right away so you don't have time to know the characters or really care about them. The acting and writing makes this a B movie at best. The only small redeeming part was that it involved a strong female lead, but she didn't have any depth at all. Silence of the Lambs came out the same year this movie did and it was a much better cat-and-mouse film. SOTL actually had well developed characters and intense directing. I've seen other movies directed by Kristine Peterson and they're not that much better which, I'm guessing, is why she hasn't directed anything since the late 90's.

A woman and her boyfriend are trapped in high tech state of the art skyscraper by a deranged security guard who watches there every move on security cameras. The guard who has a fixation on her, plans to remove her boyfriend from the picture.

Sexy Fatal Attraction reversal w/ an interesting premise. The film is handsomely produced and generates enough thrills, chills, and close calls to keep its auidence entertained. Good leading performances and direction help too.

Rated R; Violence, Sexual Situations, Profanity.

Please do not read the summary of this movie. There are no depressed women around here but two strong female characters and a bunch of guys who don't know how to deal with it. Lower Level was scripted and directed by women and I think this can be sensed clearly. The main storyline deals with a guard who is smitten with a woman architect and entraps her in "her tower" one night. The guard did a lot of planning - not unlike the Collector Terence Stamp in the eponymous movie directed by William Wyler. But he is doomed and clearly intimidated by the woman who in the end is not only able to liberate herself but also her occasional sexual partner (boyfriend or lover would not be the right word here). This is a fine example of low budget movie making. Very few actors, one location, nighttime only and quite a few good directorial ideas. It is not the greatest movie of all times but really good entertainment and visually very pleasing. Great cameo by Shari Shattuck.

I had never heard of this movie until I watched it, but it turned out better than expected. It's nothing great, but it's tense, well-made and well-acted. Having three relatively unknown actors in the three main roles works in its favor - sometimes you almost forget you're watching a movie. Elizabeth Gracen is beautiful, sensual, strong and convincing: when she tells the villain that she is somehow turned on by him, only to catch him off guard, it's no wonder he is fooled - the viewer is fooled as well. And David Bradley is not the one-dimensional villain you might expect: he manages to bring out the sympathetic sides of his character, despite the horrible things he does ("It's not so much that I want to sleep with you", he tells Gracen, "It's just that I want to wake up next to you". That is genuinely romantic. Too bad he also kills people...). (**1/2)

David Bradley stars as Sam, a lovestruck security guard who takes drastic measures to prove his love to lovely Architect Hillary (Elizabeth Gracen) who unfortunately rejects his advances. This is an interesting variation on Fatal Attraction, mainly due to the overall impression from David Bradley. Now don't get me wrong, David Bradley is typically a wooden action star (just slightly better than Olivier Gruner) but in the role of killer in question, he gives a truly impressive performance. Less impressive are Elizabeth Gracen and Jeff Yagher who come off as stuck up and spoiled, David Bradley's character seems the most human. In fact his portrayal of a lonely yet nice guy (although psychotic) plays on the fact that he's been dealt bad luck. And even at the end, David Bradley's character is the most likable and human of the bunch. However this movie does strain credibility at times. Now of course I could forgive it because hey it's a David Bradley flick, but seriously how David Bradley walks away from getting knifed, hit on the head with a fire extinguisher and dragged up an elevator, yet keeps on coming does strain credibility. But once again it's David Bradley who sells the movie and actually plays an excellent sympathetic villain. Of course this all comes to surprise, for those acquainted with Bradley from American Ninja 3 and 4. Not to mention the director who gave us the woeful Kickboxer 5. So with all things considered this emerges as both Bradley and director Peterson's best work to date and comes off as much better than you would expect.

* *1/2 out of 4-(Pretty Good)