Le Rapt

My review was written in May 1986 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Abducted" is a modest little picture, which achieves its goal of presenting a simple story of survival in the mountainous wilds of British Columbia. Tameness of treatment indicates its best market will be for tv audiences.

Shot on handsome, treacherous locations, the story ironically recalls the strictly claustrophobic tale "The Collector". Renee (Roberta Weiss) is a beautiful, young student out jogging in the woods who is kidnapped by primitive backwoodsman Vern (Lawrence King-Phillips). He forces her to climb steep rock faces and trek for several days with him to his remote mountain cabin where he plans to live with her.

Though Renee gradually comes to understand Vern and even pity him, she resists his frequent attempts to assault her and is finally saved from a fate worse than death by the appearance of Vern's dad, Joe (Dan Haggerty) on the scene. Joe warns his son not to hurt the lady and agrees to return her safely to civilization.

After an altercation with some hunters (out to kill the mountain sheep Joe loves and protects), Vern runs off. An Oedipal conflict occurs when he returns, savagely bashes his father with a rifle butt and leaves Joe for dead. Ever the rugged survivor, Joe manages to recover and track Vern down in a predictable conclusion that spells freedom for Renee.

Director Boon Collins smoothly handles this basic material, pulling his punches in the frequent scenes that promise some sex or nudity but never delivers. Robeta Weiss is easy on the eyes even under such a tasteful approach while Lawrence King-Phillips chews the woodsy scenery as a young villain reminiscent of John Drew Barrymore. Haggerty is perfectly cast as a kindly mountain man not too distantly related to his Grizzly Adams persona.

Tech credits are modest but effective, with an assist provided by nice wildlife photography by Tommy Tompkins.

Well, this was … good, but certainly not what I expected! According to the cover of the ex-rental VHS I picked up, "Abducted" is based on a true story and it even has bits and pieces of authentic Canadian newspaper clippings illustrated on the back. However, I can't find any information regarding this allegedly "true story" on the whole internet. I'm still somewhat tempted to believe the film is at least loosely inspired by true events, though, because the plot and the story twists are just too weird be fictional. "Abducted" is quite unique, actually. It's a prototypic exploitation movie, only it doesn't feature any exploitation trademarks. This movie basically deals with the kidnapping of a young and beautiful girl by a bewildered and socially alienated mountain man, but strangely enough it doesn't feature any sleaze, nudity or rape. Instead, this is a slow-moving and (wannabe) harrowing drama that makes some very unusual twists around halfway and mainly focuses on the breathtaking filming locations and environmental scenery. During her morning jog in the woods, Renee Aldrich is surprise-attacked by a madman. He scares and provokes her and then literally drags the poor girl deeper into the woods – by a rope around her neck – to his cabin. His attempts to rape her might be unsuccessful, but still his behavior towards her grows increasingly hostile. Then the film makes a weird twist when suddenly the freak's father shows up and turns out to be a "one-with-nature" Good Samaritan type of guy. Joe Evans, played by Grizzly guy Dan Haggerty, heavily disapproves his son's acts and even confesses to Renee that the came to live in the remote woods to keep Vern away from people. Grizzly guy also swears to guide her back home, but Vern is not willing to let her go that easy. On their way back to civilization, "Abducted" changes into some sort of educational nature & wildlife documentary, with Dan Haggerty vividly trying to pass on the message of preserving our forests. Undeniably the filming locations are staggering, but if I wanted to see deer or birds, I could always watch National Geographic. The bizarre triangular situation and the continuously present tension between Renee and her aggressor Vern provide a handful of noteworthy atmospheric sequences, but overall "Abducted" is a dull film and a missed opportunity for sure.

I just noticed there also exists a sequel to this film, entitled "Abducted II: the Reunion", which features Vern's resurrection from the dead and three scarcely dressed women on a camping trip. Now, that's all the more proof this film can't possibly be based on a true story, because that would be the ultimate in shamelessly exploiting a human drama. But with a director named Boon Collins, you never know, of course

This is a strange and unedifying twist on the damsel in distress theme. A teenage girl out for a run in the Canadian wilderness is abducted by a deranged mountain man who drags her off to his isolated log cabin telling her that she belongs to him now, and she had better do as he says, or else.

Rather than simply rape her he embarks on a rather bizarre courtship ritual, but before he can win her heart - fat chance - salvation appears in the form of his father. Apparently the old man has long realised his son is three sandwiches short of a picnic, and has chosen this austere existence as an alternative to dumping him in the local booby hatch. The old man convinces his son to see reason and take the captive back to civilisation. Unfortunately, he doesn't see reason for long, and after a helicopter appears out of nowhere - tourists poaching a rare mountain sheep - things take a really tragic twist. The end is fairly predictable, but unless you are into mindless thuggery or the great outdoors, this one is probably not for you.

Pretty young jogger is abducted by crazy mountain man. That pretty much sums up the whole plot. Those expecting some exploitation fare will be disappointed. There is no nudity, though Roberta Weiss does look cute in her sweat suit and she spends the climax of the film in her panties. Speaking of Weiss, she's certainly one of the most attractive actresses of the '80s. I only know of her from two other things: a small part in The Dead Zone and an episode of Tales From the Darkside. A good episode, though. Anyway, back to the movie. The location shooting is nice. Weiss, as I said, is pretty and does a fine job with her performance. Lawrence King-Phillips is good as the psycho mountain man. Dan Haggerty, the reason most people will even see this, is enjoyable essentially playing the Grizzly Adams type of character we all expect. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen but it's pretty pointless. If it was a little seedier it might have more of a cult following, whatever that says about us.

Despite the best efforts of Collins to make this film bad, he accidentally made an interesting movie. Renee (Roberta Weiss) is out in the forest jogging and within the first minute of the movie finds herself captured by Vern (Lawrence King-Phillips). Vern appears insane at first, with his crazy sunglasses and aggressive nature. Events unfold and we come to realize that Vern has a dad (in a very convincing performance by Dan Haggerty) who is exactly the opposite of Vern, calm and level-headed. Above all this movie explores some interesting ideas, like what happens to the abductee after the initial shock of being abducted. Vern and his dad (Joe) are only in the forest because Joe loves his son and society wants to lock him up. Unfortunately, it seems that not much thought went into the last fifteen minutes, but the rest of the movie is definitely worth a watch. Rating: 25/40