Captive

A lot of people hated this movie but I guarantee it's got a fanbase out there, here's why: It's made for the Damsels in Distress fans. Those who are into bdsm and the like. For most of the movie it's got the kidnapee tied up and the abuse is related to various sexual themes. For fans of that genre only.

This is an example of the types of European thrillers which popped up in the mid 80's, films which mixed high and low brow culture together, i.e. A crime story with opera music featuring actors in chic clothing posing in abandoned warehouses. Its like a poor man's Luc Besson, with overwrought dialogue and a bunch of actors from a Calvin Klein commercial. In it, Oliver Reed's daughter is kidnapped by a group of terrible actors for reasons that remain unclear. The Stockholm Syndrome kicks in and a bunch of other stuff happens. Reed phones in his performance but at least he had one to dial in, unlike everyone else who no doubt immediately after this returned to appearances in Ralph Lauren adverts for fancy baggy jumpers.

Basically,this is a variation on the Patty Hearst story set in England.It even opens with a shot of a castle where the rich girl lives with her rich father.After around 20 minutes,the rich girl gets kidnapped by three bizarros in strange costumes,and is subjected to all kinds of mental and sexual torture in order to brainwash her.There's also an operatic score to liven things up.In my opinion,this is one of the stupidest movies Oliver Reed ever made.

This film is a moderately chilling suspense film. It is also an apt illustration of the psychology behind kidnapping and yet the thing that sticks out for me still to this day is the haunting soundtrack.This was provided by U2's Dave Evans ( The Edge) and a brief appearance on one track by yet unknown in the states Sinead O'Conner. Very nice work by Evans at complimenting the various mood swings of a psychological thriller.The filmmaker takes time to carefully light this film and the music follows as a synchronized back-drop. In true minimalist fashion Evans accompanies moments of poignancy with stripped, warm guitar tones and builds tension with true late 80's keyboard and tribal drum infusion.U2 was still freshly blazing their trail across the American consciousness and this side-bar by the Edge was intriguingly welcomed by close fans. Much like Tangerine Dream's colorful sound-scape for Risky Business and the Chicago Loop's El trains, this soundtrack seems in touch with the over-all mood of the piece and not to personally connected to character. This is as it should be. The movie musical may devote a theme song to every character but the score, the sonic back-drop, should simply over- and under-shadow the flow of moments. The musician who scores a film has this concern, even to the point of deciding when not to include music at all. This soundtrack is available and worth revisiting.