Nightwatch

Nightwatch is a 1997 American horror thriller film directed by Ole Bornedal and starring Ewan McGregor as law student Martin Bells, hired as a night watchman at a hospital morgue. Patricia Arquette, Josh Brolin and Nick Nolte also star. It was written by Bornedal and Steven Soderbergh. It is a remake of the Danish film Nattevagten (1994), which was also directed by Bornedal.

Nightwatch is an atmospheric little psycho-thriller from Denmark, although ultimately its far-fetched and the ending is unsatisfying. The director makes excellent use of cinematography and some disturbing sound effects (such as the amplified flapping of moths' wings) to show how our hero is overwhelmed by his cold, spacious workplace. Saddled with a nominally respectable cast, the film is labored in exposition, painting a luridly disturbing portrait of male aggression. And the dialogue contains odd shafts of insight. It's a visually effective and often scary film to watch, but the story is rather leaky so it begins to grow tiresome towards the end and the mystery elements of the film are rather predictable.