Very disappointing...

Too much of everything

Good concept, poorly executed.

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Anamorph is about an ex-detective, named Stan (Willem Dafoe), who is brought back from retirement to hunt down a serial killer with a strange artistic fetish. The twist in this movie is that the serial killer is strangely similar to the one which Stan allegedly killed (a man with the catchy name "Uncle Eddie") a few years ago. This serial killer, like the allegedly dead one, likes to display his victims as Renaissance art and he even resorts to anamorphosis – which explains the title of the movie. While watching Anamorph, I liked seeing Stan and the art dealer (Peter Stormare in the film's only fresh performance) talk about art and serial killers. I even liked the scene at the end, with the mournful violins and the victim choking on his own blood. The problem was that the rest of the movie was dismal. The film never really got us involved in the lives of its characters, with the result that we never cared whether they lived or died. Watching Stan go through a serious depression and drink himself to death was boring. The other police officers were clichés, while the female victim at the end was not presented in a sympathetic way. These failings would not be a problem if the film had plenty of high-energy action sequences and witty dialogue, like Eraser (1998) did. Unfortunately, Anamorph is a grim, dark, and depressing film which tries to use atmosphere to make some profound statement about Stan and the other characters. The atmospheric scenes fail to do this, because Stan, the serial killer, and others are not interesting enough to be the subject of any character study. Anamorph is not like "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" which taught us something about the psychology of the serial killer.Anamorph has a fresh set-up with a serial killer who brazenly depicts his victims as Renaissance art, interesting dialogue from Stomare, and an entertaining ending. But I cannot recommend the picture, because the hero and villain are so boring and the atmospheric scenes simply do not achieve their aim.

A detective (Willem Dafoe) is on the hunt for a killer who transforms his victims into works of art. The cases grow more and more brutal, and some suspect the detective himself may somehow be involved (though, from the audience's point of view, this involvement is not apparent). Who is the killer, can he be caught?I had low expectations for this film. Dafoe is an amazing actor, and has appeared in some great films (and some not-so-great but still popular ones). Typically, he wouldn't be in a film unless it was going to be huge. This being a straight-to-DVD title, I had to wonder... could it be good if they felt that Dafoe wasn't enough to carry it to the big screen? And the answer is simply: it's good, but not that good.Dafoe is a great actor, and Peter Stormare ("Prison Break") is a good character actor (playing, as usual, a thuggish type here). But they are put in a plot that doesn't really have much depth. The writer was concerned about getting us from corpse to corpse, but that was about the extent of it. The directing, likewise, is good, but will do little to further a career -- a year from now, I'll be the only person to recall this film. The special effects were good and deserve credit. While not the most realistic corpses ever, there was plenty of time and thought involved... so cheers to you.The one thing that stood out for me as quite good was the musical score. I have to say the composer hit the right nerves. I may already be mentally unbalanced -- this is true -- but the music hit me hard and gripped me, leaving me feeling dread and despair, which music will not often do. If the composer's goal was to create a mood of hopelessness and bleak darkness, I call this a success. A philosophical question could be raised about whether the acts committed here were murder, art or both. Some might suggest that the death of one person may be a worthy sacrifice if the art produced is of significant value. If death can be used to justify some things, why not art? The film doesn't really explore this theme, and I'm inclined to believe that murder is hardly, if ever, justifiable. But a potential discussion exists here.If you want to see a film about murder being turned into art, see the 1959 Roger Corman film "A Bucket of Blood". Or don't. But "Anamorph" will end up being an impulse rental that ultimately lets you down, I fear. 2008 is a slow year for horror and thrillers, so you may end up resorting to lesser fare to feed the addiction. Just be warned in advance that this is simply that and nothing more.

Very entertaining "psychological puzzle thriller" without any violent action scenes but with graphic crime scenes. The pace of the movie is slow at first but begins to pick up midway through. The scenes in general are dark and gloomy, which more or less sets the tone for Defoe's character. The title is based on the word "anamorphosis" which is a form of painting and plays into the artistic killings.Willem Defoe is a low key alcoholic, teaching NYPD detective who, after almost five years, is still haunted by the personal ghosts of his last "big" case. Around this same time, high profile killings start to occur. The m.o. (method of operation) of the recent killings lead the police to suspect a serial killer is on the loose. Furthermore, the intricacies and "artistry" of the crime scenes are such that the department decides to bring in Defoe as consulting/lead detective with his partner (Speedman) into the investigation. What ensues is a bit of a cat and mouse game, with the audience slowly learning more about Defoe's past case and the strange similarities to the current one.Defoe, not the actual plot, is the primary reason I decided to check out this movie. I was not sure what to expect and I admit that I was a bit confused about Defoe's character throughout the better part of the movie and impatient to find out more about his past and exactly how it tied into the present. The crime scenes are morbidly beautiful and I was awed by the sheer imagination of them as well. This movie really concentrates on the "artistic motivation" of serial killers and as such I found it quite intriguing. The puzzle aspects of the movie are reminiscent of "The Bone Collector" but I found "Anamorph" to be a bit headier - similar to "Se7en" but not as straightforward.7/10. Worth checking out but probably not watching more than once other than to try to discover the anamorphic properties of the crime scenes. The stills of the crime scenes from this movie would make a great art book.

This film is basically two hours of Dafoe's character drinking himself - nearly literally - to death. The only surprise in this film is that you didn't have enough clues or character knowledge to be surprised. It was just a grim, sad waste of time.Willem Dafoe is excellent actor. Peter Stormare is an excellent actor. But this film just sucked. Slow doesn't make the movie bad, it was just bad. The sketchy plot mixed with artistic ramblings of anamorphic detail aren't cohesively drawn together in a meaningful way for a plot except to highlight some gore which is illustrated from several perspectives, finally at the end. I really appreciate the artistic vision, but as entertainment, it put me to sleep. (Seriously, I fell asleep and had to re-watch the film - which was even more disappointing.)I generally don't like to make negative comments or reviews on the works of others, even when they suck, but this film warranted one. It's just too bad that these great actors were shamed with this end result.