THE HAUNTED AIRMAN (E1, 2006) D: Chris Durlacher, w/ Robert Pattinson, Julian Sands. Rating: N DVD package: n/a Rating: N
The same pallid frailty that makes Robert Pattinson an acceptable vampire in Twilight works even better when he’s cast as a war casualty who’s either going insane or being driven there by his evil shrink.
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Tragically, that isn’t enough to justify dumping 68 minutes of your only life into this ill-made, tension-free thriller.
After being shot down, Second World War RAF bomber Toby Jugg (Pattinson) arrives at a creepy old rest home minus the use of his legs and accompanied by his aunt-by-marriage (Rachael Stirling). They’re in love, but pretty soon her letters stop coming. Toby’s doctor (Julian Sands) has plausible answers for everything, but Toby starts mistrusting him. The other patients are strange. Shadows and spiders haunt his nights.
Eventually, he does something that’s supposed to be shocking, but isn’t if you’ve been paying attention or ever heard the Freudian notion that leg problems stand in for penis problems. It should also kick off a Grand Guignol third act. But no. The movie just stops. And not a minute too soon.
At least there are no extras.
EXTRAS Widescreen. English, French subtitles.
