Tommy Snöberg Söderberg 
It has now been five years since the notorious case involving the serial killer “Uncle Eddie” was solved. That is, if it really was solved, because now there seem to be new cases that resemble
those. The police are tight-lipped and don’t know whether it’s a copycat or whether it really is the case that the man who was tied to the cases five years ago was actually innocent and whether the real killer then got away.
Stan Aubray (Willem Dafoe), who investigated the original murders, is called back in on the case. Before him unfolds a grotesque sequence of events where you can’t be sure of anything and above all can’t trust your own eyes.
This type of thriller, with a cop on the decline after a long and exhausting case, perhaps serial killers like this one, there are thirteen to the dozen of them. If you want to succeed with the premises, you therefore have to really stand out from the crowd and do something different with it. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t succeed and the whole thing just becomes one lukewarm mush that admittedly works as filler but doesn’t provide any lasting nourishment and definitely nothing that will keep you alert for very long.
In terms of acting it is totally fine, but not much more than that, and I’m actually a little disappointed that they underestimate the audience in this way. They could at least have tried to develop the story a little and not rely on the few (and rather cheap) camera tricks that are used to depict flashbacks. There isn’t really any hunt for the killer either, nor are there even any suspects and/or red herrings laid out. No, the movie instead bases itself on following Aubray (Dafoe) and the way he processes his impressions. That he was involved in investigating the original cases is obvious and that it affected him in all sorts of ways is just as obvious.
He really isn’t doing well, but spending 99 minutes visualizing this fact requires more talent than this movie can muster. However, I would argue that the killer’s methods are quite entertaining. This isn’t about an ordinary run-of-the-mill killer in that sense, but rather a cold and calculating, almost artistic, person who seems to see his murders as some kind of art. I think they could have developed this a little more and thereby given the movie a bit more originality.
Swedish Peter Stormare also appears in the movie, by the way. He has a smaller role, but I think he handles himself excellently. In fact, he is probably the one who makes the biggest impression and plays circles around both Willem Dafoe and Scott Speedman without much effort. His role is admittedly no more multifaceted than theirs, but he has a little more presence, at least in this particular movie, and it is kind of amusing to listen to him trying to speak American English. I’m not saying that he has a bad accent, but it is nevertheless obvious that he isn’t a native American!
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