Knight Moves (1992)

Director:

Carl Schenkel

Writer (WGA):

Brad Mirman (written by)

Release Date:

22 January 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

In a game of life and death... one wrong move could be his last...

Plot:

A chess grandmaster is in a big tournament, and when his lover is found painted up and the blood drained out of her body he becomes a chief suspect...

Plot Keywords:

Chess | Serial Killer | Super Mario | Beautiful Woman | Throat Slitting

Awards:

1 win

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Christopher Lambert	...	Peter Sanderson
Diane Lane	...	Kathy Sheppard
Tom Skerritt	...	Capt. Frank Sedman
Daniel Baldwin	...	Det. Andy Wagner
Codie Lucas Wilbee	...	David, 9 Years Old
Joshua Murray	...	Peter, 14 Years Old (as Josh Murray)
Frank C. Turner	...	Doctor
Don Thompson	...	Father
Megan Leitch	...	Mother
Alex Diakun	...	Grandmaster Lutz
Ferdy Mayne	...	Jeremy Edmonds (as Ferdinand Mayne)
Katharine Isabelle	...	Erica Sanderson (as Katherine Isobel)
Mark Wilson	...	Newscaster
Kehli O'Byrne	...	Debi Rutlege
Blu Mankuma	...	Steve Nolan

Also Known As:

Face to Face
Knight Moves (Germany)
Knight Moves - Ein mörderisches Spiel (Germany)

Runtime:

108 min | Spain:113 min | Argentina:116 min

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) | France:-12 | Germany:16 (f) | Spain:13 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Cineplex Odeon Films

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Erica is shown playing Super Mario Brothers 3 on a PC, the moves she makes with the joystick as well as her keyboard tapping are inconsistent with what is shown on the PC monitor. In the next scene, she moves away from the PC but the game is still playing by itself.

Quotes:

Peter Sanderson: What is this?
Kathy Sheppard: I'm just trying to get to know you better.
Peter Sanderson: By atacking me.
Kathy Sheppard: Attack you? You set your life up like one of your chessboards. YOu're impassable. You've become trapped behind your defenses. You're cut off from everybody around you.
Peter Sanderson: What are you talking about? You don't know me.
Kathy Sheppard: Does anyone?

Movie Connections:

Features Super Mario Bros. (1985) (VG)

Soundtrack:

I Put A Spell On You

Excellent Suspense Thriller

A psychopath uses the game of chess as a blueprint for a series of brutal murders, in this stylish 1992 film directed by Carl Schenkel. Cinematography, sound effects, scary music, and sparse dialogue combine to create an atmosphere of terror, suggestive of the "giallos" of Dario Argento.

We see the killer's black gloved hands; we see the flashlight shining in the darkened room of the next victim; we hear the killer's breathing through a mask. And in these scenes, absence of dialogue amplifies the surreal, menacing presence of the killer.

Suspense scenes alternate with scenes of mundane normalcy, which gives the viewer a chance to select the murderer from a pool of suspects whose behavior appear more or less normal. But beware; there are plenty of plot twists and false clues. The whodunit element kept me guessing and unsure; the film's suspense kept me fully engaged.

Acting quality is average. Diane Lane gives perhaps the most convincing performance of the bunch. My main criticism is the screenplay. In any murder mystery, the viewer needs enough information to have a fair chance at solving the whodunit puzzle. But in "Knight Moves", crucial details are left out. Also, several characters are poorly defined; we know almost nothing about them. Moreover, in several key scenes, the behavior of one of the main characters is not credible, given the story's underlying premise.

As a result, it's going to be almost impossible for the viewer to identify the killer, based solely on the plot. A script re-write, with more emphasis on character development, combined with the deletion of superfluous scenes would, I think, have made for a more satisfying whodunit puzzle.

Even so, I recommend "Knight Moves" as a most frightening and spine-tingling suspense thriller. For maximum effect, try watching it alone, in a mansion, at night with the lights turned out, during a thunderstorm.