Listen (1996)

Director:

Gavin Wilding

Writers:

Jonas Quastel (writer) &
Michael Bafaro (writer)

Release Date:

27 September 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Sometimes Murder Has A Familiar Ring To It...

Plot:

A young woman thinks one of her neighbors in her apartment building is a serial killer and begins to suspect both her current boyfriend and former girlfriend of being the killer.

Plot Keywords:

Serial Killer | Love Crime | Set Up | Heartache | Snuff Film

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Brooke Langton	...	Sarah Ross
Sarah Buxton	...	Krista Barron (as Sarah G. Buxton)
Gordon Currie	...	Jake Taft
Andy Romano	...	Det. Sam Steinmann
J.H. Wyman	...	Randy Wilkes (as Joel Wyner)
Evan Tylor	...	Det. Louis Penny
Jeff Burnett	...	Erwin Farley
Philip Granger	...	Max
Frank Cassini	...	Repairman
Iris Quinn	...	Farley's Sister
Sherry Thoreson	...	Lisa
Sandra P. Grant	...	Margaret
Erika Kline	...	Bartender
Kim Calderoni	...	Peace Woman
Junior Williams	...	Cabby

MPAA:

Rated R for strong scenes of violence, eroticism and language.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:R | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Devin Entertainment

Quotes:

[first lines]
Waitress: How you doin', Kris?

Soundtrack:

ALL ABOUT SEX

Thrilled into confusion!

This film makes for a very confusing ninety minutes - so confusing, in fact, that the perpetrator has to explain the denouement by means of a voiceover right at the very end.

The plot itself is very simple. Someone is apparently titillating women via a telephone chatline, meeting them face to face and then brutally murdering them. Overhearing these conversations by way of a faulty telephone handset, a young woman (Brooke Langton) comes to the conclusion that the murderer is someone living in her own apartment block. So to help the story simmer away nicely we are given a few ingredients to play with - a reclusive boyfriend, a lesbian lover, an aggressive co-resident and a weird caretaker, along with a couple of dark and languid sex scenes. It's true that the plot has a few twists but amidst the bemusement, they neither help nor hinder.

One of the problems of this film is that the two lead characters are so physically alike that it's difficult to tell which is which - only the shape of their mouths offers a clue. Both are nevertheless competent and credible actresses. However, it's the feeble storyline and not the acting that lets this film down. Ultimately, it's an erotic thriller without the eroticism and the thrills.