Octane (film)

Last updated

Octane
Octane cover.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Marcus Adams
Written by Stephen Volk
Produced byAlistair MacLean-Clark
Basil Stephens
Starring
CinematographyRobin Vidgeon
Edited by Trevor Waite
Music by Orbital
Simon Boswell
Production
company
Random Harvest [1]
Distributed byFour Horseman Films [1]
Release date
  • 14 November 2003 (2003-11-14) [2]
Running time
91 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom [3]
Luxembourg [3]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10.5 million [1]
Box office$15,840,000 [4] [ better source needed ]

Octane (released as Pulse in the United States) is a 2003 horror film directed by Marcus Adams and starring Madeleine Stowe, Mischa Barton, and Norman Reedus. The film follows a divorced mother and her teenage daughter on a late-night road trip, and the mother's battle to find her daughter after she gets caught up with a bizarre cult of young criminals at a truck stop.

Contents

Shot largely in Luxembourg, the film features a soundtrack by dance duo Orbital. It was released in the United Kingdom on 14 November 2003, having previously screened at the CineVegas Film Festival in the United States. Upon its release, the film was noted by some critics (such as Variety) for blending elements of American road films with surrealist horror. [5]

Plot

A man and woman posing as paramedics assists a man in an overturned car on a freeway. As an ambulance approaches, the woman panics, taping the man's mouth shut and pulling him from the car before speeding away. Meanwhile, single mother Senga Wilson and her 15-year-old daughter Natasha 'Nat' are on a six-hour overnight drive home, following a visit to Marek, Nat's father, for her birthday. En route, they pass by the crash, and Senga notices a strange man and woman photographing the scene; as Senga watches them, the man turns his camera and photographs her.

Unnerved and exhausted, Senga nearly falls asleep while driving, and decides to stop at a truck stop diner. Outside, Nat meets a young female backpacker and offers her a ride. Senga is visibly disturbed by the backpacker and the strange ambient CD she plays in the car. They drop her at a picnic area and when they return seconds later to return the CD she left behind, she seems to have disappeared. Shortly after, Nat convinces her mother to return to the diner, so that she can get her birthday present from her father. Already stressed from the long drive, Senga is furious when she discovers that Marek has bought Nat tickets to a concert that she has refused to allow her to attend. After a heated argument, Nat gets into an RV with the backpacker and a strange couple.

Senga solicits the assistance of a police officer, but when she seems unhelpful, goes after the RV herself, tailing the officer who had just left the diner. The police officer meets up with the inhabitants of the RV. Senga breaks into their RV and discovers a number of strange things, including thermoses full of blood and videos of young girls talking about their past lives. She escapes the RV before anyone returns, but once back on the road, The Backpacker reveals herself to be hiding in the backseat. She strangles Senga, causing her to crash.

In the back of an oil tanker, Nat parties with the Backpacker and a young man, who tell her about their group and their enigmatic leader. Senga is woken by the recovery man, a disturbed drifter who cruises highways in his tow truck, who insists that Senga come with him. In his car, she finds a picture of a girl she saw in a video in the RV. The recovery man informs Senga that the girl is Christine, his dead sister. Senga is taken to a police station, where she reports Nat's disappearance. The police are less than helpful, and, in frustration, she asks them to call Marek. The man who answers Marek's phone tells the police that Senga is on medication, and that Nat has been with him all weekend.

Back at the truck stop, Senga sees the man and woman she had seen earlier photographing the car accident. As her paranoia mounts, she suspects them to be involved with Nat's disappearance, and attacks the woman, resulting in her being kicked out of the diner. While hiding in a hallway, she encounters the woman with two male cult members, and flees outside. As they leave the truck stop, the recovery man follows them in his truck; Senga follows behind, ending up at an abandoned research facility.

While Nat meets the Father, the recovery man detonates a bomb, killing several of the cult members. Before the Father can initiate Nat, Senga attacks him. Mother and daughter flee in different directions, with Senga being pursued by the backpacker and Nat being placated by the Father, who uses a loudspeaker to talk to her. During the fight, the Father reveals that Senga wanted to have an abortion when she discovered she was pregnant with Nat. The shock of this revelation leaves Senga in a near catatonic state.

The recovery man pulls her out of her stupor by showing her Marek's body. Senga uses this information to try to demonstrate to Nat how evil her new friends are. While mother and daughter try to escape, the recovery man and the Father wrestle; when the Father bites the recovery man's tongue and spits it out, Senga detonates his last bomb, killing them both. Senga and Nat leave, continuing their drive home in daylight. When they stop at a gas station, they return to their car to find a razor blade — the Father's calling card — attached to the rear view mirror.

Cast

The Wilsons

The Cultists

Others

Production

Director Marcus Adams recalled producers Alistair MacLean-Clark and Basil Stephens approaching him to direct the film in 2001, which at that time was "essentially a vampire movie," which had been in development for around five years. [6] Adams spent one year rewriting elements of the script with screenwriter Stephen Volk; this included altering the ending as well as subduing the overt vampire plot of the film, resulting in what Adams envisioned as "faint" vampire film, where vampires functioned more as a metaphor than as literal beings. [6]

Though set in the United States, [6] Octane was shot in Luxembourg on a budget of US$10.5 million, culled from five films investors. [1] Principal photography for the film began on 3 June 2002. [7] The production company chose Luxembourg as a shooting location based on a 12 km (7.5 mi) stretch of highway that had been recently paved and had yet to open to the public, which made it a feasible location for the film's numerous road sequences. [6] Because the film is set in the United States, a team of contractors were appointed to paint yellow and white dividing lines on the road for it to appear as an American highway. [6] A total of thirty American cars and fifteen American semi-trucks were imported from both England and the United States to be used in the film. [6]

Release

The film's production company, the independent United Kingdom distributor Random Harvest, sold the film for distribution to Buena Vista International under their subsidiary Four Horseman Films. [1]

Octane premiered in the United States at the CineVegas Film Festival on 25 June 2003. [5] It was subsequently given a theatrical release in the United Kingdom on 14 November 2003. [2]

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 17% approval rating based on reviews from 6 critics. [8] Scott Foundas of Variety noted: "Even were the performers not so disinterested, Volk’s screenplay not so hopelessly didactic about its “message” and the Luxembourg setting not so suggestive of tax-credit incentives run amok, it might be hard to watch Octane with a straight face...[its] murky, frequently under-lit widescreen lensing and comatose cutting are the perfect complements to pic's overall dreariness." [5] Adam Keen of Film Review awarded the film three stars out of four, noting: "Octane is a thriller that fits loosely in a genre occupied by Duel , Roadkill and Jeepers Creepers , is a suspenseful, visceral feast that preys on our worst fears of the open road." [9] TV Guide awarded the film one out of five stars, calling it an "incoherent horror flick." [10]

Jamie Russell of the BBC wrote that the film "plays like an American studio picture," and criticized its "incomprehensible" script, ultimately awarding it one out of five stars. [2] William Thomas of Empire praised the film's first act, but added: "Its failing, surprisingly for a film so perfect for B-movie shocks, is pretension. [Director] Adams seems reluctant to simply tell the story and gets muddled in an onslaught of Lynchian surrealism. Unlike Lynch, though, the weirdness is neither imaginative nor elegant enough to spark interest in what it actually means, and the third act - with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as another effete weirdo - is not only dull, but also utterly baffling." [11] Mike Goodridge of Screen Daily wrote of the film: "Adams has a confident visual style, effectively capturing Senga's moments of dozy consciousness before nodding off. Indeed her half-awake, half-asleep state could have been used to more dramatic effect to heighten the ambiguity of the plot a la Gaslight or Suspicion . Nevertheless, Stowe's strident and underused screen presence makes it eminently watchable and helps lift Octane out of the ordinary." [12]

Music

Octane (OST)
Soundtrack album by
Orbital
Released28 October 2003 [13]
Genre Electronica
Label EMI
Producer Orbital
Simon Boswell
Orbital chronology
Work 1989-2002
(2002)		Octane (OST)
(2003)		 Blue Album
(2004)

Octane's soundtrack consists mainly of techno, ambient and ambient industrial music by Orbital. Though Orbital had contributed tracks to other feature films, this was the first film for which they composed the full soundtrack. The soundtrack was released on 28 October 2003. [13]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Octane"1:30
2."Through the Night"5:18
3."Strangeness in the Night"3:20
4."Preacher"1:35
5."Moment of Crisis"2:42
6."Frantic"2:04
7."Breaking & Entering"2:40
8."Chasing the Tanker"1:25
9."Total Paranoia"4:08
10."Confrontation"2:50
11."Initiaton"4:19
12."Meet the Father"5:01
13."Blood is Thicker"3:09
14."The Road Ahead"2:58

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madeleine Stowe</span> American actress (born 1958)

Madeleine Marie Stowe Mora is an American actress. She appeared mostly on television before her role in the 1987 crime-comedy film Stakeout. She went on to star in the films Revenge (1990), Unlawful Entry (1992), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Blink (1993), 12 Monkeys (1995), The General's Daughter (1999), and We Were Soldiers (2002). For her role in the 1993 independent film Short Cuts, she won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress.

<i>The Transporter</i> 2002 film by Louis Leterrier and Corey Yuen

The Transporter is a 2002 English-language French action film directed by Cory Yuen from a screenplay by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. The film was inspired by the short film series The Hire. It is the first installment in the Transporter franchise and stars Jason Statham, alongside Shu Qi, François Berléand, Matt Schulze, and Ric Young. In the film, Frank Martin, a British mercenary driver living in France, finds himself involved in a people smuggling plot.

<i>Dead End</i> (2003 film) 2003 film

Dead End is a 2003 English-language French horror film written and directed by Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa, and starring Alexandra Holden, Ray Wise, Lin Shaye, Mick Cain, Billy Asher, and Amber Smith. It tells the story of a dysfunctional family who find themselves on a never-ending road in the middle of a forest during a routine drive on Christmas Eve, while under pursuit of a mysterious hearse and a woman dressed in white.

<i>Car Wash</i> (film) 1976 American comedy film by Michael Schultz

Car Wash is a 1976 American comedy film released by Universal Pictures. Directed by Michael Schultz from a screenplay by Joel Schumacher, the film stars Franklyn Ajaye, Bill Duke, George Carlin, Irwin Corey, Ivan Dixon, Antonio Fargas, Jack Kehoe, Clarence Muse, Lorraine Gary, The Pointer Sisters, Richard Pryor, and Garrett Morris. Originally conceived as a musical, Car Wash is an episodic comedy about a day in the lives of a close-knit group of employees at a Los Angeles, California car wash and their boss, Leon "Mr. B" Barrow.

<i>Near Dark</i> 1987 film directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Near Dark is a 1987 American neo-Western horror film co-written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and starring Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein. The plot follows a young man in a small Oklahoma town who becomes involved with a family of nomadic American vampires.

"Shiny Happy People" is episode 18 of season 4 of the television show Angel. Written by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, and directed by Marita Grabiak, it was originally broadcast on April 9, 2003 on the WB network. As Cordelia lies in a coma following her demonic delivery, the rest of the gang becomes enchanted by her unexpected offspring - a full grown woman, whom Angel names Jasmine, who hypnotizes anyone she meets by mere sight. Jasmine tells the gang that she is a former higher being who wants the world clean of all evil. But when Fred has a sudden vision of Jasmine as something other than good, or human, she must find the root to Jasmine’s true nature on her own. The episode's title is derived from the R.E.M song of the same name.

<i>Motorama</i> (film) 1991 American film

Motorama is a 1991 American black comedy road movie about a 10-year-old boy who drives a 1965 Mustang across a fictional landscape. The film features cameos by Drew Barrymore, Flea, Garrett Morris, Jack Nance, Robert Picardo, Martha Quinn, and Meat Loaf. It was directed by Barry Shills and written by Joseph Minion, screenwriter of After Hours, who Shills also worked with for Vampire's Kiss. In 2000, Barrymore reprised her role as Fantasy Girl for the film Skipped Parts.

<i>Reeker</i> 2005 American film

Reeker is a 2005 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Dave Payne. The plot centers on a group of young adults who are stranded in a desert oasis where they fall prey to a horrific decaying creature.

The killer in the backseat is an urban legend from the United States and United Kingdom. It was first noted by folklorist Carlos Drake in 1968 in texts collected by Indiana University students.

<i>Angst</i> (1983 film) 1983 Austrian film

Angst is a 1983 Austrian horror film directed by Gerald Kargl, who co-wrote the screenplay with cinematographer and editor Zbigniew Rybczyński. It follows a psychopath recently released from prison and is loosely based on real-life mass murderer Werner Kniesek. Though relatively obscure, the film was acclaimed for its camera work, score, and Erwin Leder's performance. It was banned all over Europe for extreme violence in 1983.

<i>Monster Man</i> (film) 2003 American film

Monster Man is a 2003 American comedy horror film written and directed by Michael Davis. It stars Eric Jungmann, Justin Urich, Aimee Brooks, and Michael Bailey Smith. In Latin America, the film was released with the title Wrong Turn 2.

<i>Pigs</i> (1973 film) 1973 American horror film by Marc Lawrence

Pigs is a 1973 American psychological horror film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Marc Lawrence and currently distributed by Troma Entertainment. The film stars Toni Lawrence.

<i>Trucks</i> (film) 1997 TV film directed by Chris Thomson

Trucks is a 1997 Canadian-American television horror film directed by Chris Thomson, which follows the story of a group of tourists and locals attacked by autonomous trucks and other inexplicable phenomena in a rural town. It is based on Stephen King's short story "Trucks", which also served as the source material for the earlier film Maximum Overdrive, the only film directed by King. Trucks aired on the USA Network on October 29, 1997.

<i>Son of the Navy</i> 1940 American film

Son of the Navy, also known as The Young Recruit in the United States, is a 1940 American comedy-drama film directed by William Nigh and starring Jean Parker, James Dunn, and Martin Spellman.

Phobia 2 is a 2009 Thai anthology horror film consisting of five shorts: "Novice" directed by Paween Purijitpanya, "Ward" by Visute Poolvoralaks, "Backpackers" by Songyos Sugmakanan, "Salvage" by Parkpoom Wongpoom, and "In the End" by Banjong Pisanthanakun. It is the sequel to the 2008 anthology horror film 4bia.

<i>La Vampire Nue</i> 1970 film

La Vampire Nue is a 1970 film directed by Jean Rollin. It concerns a suicide cult led by a mysterious man known as "The Master".

<i>Stake Land</i> 2010 American horror film

Stake Land is a 2010 American post apocalyptic vampire horror film directed by Jim Mickle and starring Nick Damici, who cowrote the script with Mickle. It also stars Connor Paolo, Danielle Harris and Kelly McGillis. The plot revolves around an orphaned young man being taken under the wing of a vampire hunter known only as "Mister", and the battle for survival in their quest for a safe haven.

<i>A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night</i> 2014 film by Ana Lily Amirpour

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a 2014 Persian-language American Western horror film written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. Promoted as "The first Iranian vampire Western", it stars Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Mozhan Marnò, Marshall Manesh, and Dominic Rains. It was financed in part by a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Patricia Meehan</span> Unsolved 1989 disappearance of American 37 year-old woman from Montana

Patricia Bernadette Meehan is an American woman who disappeared following a car crash on Montana Highway 200 near Circle, Montana. Investigators initially suspected Meehan had fled the scene out of fear, or was suffering from amnesia as a result of head trauma. Over 5,000 alleged sightings of Meehan were reported in the months and years after her disappearance, several of which were confirmed by police, but none of which led to her discovery.

<i>Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary</i> 1975 film

Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary is a 1975 horror film directed by Juan López Moctezuma, written by Malcolm Marmorstein, and starring Cristina Ferrare, David Young, and John Carradine. Its plot follows an American artist who discovers she is in fact a vampire, and begins consuming the locals in a Mexican village.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Octane". Variety . Deal Memos. Baskerville Communications Corporation. 9 (13–24): 76. 2002.
  2. 1 2 3 Russell, Jamie (13 November 2003). "Octane (2003)". BBC . Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.Star full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg
  3. 1 2 Quigley, Eileen S., ed. (2007). Motion Picture Almanac . Quigley Publishing Company. p.  447. ISBN   978-0-900-61080-6.
  4. ↑ Box office / business for Octane (2003)
  5. 1 2 3 Foundas, Scott (25 June 2003). "Octane". Variety . Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Adams, Marcus; Stowe, Madeleine et al. Cast and Crew Interviews. Octane (DVD Documentary). First Look Home Video.
  7. ↑ Dunkley, Cathy (8 May 2002). "Thesp quintet fills tank as 'Octane' hits the gas" . Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  8. ↑ "Octane (Pulse)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  9. ↑ Keen, Adam (2004). Cameron-Wilson, James (ed.). Film Review (2004–2005): The Definitive Film Yearbook. Reynolds & Hearn. n.p. ISBN   978-1-903-11187-1.
  10. ↑ "Octane ('03)". TV Guide . Triangle Publications. 53. 2005. ISSN   0039-8543.
  11. ↑ Thomas, William (11 October 2015). "Octane Review". Empire . Retrieved 23 December 2017.Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg
  12. ↑ Goodridge, Mike (17 June 2003). "Octane". Screen Daily . Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  13. 1 2 "Octane (Original Soundtrack)". iTunes . 28 October 2003. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.