Knife Edge

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Knife Edge
Starring Natalie Press, Matthieu Boujenah, Hugh Bonneville, Joan Plowright
Directed by Anthony Hickox

Emma (Natalie Press) is a successful Wall Street trader who returns to her home country of England to live in a mansion bought by her husband Henri (Matthieu Boujenah).  Gifted with a supernatural power of foresight, Emma begins having haunting visions at the mansion, but she's not sure if she's seeing the future...or the past.

When her young son Thomas (Miles Ronayne) begins playing with an "imaginary" friend, Emma begins to uncover the mysterious secrets the house holds, and someone is dead set to keep the past in the past, and will stop at nothing to keep their deadly secret hidden.

"Knife Edge" had a lot going for it.  An amazing set piece, some dazzling cinematography, spooky effects and an old-fashioned Hitchcockian story.  All of this should equal an amazing film if not for one thing: the leads.

Natalie Press gives a terrible performance here, delivering her lines with completely no passion or zeal, and her movements seem very wooden and disjointed.  Matthieu Boujenah has an over-the-top dramatic appeal where every small thing goes wrong sends him into a pseudo-psychotic tale spin.  The only decent actors were seasoned veterans Hugh Bonneville as the mysterious Charles Pollock and Joan Plowright as Marjorie Blake, the nanny of the house. 

This is a movie that screams to be remade with better actors.  If they do, then this will be a great throwback cinematic piece that heralds the cries of the classic 30s and 40s films.  Otherwise, it'll remain a shell of what it could've been.

My Rating: C-

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