Surreal killer

>> The Cell pushes the limits of murder

by MATTHEW HAYS

It's certainly difficult for filmmakers to know how to out-do one another with the crazed, psychotic serial killer movie. They've been done so damn well--how does one up the ante, building on previous knife-wielding, axe-happy characters while creating an aura of originality?

Director Tarsem Singh, best known for his work on commercials and rock videos (he directed REM's "Losing My Religion"), has managed to do both with his feature debut, The Cell. In it, Jennifer Lopez plays a scientist who's experimenting with equipment which allows her to mind-meld with other humans, effectively meeting in a netherworld that is the sum of their subconsciouses (I know, but it is sci-fi).

Lopez's talents at mind-melding, which aren't entirely developed yet, are called into action by the police after a crazed serial killer (Vincent D'Onofrio) falls into a coma, leaving the whereabouts of his latest captive a mystery. Lopez must delve into D'Onofrio's psyche and interrogate him to figure out where the woman-in-peril is.

Screenwriter Mark Protosevich has created an elaborate balancing act. On one hand, The Cell is a funky, MTV- and video-game-infused bit of special effects wizardry (à la The Matrix). On the other, it's a good old-fashioned cops-and-serial-killer race-against-the-clock movie (à la Silence of the Lambs).

When Lopez delves into D'Onofrio's mind, the effects kick in and the production design, from various bits of computer-generated magic to Oscar-winning Eiko Ishioka's stunning costume designs, is simply superb. Needless to say, the subconscious of this twisted mind is full of some extremely disturbing imagery, and Tarsem proves he's completely up to the challenge of evoking this bizarre universe.

But the truly outstanding thing about the film is D'Onofrio himself, who makes Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter look like Mr. Rogers. Dark and brooding, his M.O. is particularly horrifying: D'Onofrio stalks attractive young women, kidnaps them, places them in a glass-walled cell, occasionally blasting them with water, much to their distress. He captures this action with several video cameras. Then come the final moments for the various women, as he completely fills up the tank, effectively drowning them. Later, our anti-hero watches the women's demises on video, gleaning sexual pleasure from the tapes. He also does sordid necrophilic things with the corpses.

This, if the description alone doesn't say so, is extremely disturbing stuff. I've always been a horror buff and have seen many a murder sequence in my time, but Tarsem gives us glimpses of detail that will make anyone's skin crawl. Particularly horrifying is the video footage, complete with the final, desperate gasps of the women as they cry out for mercy, their lungs about to fill with water.

Thus I must conclude by recommending The Cell to horror buffs, but also warning the faint of heart to stay away. Some of the sequences in this film were so off-putting, so truly nauseating in their extremity and misogyny, that I confess one sequence actually entered my own subconscious, supplying me with a nightmare the night after seeing the movie. Now that's something that a movie hasn't done to me since I was a kid.

The Cell opens Friday, Aug. 18