gavin6942 Billy Hughes, a mute makeup artist working on a slasher film being shot in Moscow, is locked in the studio after hours. While there she witnesses a brutal murder, and must first escape capture at that time, then keep from being killed before convincing authorities of what she's seen.Critical reception has been mostly positive and the film currently holds a rating of 80% "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes, based upon 20 reviews. Variety gave the film a mostly positive review, remarking that while the movie can be "entirely plot-driven, neglecting to develop intriguing characterizations", its "suspense is so chilling, its narrative so disciplined and its style so pleasurable, they jointly triumph over the other deficiencies." The review from the New Yorker was more mixed and they wrote that the director's "technique is impressive; the film falls flat only when he attempts to make the frightening funny. But the plot takes some nice twists and turns, the tension builds a good head of steam, and the tawdriness never lets up." Personally, I think the film is a bit over-rated. I like what they were going for, and it almost has a giallo quality to it with a character who has seen something but can do very little about it. But it seems to be mixing horror with political thriller, and not all that well.

nose_smasher Man, I never laughed so much this year, and it's quite hard to make me laugh. While I expected some Hostel-style movie, the smile came to my face even from the beginning. This film-inside-film start with a female stabbed "victim" messing the whole set until she finally "die". Her overacting drive the director nuts and his funny reaction tell us, the viewers, that Mute Witness is not a typically horror movie.The main character, the mute American make-up artist Billy Hughes, is played by the beautiful yet talented Russian actress Marina Zudina. Her performance is top-notch; her character can't speak, so the body language and the emotions on her face must compensate.And, oh boy, she did a wonderful job. Her sister (Fay Ripley) is the girlfriend or the fiancée or the wife of the "in-film director" (Evan Richards). They were both very funny most of the time. I won't spoil more, but the scenes following the bathtub moment, with them both, the fake policemen and later the angry neighbor were plain brilliant black comedy.The plot got twisted near the end, possibly misleading at one particular moment. But don't worry. Such a delicious movie can be viewed in family or with your boy-/girl-/friend.

nycritic A couple of years before SCREAM spoofed the slasher/horror genre with savvy, self-conscious young things knowing every trick in the book of what to do and not to do in a precarious situation, a little movie produced in Russia hit the theatres without any grandiose pretensions.This movie was MUTE WITNESS. Starring a cast of unknowns (except an extremely brief cameo by Sir Alec Guiness whose scenes were purportedly filmed eight years prior to the actual filming of this movie), it told the story of a mute make-up artist, Billie, who is working on a film on location in Russia produced and directed by her sister's boyfriend Andy. She is unaware that the set has closed when she goes to retrieve her belongings and inadvertently stumbles onto a porn shoot that becomes extremely bloody. Overcome with horror she alerts the murderers of her presence, a chase ensues, and finally she is rescued by Andy who take her home as they alert the police. The trouble is... there is no body, no evidence that anything of the sort took place. Even so, a mysterious inspector seems to be on Billie's side of the story....And to say more would be criminal. MUTE WITNESS is the kind of film that demands a scrutiny of viewing similar to the most intricate, clever thriller because as much as it is a convoluted thriller, it's one that pays its dues to movies like WAIT UNTIL DARK and the best of Hitchcock in its choice of camera cuts, deadpan humor, Americans reacting in foreign countries where they are powerless, and nail-biting suspense until it seems something must snap. Even if the story does become a little too implausible due to the fact that the story arc suddenly becomes the focus of an even greater conspiracy, the film succeeds in not trying to trick the audience with cheap shots (for example the sudden appearance of a person on camera accompanied by a crashing swell of violins) but with the fear of the unknown and that death is only a shadow away. Very smart.

skywardpictures We all went to a Sony theater expecting to see another 1994 release, the theater did a test sneak and those who chose to stay saw Mute Witness, there was no press on it beforehand, the audience was the most scared and freaked out of any film I have viewed with an audience, more than The Exorcist or Halloween. Several people could not handle the material and left the theater, and after the picture opened, the theater soon pulled it, as it was over the top in suspense gore and subject matter, and reciepts may have been off as a result. If you pay attention, and stay with Billy on her struggle, allowing yourself to get caught up in it, this film is one HELL of a nail biter. On video, it isn't the same, you really need an audience, preferably one that hasn't seen it before, to get the full blood-curdling impact. Waller does a very good job and makes it look easy. It is a genre piece and moves the audience into safer territory near the end, I believe, to keep the form consistent with its stylistic opening. The film has its place in history with the most intense material ever put on screen.