Always heard this was a classic, and one of the great horror films.
It was SO lame…is it because it is dated, or was it always this bad?
Was the movie about an abducted woman and her boyfriend’s search for her?
That was re-made in 1993 as a Kiefer Sutherland / Sandra Bullock ‘vehicle’ - backwhen Hollywood was europe-remake-happy and used the word ‘vehicle’ for motion-pictures.
I thought the original was French - but close enough 
Ahh… yes Roger Ebert gushed about the original, while giving the remake one star.
I have to say that I liked that movie a lot. I never thought of it as a “horror film” though.
It’s not a horror film by any means. I’d call it a “thriller”. But is it “bad”? I don’t think so. I liked it. There were two things that bothered me about it though:
[spoiler]1. How could a guy lose a finger falling from a balcony? It seemed silly to me. I don’t recall if the loss of a finger was central to the guy’s becoming a killer; but they mentioned the finger just because the actor was missing one, then I don’t see the point.
- The boyfriend was an idiot at the end. No one would have gone through with it at the end. I know they tried to show the process by which he came to the decision, but all the time I was thinking, “You’re a bloody fool.” I just didn’t believe it.[/spoiler]
Still, the ending was tasty. I have not seen the American version. (Nor have I seen the American version of Breathless, for that matter.)
That should have been:
If they mentioned the finger just because the actor was missing one…
I thought it was remade into Breakdown with Kurt Russel and some woman I can’t remember.
Coldfire will be along soon. I saw the original movie on IFC a few years ago - and Coldy maybe saw the American remake with Jeff Bridges as the bad guy and Kiefer and Sandra as the characters nobody cared for anyways.
I haven’t seen either version of this movie, so I can’t comment on its purpose, but I personally know of a little girl who lost a finger when she tripped and fell down (total fall of about 2 1/2 feet).
obfusciatrist: I suppose it could happen if it got stuck, as happened to a little girl at Disneyland. But I can’t recall if it had anything to do with the plot.