— by RACHEL COYNE —
“The Cry of the Owl” is based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, the same author who created “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” a taught, clever, and suspenseful psychological thriller. Too bad it doesn’t look like “The Cry of the Owl” embodies any of those qualities.
Julia Stiles stars as Jenny, a woman who lives in an eerily isolated cabin in the woods, who is being stalked by Robert, an odd man who likes to lurk in the trees surrounding her house and watch her. After an angry confrontation between Robert and her boyfriend, Jenny finds herself drawn to her stalker and then flips the table on their dynamic to become the creepy one as she romantically pursues Robert with unrestrained vigor.
Then Jenny’s boyfriend goes missing and you can probably guess who Suspect #1 is. Robert needs to clear his name, but his history as a stalker and an ex-wife who testifies that he’s mentally unstable aren’t doing him any favors. And Jenny is still behaving like a total nutcase, which isn’t too surprising seeing as she’s a woman who fell for her stalker.
It’s highly possible that everything in “The Cry of the Owl” could fall neatly into place on screen, but the trailer is all over the place. Plus it seems to drop too many major hints as to how everything ends, which defeats the entire point of watching a crime mystery movie.
“The Cry of the Owl” has no plans for a theatrical release, but a DVD release in the U.S. is rumored to happen in the next couple of months, in case anybody give a hoot.
Follow Rachel Coyne on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TheOpinionatedB.
Looks quite mediocre.