by Carlos » Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:23 am
Back in the 80′s the best mystery movie ever was shown on TV. At night. While my hubby was out. I started watching it in the bedroom, propped against my pillows, enjoying a glass of Diet Coke. I watched the last half-hour sitting on the end of the bed, two feet from the screen, holding my breath. If someone had knocked on the window, I would have had a heart attack.
The movie was called Blackout. Unfortunately, there were several movies by that name, and I’ve never been able to find it on DVD or VHS, or even as a rerun on TV. It starts out with a dad coming hope to his five-year-old’s birthday party. I think he and his wife had three kids and the baby was five. He kills the family, sets them on the couch in front of the TV and leaves the house. The camera follows him as he walks to the highway and a car stops to give him a lift. Two people in the car. The car crashes. One person lives but is badly injured. Was it the driver? Or the killer? Throughout the movie I wavered a million times. It’s him! Naw, it’s not. Oh man! It’s him. Naw, couldn’t be.
Since then I’ve enjoyed many mystery movies, but none like that. My new favorite is a series about a cop named Jesse Stone starring Tom Selleck. He’s an alcoholic, divorced, used-to-be-big-time cop who becomes sheriff in the small town of Paradise. I know they have plots, but really, Tom Selleck! I never really remember the plots. But Tom Selleck! I know, I’m dating myself. But who cares? After all, it’s…well you know who.
I love the Alex Cross movies based on books by James Patterson. Morgan Freeman is a great actor and plays the part of a cop/psychologist perfectly. Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider are the two I remember, maybe the only ones.
Mostly these days, people want thrillers. There’s a big difference. With a thriller, the viewer knows what’s in the basement and is yelling at the character to run away. With a mystery, the viewer doesn’t know anymore than the character. Well that used to be the definition. Until they started making mysteries with an open format so the view knew more than the character. No longer a mystery.