‎Nightwatch (1997) directed by Ole Bornedal • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Nightwatch

1997 Directed by Ole Bornedal

A law student, who takes a job as a night watchman at a morgue, begins to discover clues that implicate him as the suspect of a series of murders.

Ewan McGregor Patricia Arquette Nick Nolte Josh Brolin Lauren Graham Brad Dourif Alix Koromzay Lonny Chapman Robert LaSardo John C. Reilly

Alternative Title

O Principal Suspeito

drama action mystery horror thriller

102 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by GarbageReelKids 🗑️ 🎥 🧒 ★★½

September 2018 Daily Horror Scavenger Hunt

Original post by Rich Strahs boxd.it/1Yc5M

12. Today we will watch a movie from Ian West’s Overlooked and Undervalued ‘97 list.
letterboxd.com/nevermore1985/list/overlooked-undervalued-horror-97/

I remember seeing a trailer for this in theaters and then it was almost unheard from after that.

The sub-plot with Josh Brolin's need for kicks is needlessly long and feels like padding (and maybe something inspired by the same year's In the Company of Men?).

This had the potential to be better but it just falls flat. There's so few characters that you already know the killer is one of three people less than halfway in.

I really wanted John C. Reilly to make some Dr. Steve Brule references, but it…
Review by fulci420

"Nightwatch" must have looked real good on paper. All star cast. A remake of an acclaimed foreign thriller. Directed by the original director. Script work by Steven Sodergergh. Too bad the movie is a mess.

I haven't seen the original so I cant comment on those comparisons but my takeaway was that it was a tonal mess. Is it a "Se7en" style dark serial killer saga? A stylish indie with Ewan McGregor gallivanting to rock music at his overnight security job? When the movie finally decides it's going to be a slasher for the finale I was completely checked out.

Worst of all is everything and anything involving Josh Brolin. He has become one of the most solid actors going…
Review by Alan H 🐳 ★★ 4

I saw this as a kid when it came out, back when its deplorable nineties soundtrack was (probably) somewhat more acceptable. I couldn't remember anything about it this time round, but turns out it's a lot worse than I thought. Ewan McGregor is horrible, so I'm guessing he was concentrating so hard on doing an American accent that he forgot how to do anything else. If you want to see the opposite extremes of the acting ability spectrum, check out his scenes with Brad Douriff. Actually, even Patricia Arquette is terrible in this, which is just plain upsetting.

Apparently the original film is better, but I'm obviously never going to bother watching that now. This is even worse than the time I watched the US Funny Games before the German version.
Review by Roche ★★★

I've seen Nightwatch many times (and owned it on VHS and DVD), and always appreciate it for its B-minus Se7en aesthetics - what you'd watch if you felt like a David Fincher movie but were also feeling trashy.

Revisiting Nightwatch last night, I was overwhelmed instead by the Dimension Films of it all. Their look from the late '90s hasn't aged well. (Not that this should be a deal breaker, but in this crummy DVD transfer, Nick Nolte's hair dye and make-up are too obvious, working overtime and failing to take 15 years off him).

I was also distracted at the sight of so many current stars looking practically like children. Josh Brolin wears one of those wide-lapel leather coats…
Review by knjr ★★

Horror x52
Made in Europe

This most definitely wasn't made in Europe, I made a mistake and watched the US remake. Apparently the original is from the same director/writer though Mr. Ole Bornedal so this makes it a case like Haneke's Funny Games one could say. If that's the case, then the original must be a pretty shit film, because the film that I watched last night was a total snoozefest.

Nightwatch is a whodunnit mystery starring a young Ewan McGregor, Josh Brolin and it even has Patricia Arquette and Nick Nolte in supporting roles. So this cast is pretty heavy and actually the acting job is pretty good from every cast member. So performance wise the film is more…
Review by No-Personality ★★½

Part of me wishes I'd have kept an actual log of all my film viewings before the fall of 2005 (when I joined a certain website that shall remain nameless, where I actually did keep a loose record for about 6 years of a couple hundred watches as well as some painfully bad reviews). Part of me does not. The part that does not is trying to protect my diary of revealing my old viewing habits. But, I used to watch the same movies over and over again. Like: sometimes 3 times a day. Which is why, at one point, I knew every word of the entirety of Sorority House Massacre II by-heart.

Last night was the very first night…

Recent reviews

Review by Dominick ★

While we got a (retrospectively looking) all-star cast, this movie is a complete mess of pacing and trying to figure out what the hell is going on. That whole Diner scene with McGregor and Brolin was just uncomfortable, especially with making the stripper forcibly take shots & paying her to do it twhen she was obviously uncomfortable with it. And the whole ending of of the police detective Nick Nolte is really the serial killer here doing all this evil shit...yeah that was underwhelming as hell and especially how he was defeated
Review by Pvw ★★★½

Nightwatch is nu eens een perfecte film in zijn genre. Het is griezelig, heeft een thrilleraspect en is bijwijlen ook heel komisch. De spanning draait rond een hitchcockachtige plot: de hoofdfiguur moet, terwijl hij door de politie van een reeks gruwelijke lustmoorden wordt verdacht, er zelf achter proberen komen wie de echte moordenaar is die hem erin probeert te luizen.
Martin (Ewan McGregor) is een rechtenstudent die een baantje aanneemt als nachtwaker in een mortuarium. Op uw gat zitten en wat lezen, easy money denkt hij. Hij krijgt een rondleiding van de vorige nachtwaker en dan gaat de hoofdverlichting uit en is hij alleen in het grote gebouw. Al zijn jonge branie smelt snel als hij niets meer hoort dan…
Review by Etoad75 ★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

2019 Cult of Personality challenge: Brad Dourif film

I have a low tolerance for stories based around innocent people being framed or wrongfully accused, so this movie was already going to be an uphill climb for me. Throw in some stupid character decisions and the thoroughly unlikable James and Marie (played by two actors I typically love) and this one is a miss for me.

Personality watch Brad Dourif is one of the few bright spots in the film as the exasperated on -call doctor.
Review by cblaze ★★½

Back in the day I had such a man crush on Ewan McGregor and I watched this numerous times thinking it was a great dark thriller in the vein of Se7en. About halfway through I can clearly see I was wrong... Ewan is still a dreamboat but this film feels like it was written on set while watching the original Dutch film.

There’s no art to the direction, it’s so droll. They make a reference to USA movies but it’s no better. Josh Brolin’s charater is a total ass - he mistreats everyone without remorse and is completely undeserving of any redemption. No one acts like a human in very common sense moments and it’s so full of bullshit tropes…
Review by Patrick ★★½ 1

A trashy whodunnit that’s super fun to watch almost purely because of the cast. The camerawork teeters between kinetic and sporadic, the score is over the top, and the editing is all over the place. I think with a little bit more style I would’ve loved this but as it is, it’s mostly just silly.
Review by Tron329 ★★½

#88 Nightwatch (1997) #2019MovieMarathon Ewan McGregor, Josh Brolin, Patricia Arquette, and Nick Nolte star in this English language re-make of a Danish film by the same director. Spotted an uncredited John C. Reilly too.
Review by Herle ★½

The same sound byte being used thrice in the intro, I snapped, and the black frames between shot reverse shot... brad dourif’s the only fun thing in this movie only because his performance’s uncouth. Really is the worst movie McGregor did in the 90s but not as bad as the movies he’s doing now.
Review by STEPHEN TUBBS ★★

For a plot based around a mortuary, it should have had more suspenseful and scary bits than it did.
Review by fulci420

"Nightwatch" must have looked real good on paper. All star cast. A remake of an acclaimed foreign thriller. Directed by the original director. Script work by Steven Sodergergh. Too bad the movie is a mess.

I haven't seen the original so I cant comment on those comparisons but my takeaway was that it was a tonal mess. Is it a "Se7en" style dark serial killer saga? A stylish indie with Ewan McGregor gallivanting to rock music at his overnight security job? When the movie finally decides it's going to be a slasher for the finale I was completely checked out.

Worst of all is everything and anything involving Josh Brolin. He has become one of the most solid actors going…