On M List of Movie Reviews

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The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1986)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 4/24

Rue86
4/24: The DVD cover of The Murders in the Rue Morgue seemed interesting that I thought the movie would be the same way, but alas, no.

George C. Scott has his moments of excellence, and I can tell that he knew how to listen, but the rubbish script keeps letting him down. Totally out of place, Val Kilmer is too much of a newbie to be in his league and shouldn't have been cast. Looking surprisingly old for 44 (too much alcohol?), Ian McShane is better while Rebecca De Mornay is okay and has a good scene with the legendary actor to get him going.

I like the clothes and the Parisian setting to make the film an easy period piece to digest, but the pace is so slow that the murder mystery isn't worthy of my attention. When George C. Scott's character began figuring it out, I was left in the dark all the way to the end. So...what was it? A werewolf? A lion? Nope...it turns out to be an ape that's played by a human being. Then, the movie ends. That's when I knew I got treated like a joke.

All in all, the director of The Murders in the Rue Morgue invested too much in the look of the period than anything else.