Taglines: What if someone you trusted was setting you up?
Nightwatch movie storyline. Like The Vanishing (1988 and 1993), Nightwatch is an English-language version of a foreign-made film with the original director hired to remake his own movie. Ole Bornedal was the writer-director of the suspenseful 1994 thriller, Nattevagten, which had no U.S. release immediately on the heels of its success in Denmark.
For the second time around, Bornedal directed, but Steven Soderbergh wrote a new script based on Bornedal’s original film. Both were produced by Michael Obel. Nattevagten was Bornedal’s directorial debut, and reviews praised the film for the claustrophobic atmospherics and suspense generated from the very first establishing scene.
For the 1998 English-language remake, the artistic elements of the original gave way to name actors, slicker production values, and the more conventional grindhouse genre approach, opening with a brutal prostitute murder in a pre-credit sequence. University student Martin (Ewan McGregor) ignores warnings to take a city-morgue night watchman job for extra cash.
Odd happenings at the morgue are linked to a serial killer, and Inspector Thomas Cray (Nick Nolte) investigates. Soon Martin’s girlfriend Katherine (Patricia Arquette) learns that Martin has become a key suspect. However, some might suspect Martin’s edgy friend James (Josh Brolin). Brad Dourif fills the role of a doctor, and young Alix Koromzay portrays vulnerable teen hooker Joyce.
Nightwatch is a 1997 American horror-thriller film directed by Ole Bornedal and starring Ewan McGregor, Patricia Arquette, Josh Brolin and Nick Nolte. It was written by Bornedal and Steven Soderbergh. It is a remake of the Danish film Nattevagten (1994), which was also directed by Bornedal.
Nightwatch (1998)
Directed by: Ole Bornedal
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Patricia Arquette, Josh Brolin, Lauren Graham, Nick Nolte, Anais Evans, Lonny Chapman, Candy Ann Brown, Robert LaSardo, Michael Matthys
Screenplay by: Ole Bornedal
Production Design by: Richard Hoover
Cinematography by: Dan Laustsen
Film Editing by: Sally Menke
Costume Design by: Louise Mingenbach
Set Decoration by: Brian Kasch
Art Direction by: Kathleen M. McKernin, Adam Scher
Music by: Joachim Holbek
MPAA Rating: R for strong, morbid violence, language, sexuality, and some drug content.
Distributed by: Dimension Films
Release Date: April 17, 1998
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