F-0240

Title:

Below Utopia
Body Count (video title)

Category:

S

Produced:

1997

Country:

USA

Released:

Film: May 1998
DVD: Oct 2001; Apr 2002 (2-DVD)
VHS: Apr 1999
Soundtrack: May 1998 (CD)

Director:

Kurt Voss

Writer:

Richard Shepard (story); David Diamond (story, screenplay)

Actors:

Alyssa Milano (Susanne); Justin Theroux (Daniel Beckett); Ice-T (Jim - as Ice T); Tommy 'Tiny' Lister (Tiny - as Tommy 'Tiny' Lister); Richard Danielson (Cole); Nicholas Walker (Justin Beckett); Robert Pine (Uncle Wilson); Jeanette O'Connor (Aunt Estelle); Ron Harper (Jack Beckett); Marta Kristen (Marilyn Beckett); Eric Saiet (Cousin Allen)

Description:

Daniel returns to his family's mansion for the holidays along with his girlfriend Susanne. His family's seemingly-utopian existence is overshadowed by not only the death of Daniel's brother, but also by Daniel's failure to live up to his brother's potential. However, this quickly becomes inconsequential, as blood-thirsty killers soon show up.. (Dave Smith)

Justin Theroux is Daniel Beckett, the black sheep son of a wealthy New York art dealer. He and his girlfriend, Suzanne (Alyssa Milano), are meeting his family for Thanksgiving at their sprawling country estate. During dinner, Daniel's domineering father informs him he must join the family business or be cut off from their vast wealth. Daniel and Suzanne retreat downstairs to the basement when... ...screams and gunfire erupt from above! A band of murderous thieves, lead by Jim (Ice T), has entered the house and is killing off Daniel's family. Knowing that the only way to survive is to take the offensive and fight back, Daniel and Suzanne eliminate the killers one by one. With the body count rising, a shocking twist to this deadly game of cat and mouse proves that blood isn't always thicker than water. (Amazon.com)

The eternally scantily clad Alyssa Milano (Body Count executive producer as well as star) gives a solid performance as the newest member of a wealthy clan whose constant in-fighting is terminally interrupted by a deadly pack of art thieves determined to add a few more skeletons to the already overstuffed family closet. This well-constructed, dark-edged melding of Die Hard and Peyton Place mostly runs like a dream, despite a few off-putting flashes of lame humor (courtesy of swaggering head killer Ice-T), and a Usual Suspects-inspired ending that, while certainly surprising, doesn't really seem to fit the material. All in all, this is a well-acted, surprisingly artful slice of pulp containing a welcome vein of genuine dread. (Andrew Wright, Amazon.com)

Language:

English

TT:

88 min / 83 min (Germany, cut version) / 193 min (2-DVD)

J.S. Bach's Music:

Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068
Courtesy of Zomba Music

Format:

Film: Color, Dolby
DVD: (PAL, All Regions) | (PAL, Region 2) | (Color, Full Screen, NTSC, Region 1)
2-DVD: (Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC)
VHS: (Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC)
Soundtrack: CD

Company:

Film: Subutopian Films Inc.
DVD: ?; Lions Gate
2-DVD: Live / Artisan
VHS: Live / Artisan
Soundtrack: Virgin Records Us

Comments:

2-DVD Set includes: Body Count/Out of Sync

Watch selections:

Buy movie at:

DVD: Amazon.com [PAL, All Refions] | Amazon.com [PAL, Region 2] | Amazon.com
2-DVD: Amazon.com
VHS: Amazon.com
Soundtrack: Amazon.com [CD]

Source/Links: IMDB
Contributor: Aryeh Oron (November 2007)