Mute Witness

Billie (Sudina), the make-up artist on an American slasher-movie, is accidentally locked overnight in the rambling Moscow studio where the film is being made. She wanders into the basement looking for someone to let her out. What she finds, however, is a cameraman shooting a scene in which a masked actor stabs a woman to death - and it looks for real. Billie flees, though since she's mute, she can't scream or phone for help. What's more, will anyone ever believe her story? Waller's witty, action-packed thriller seldom lets up. He milks the murky Moscow locations and the heroine's isolated predicament for all they're worth - only Billie's sister Karen (Ripley) attempts to understand her sign-language, while brother-in-law Andy (Richards) is too obsessed by the film he's directing to attend to anyone but himself - while switching rapidly back and forth between straight suspense and black comedy, ironic excess and tiny telling details. Scary and great fun.