Vincent Cassel (left) and Samuel L Jackson star in the suspenseful crime thriller Damaged. Photo: Supplied.
Experience spine-chilling thrills, unnerving at times, that feature sinister murders and a serial killer on the loose in Damaged.
Evil is closer than you know in a film that certainly keeps you guessing about motive and culprit. It’s also described as delivering a “peak Jackson”.
How do you catch a brilliant monster? is a mainstay question. When a sadistic murderer surfaces in Scotland, terrified local authorities call on Chicago police detective Dan Lawson (Samuel L Jackson, Pulp Fiction, The Avengers, Jackie Brown), who investigated a killing spree with the same horrific pattern five years earlier. The serial killer sends shockwaves of fear through a small Scottish community.
Lawson had investigated a series of murders in Scotland alongside another detective, Walter Bravo (Vincent Cassel, Elizabeth, Ocean’s Thirteen, Jason Bourne). As the case continues, a similar imitation is evident.
These two detectives, with tormented pasts, try in earnest to stop a merciless killer before he claims his next victim. Lawson is still haunted by some brutal killings years earlier in which his own girlfriend was one of the victims.
These slayings are comparable copies, with the bodies of the victims being dismembered and various parts rearranged into the shape of a cross, accompanied by markings signifying satanic rituals. Lawson soon discovers a recurrent way of acting in the killings that he believes could be connected to a dangerous cult.
Lending his expertise, Lawson assists Chief Inspector Glen Boyd (Gianni Capaldi, Cross, The Between) and his partner, Laura Kessler (Kate Dickie, Red Road, Couple in a Hole), to catch the murderer.
As the investigation continues, suspicion falls first on a grumpy neighbour, Avery Thompson (Brian McCardie), said to have had a quarrel with a victim. Then focus shifts to a chief suspect, Colin McGregor (John Hannah, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), an even more disagreeable character recently kicked out of a ‘’too radical’’ religious sect.
A slick but moderate thriller with its unduly recognisable and rather complex plot, Damaged boasts strong performances from all the cast. They add depth and intricacy to the narrative. Jackson commands the screen in an understated fashion, and Hannah delivers some first-rate acting.
Capaldi, who also co-wrote and produced the film, is in essence the lead detective on the trail of an assassin whose crimes are reflective of what transpired in Chicago. He is perfect for this role. Terry McDonough (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul), in his feature-film debut, directs with refined competency.
Making comparisons to films such as Se7en, The Bone Collector and Zodiac is unmistakable. Being one of the co-writers (along with Koji Steven Sakai and Paul Aniello), Capaldi drew inspiration from these films and says he’s been a huge fan of the genre. However, it was important for the film to tick the boxes, story-wise, in terms of some great dramas emanating from the UK.
“If you can capture the UK crime grittiness and insert that into a serial-killer movie with surroundings, dialogue, the mannerisms, then you have something a lot different from the rest of the pack,” Capaldi says.
“I had the idea and collaborated with the other writers and it was a fun process. It took a bit of time in the end because you’re always constantly changing anything. If that happens, it’s a lot better.” He “played” with it until it was “ideal”.
Being a crime thriller, a whodunit, people always need to keep guessing, and once they “get comfortable, you want to kind of shift it away from them so they don’t feel comfortable and they’re always on the edge of their seats”.
It resonates, evokes emotions, sometimes similar to other films including Se7en, which was the inspiration. For Capaldi, working with Jackson was memorable because he was one of the most charismatic actors he’d ever worked with.
“We had to have really good chemistry … going through the crime scene to crime scene to crime scene. It was a trust, and it was like mentoring … Going through grief, how to deal with the grief, what you must do, how you’ve got to focus, so that was really important for us to develop that kind of chemistry on screen.”
Call it a “brooding noir”, but Damaged captivatingly follows the detectives as they investigate suspects and endless clues, teeming with an abundance of twists and turns. Refreshingly, attention is on the inquiry, so when character relationships are expounded, those moments catch the eye.
Damaged, directed by Terry McDonough, is out on DVD from Defiant Screen Entertainment, and is also streaming on digital platforms
