Suburb Nazis Must Die

It's been way too long between juicy flicks starring Nazis. I'm not talking about high-and-mighties like Sophie's Choice and Schindler's List. I'm talking more along the lines of Surf Nazis Must Die and Ilsa, She-Devil of the S.S.

Bryan (The Usual Suspects) Singer's Apt Pupil lies somewhere in between, and it's a clammy little dramatic thriller than exercises a lot of (perhaps too much?) restraint.

Based on the Stephen King novella (from the same book of stories on which Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption were based), Apt Pupil follows the consuming fascination of a 16-year-old boy, Todd (Brad Renfro), for the Holocaust, which he's studying in class. Things take a decidedly dark and unnerving turn when Todd, who does further research on his own, recognizes an old man on a bus from an old photograph. Is this man, who says his name is Arthur Denker, really Kurt Dussander (Ian McKellen), a Nazi war criminal living in Todd's hometown?

You better believe it. And rather than reveal the man's secret, Todd blackmails Dussander and the two begin a weird and perilous relationship that turns deadly.

An under-current of menace pervades the flick, and McKellen's performance (for another deliciously and fascistically evil McKellen turn, check out his 1995 version of Shakespeare's Richard III) goes a long way toward making it all work. Todd's been "infected," you see, and he goes from eerily nailing a helplessly grounded bird with his basketball to an chopping Elias Koteas with an ax in Dussander's basement. We ain't in the Spielbergian suburbs anymore.

As "classy" horror flicks go, Apt Pupil earns an "A." Which isn't to say I'm turning up my nose at surfing Nazis and their she-devils. It's just that they don't make 'em like that anymore.

- The Raving Reviewer