Soft-core porn and hardcore violence feature heavily in "grubby" horror flick Captivity. We're betting Elisha Cuthbert didn't take much convincing to let it all hang out as a model trapped in a torture dungeon, but critics and movie buffs might've expected better from British director Roland Joffé (a two-time Oscar-nominee). The film was hacked to bits and died quickly at the box office.

Capturing The Moment

According to Cuthbert in a pedestrian Making Of featurette, this is really a "complex" story blending many genres. We reckon muddled is a more accurate description, but Joffé wasn't concerned about the script as much as he was with the logistics. In addition to trying to make a horror film, a thriller and a psychological drama, he says that he was aiming to pull off "an action movie in a tiny space". Production designer Addis Gadzhiyev talks about designing that space but no one takes the blame for Cuthbert's trashy outfits.

"I don't just wanna be the pretty girl in a movie," Cuthbert insists during a brief interview reel. To her credit though, she did have to face some pretty gruelling challenges in this role. She freely admits having difficulty with the blender scene during which she says she felt "physically ill twice" and had to have a bucket put on standby. Apparently this effect was achieved using red dye and cottage cheese, which pretty much sums up the tone of the movie.

The Cage Bird Shrieks

Cuthbert channels the spirit of Tippi Hedren (of The Birds fame) in one of 9 deleted scenes. Sat in the darkness of the torture chamber, she's attacked by a hungry vulture before having it served up for tea in a later scene. She then gets up-close and personal with Gary (Daniel Gillies) in a one-on-one that's almost as romantic as being furiously pecked by a rabid vulture. Two alternative endings - one dark, one light - only serve to underline how ill-judged this story is.

Frankly, any sane person would need to be chained down and have their eyelids forced open with toothpicks to sit through this rubbish.

EXTRA FEATURES

Captivity DVD is released on Monday 29th October 2007.