Apt Pupil (1998)

 

 

Loosely based on the novella of the same name from Stephen King (this seems to be the year of the Stephen King film both here on The Countdown to Halloween on Blogger as well as the Spirit of ’76 Celebration on Letterboxd) is this Bryan Singer (Bohemian Rhapsody and The Usual Suspects) directed psychological thriller.  Starring as high school senior Todd Bowden is Brad Renfro (Ghost World and The Client) who is obsessed by Nazism.  Todd discovers that a man wanted for war crimes during WW2 is living in the same town as him.  Kurt Dussander (Ian McKellen who can also be seen in The Lord of the Rings trilogy playing the wise wizard Gandalf who we named one of our cats after many years ago) is living under the pseudonym Arthur Denker.  Dussander, a former commandant in a Nazi concentration camp, is blackmailed into telling Todd stories about working for the Nazi army. 

 

 

The more time he spends with Dussander his life begins to go downhill.  His grades suffer, his relationship with his girlfriend takes a downward turn, and he begins to lie to his parents.  Soon Dussander is able to turn the tables and begins to blackmail Todd.  The film is an interesting character study and although not a horror film it does have some very tense moments.  There’s a couple of animal cruelty scenes that are particularly hard to watch.  Also starring is David Scwimmer (Ross from Friends) as Mr. French, Todd’s high school guidance counselor. Ann Dowd (Hereditary and The Exorcist: Believer) and Bruce Davison (X-Men, X2, and Willard) star as Todd’s oblivious parents.  Elias Koteas (Zodiac and Chicago P.D.) plays Archie a homeless man who has seen Dussander dressed in a Nazi uniform. 

 

The book is much more violent, and it includes more animosity towards Jews than seen here.  There are also scenes of rape and torture that are not seen in the film.  The ending of the story is drastically changed as well and in my opinion the novella is (while being more graphic in nature) a much better story.  The film was not given great reviews but it contains some really good performances.  Not just by Renfro and McKellen but there is also an emotional performance by Michael Byrne (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Force 10 From Navarone) portraying a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps who recognizes Dussander as the commandant of the camp he was imprisoned in.  The film did win some minor awards to Renfro and McKellen as well as a Saturn award for best horror movie of the year (1998) and a Saturn award to McKellen for best supporting actor.  While it’s a good film, the subject matter makes it a little less enjoyable, but I can still give this three air embolisms out of five.