Entertainment: ‘Apt Pupil’ fails to scare

“‘Apt Pupil’ is supposedly about the true nature of evil, but it only works on a superficial level because it follows all the usual plot devices and the standard format of your average horror film.
After covering a unit about the Holocaust in high school, a morally ambivalent student (Brad Renfro) develops a peculiar obsession with the Nazis and World War II. To quench his inexplicable thirst for the truth, he heads to the local library. Soon enough, while heading home on a bus he notices an elderly man (Ian McKellen) who bares a striking resemblance to an uncaptured Nazi commander named Kurt Dussander. Then the teen blackmails the former commander into telling him “what they’re afraid to tell you at school.” The peculiar relationship between the two eventually leads to a brutal murder, but as the story progresses, the more it evolves into a conventional horror movie.
The two key actors, Ian McKellan and Brad Renfro, work astonishingly well together; but not even their chemistry can salvage this mishmash. Ian McKellen is surprisingly persuasive as the former Nazi with more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Brad Renfro gives a decent performance as the curious sociopath. His performance will neither hinder nor help his career. Sadly, his character lacks any real and apparent motives for his erratic decisions and behavior.

Great premise, but misses the mark
‘Apt Pupil’ is an interesting exercise in deliberate and suspenseful audience manipulation. The film is meticulously calculated to a fault, but then again it wallows in depravity (two scenes of nonsensical animal torture are especially excruciating). The film lacks depth, clarity, and focus. ‘Apt Pupil’ has a fascinating premise, but its ideas are never fully realized or fleshed out. It’s most definitely a controversial film, with a missed potential for greatness.”

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