Prisoners (DVD)

A normal Thanksgiving in a normal American town--violently interrupted. Two little girls have gone missing, swallowed up by the dark places that lurk even in this ordinary-looking landscape. This solid suspense premise allows Prisoners to take its time exploring the people affected by the event: a father (Hugh Jackman) with a vigilante attitude, a cop (Jake Gyllenhaal) with an intense manner and a perfect record in solving cases, a simple-minded suspect (Paul Dano) and his protective guardian (Melissa Leo). Other people caught in this vortex are played by Terrence Howard, Viola Davis, and Maria Bello, so the film has no shortage of onscreen firepower. Still, the main character is somehow this drizzly, gloomy town, where French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Incendies) creates a memorably uneasy mood. The movie's concerns are broadly drawn, and screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski's plot developments get lurid at times, but the eerie pacing gets under your skin, and late revelations carry the chill of genuine American Gothic. Not all thrillers need to hammer us with quick editing and overblown effects, as this scary exercise ably proves. --Robert Horton

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