Review of Curfew

Curfew (1989)
Sadistic hostage-taking
10 April 2023
My review was written in June 1989 after watching the movie on New World video cassette.

"Curfew" is an uninvolving update of the format of "The Desperate Hours", substituting sadism for dramatics. It's a very minor direct-to-video title.

Wendell Wellman and John Putch portray two brothers who break out of jail to terrorize the judge, district attorney, etc., and their families responsible for sending them up for raping and killing a young girl.

They take the d.a.'s family hostage and pic dwells predictably on the psychological and physical torture inflicted as well as the victims' attemp[ts to turn the brothers against each other.

Title refers to sexy heroine Kyle Richards (the d.a.'s daughter) having to be home by 10 p.m. According to her parents' strict rules. This is contrasted heavy-handedly with the severe treatment met4ed out by the brothers.

A subplot of pranks by Kyle's high school classmates has little force except to set up a "boy who cried wolf" gimmick.

Acting is acceptable, though Wellman is overly theatrical as the domineering older brother, Richard is styled intriguingly as an innocent sort of bombshell, but her performance is unimpressive.
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