Bruiser (film)

Bruiser
US DVD cover
Directed by	George A. Romero
Produced by	Ben Barenholtz Peter Grunwald
Written by	George A. Romero
Starring	Jason Flemyng Peter Stormare Leslie Hope Tom Atkins
Music by	Donald Rubinstein
Cinematography	Adam Swica
Edited by	Miume Jan Eramo
Production company	Le Studio Canal+ Barenholtz Productions Romero-Grunwald Productions
Distributed by	Canal+
Release date	13 February 2000
Running time	99 min.
Country	France
Language	English Spanish
Budget	$5 million

Bruiser is a 2000 French horror-thriller film written and directed by George A. Romero and starring Jason Flemyng, Peter Stormare and Leslie Hope.

Bruiser was the first film directed by Romero since the 1993 film The Dark Half. In contrast to his previous films, which were shot in and around Pittsburgh, Bruiser was filmed in Toronto.

Henry Creedlow (Jason Flemyng) is a businessman who lives a unhappy life; his high-strung, contemptuous wife Janine (Nina Garbiras) is indifferent to him which leads to him having fantasies about suicide. Henry drives to a local train station where he meets with his best friend, Jimmy Larson (Andrew Tarbet) to go to work downtown. Apparently, Jimmy has invested some money for Henry, and Henry's return is much lower than he thought. While trying to board the train, an unsettled Henry imagines himself pulling away a pushy lady and struggling with her until he puts her head under the railroad tracks, allowing a passing train to crush her head. Waking up from his fantasy, Henry boards the train with Jimmy.

Henry works at a local magazine company called Bruiser. While at the office, everyone is at a conference meeting deciding on which model should be on the magazine's latest issue. The sleazy and reprehensible boss, Miles Styles (Peter Stormare), mocks Henry's choice in front of him and his co-workers. Later that day, Henry talks with Miles' artist wife Rosie (Leslie Hope), who works at the lead photographer, and there appears to be an attraction between them as she is the only person who is casually nice to Henry.

That Saturday, there is a party for the workers at Miles and Rosie's house. The cynical Janine goes off not wanting to speak to the weak-willed Henry, who is sitting for a plaster mold to be made of his face by Rosie whom also designs masks in her spare time. Rosie finishes the mask and adds it to her "garden of lost souls" in the backyard. She asks Henry to paint a design on the featureless mask, but Henry cannot think of anything to draw. Henry sees Miles and his wife across the pool in a very intimate moment.

While driving home later that evening, Henry confronts Janine about what he saw as her making the moves onto his boss. Incredibly, Janine hardly seems to care and she tells the distraught Henry that he is so weak-willed and a pushover, she despises living with him and firmly wishes that he were dead. Janine tells Henry: "You're going no place! You're nothing! You're nobody!" When they arrive home, Henry then has another fantasy about Janine pulling the car into the garage, and him getting out and killing her with an axe to her head. Janine gets back into the car and drives off into the night, leaving Henry all alone.