The Disappearance of Alice Creed
| The Disappearance of Alice Creed | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | J Blakeson |
| Produced by | Adrian Sturges |
| Written by | J Blakeson |
| Starring |
Gemma Arterton Martin Compston Eddie Marsan |
| Music by | Marc Canham |
| Cinematography | Philipp Blaubach |
| Edited by | Mark Eckersley |
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Production
company |
Isle of Man Film
CinemaNX |
| Distributed by | West End Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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96 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,500,000 |
| Box office | £554,832 |
The Disappearance of Alice Creed is a 2009 British neo-noir thriller film about the kidnapping of a young woman by two ex-convicts. The film is written and directed by J Blakeson and stars Gemma Arterton as the captured Alice Creed, with Martin Compston and Eddie Marsan as Danny and Vic, the kidnappers. The film was shot on the Isle of Man.
Victor and Danny met in prison and hatched a plan to kidnap and demand ransom for the only child of a rich family. The film opens with scenes in which they make meticulous preparations to carry out the kidnap. They take their victim, Alice, her head hooded, to a soundproofed room. They cut off her clothing and tie her to a bed with a ball-gag buckled into her mouth. They force her to look at a camera as she is photographed naked. They then dress her in a tracksuit, put a hood on her head and leave her. They bag up both her clothes and theirs for disposal and Vic sends the pictures to her father as first step towards making the ransom demand. In continuing graphic scenes, they explain to Alice that she needs to sign when she needs the toilet and strip her lower half in order that she use a bed pan whilst still tied up. Neither shows any emotion during her humiliation but Vic, who is dominant, questions Danny's resolve now that the formerly 'hypothetical girl' has become real.
Vic is the one who leaves the place where they are holding Alice in order to make preparations to obtain the ransom, whilst Danny is left guarding Alice. In his absence, Alice, signing that she needs to do a 'number two'. persuades Danny to untie her and turn his back. She attacks him with her bed pan and grabs his pistol, which she fires during the struggle between them, hitting the wall. Believing he is about to die, Danny reveals his identity to Alice. They were lovers before his time in jail and he says he met Vic while in jail and chose her as the kidnap victim with a view to getting money from the father she had told him she hated. He says his plan was to double cross Vic and to start a new life, sharing the money with Alice. They hear Vic returning and Danny points out that even if she were to shoot him she would not get past Vic. Alice agrees to play along with Danny's plan and lets him tie her back up. Later, while Vic is away again, Alice gets Danny to untie her and seduces him, managing to handcuff Danny to the bed. She tries to leave but finds the front door bolted from the inside and can't get out. She sees a mobile phone on the table and dials 999 but cannot tell the operator where she is. She then notices Danny's gun and decides to use it to get him to tell her where the keys to the front door are. Danny tells her they are in his trouser pocket, which is close enough to the bed for him to overpower her whilst she is attempting to retrieve them. He reties the unconscious Alice to the bed. Vic returns and says the exchange is on. Vic is left alone with Alice while Danny prepares the van. As Vic starts to get Alice ready for the trip, the mobile phone she managed to obtain falls out of her pocket onto the bed. Vic checks it and finds it shows a 999 call. Then he spots the bullet in the wall, ungags Alice and threatens her. She screams for Danny, proving she knows him. She then tells Vic that Danny intended to double cross him and that she had done a deal with Danny to play along as kidnap victim in exchange for a share of the money.
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