Anchor Bay Entertainment
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Texas Killing Fields
No one is safe.
In the Texas bayous, a local homicide detective teams up with a cop from New York City to investigate a series of unsolved murders.
- Original title
- Texas Killing Fields
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- $957,240
John Chard
May 17, 2014 · via TMDB
This place is nothing but chaos. Your God doesn’t even come here. Texas Killing Fields is directed by Ami Canaan Mann and written by Don Ferrarone. It stars Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jessica Chastain, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Clarke, Annabeth Gish and Stephen Graham. Music is by Dickon Hinchliffe and cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh. Film is based around real events involving the many murders of women whose bodies have been found in a desolate area of road and wasteland between Houston and Galveston. Ami Canaan Mann is the daughter of Michael Mann, one of the masters of modern day crime story movies, so it’s not very surprising to see Ami, for her sophomore production, venture into murky waters. Texas Killing Fields is a bayou noir, where although the title hints at human devastation unbound, it’s actually a slow burning skin itcher more concerned with the people investigating crime than that of the perpetrators. How the sorry events affect all who come in to contact with the crimes at the film’s core, is what drives Texas Killing Fields on. Sadly the screenplay takes on board too much and nearly derails an otherwise very good movie. If it comes down to atmosphere and technical smarts in achieving such? Then this is one of the finest of recent times. There’s a constant sense of broody foreboding throughout, the haunting landscapes are all gnarly and spectre like, the whole area literally stinks of death and misery. Even when the story is away from the fields of the title, there’s a mood of despair filtering out from Mann and Dryburgh’s lenses, the hot Texas weather draining every ounce of sweat from the emotionally troubled detectives. All of the atmosphere is helped considerably by Hinchliffe’s music, which piggybacks the misery with ominous bluesy tones. Unfortunately all this deft atmospheric craft can’t stop the screenplay from being annoying. A sub-plot involving Worthington and Chastain as ex husband and wife is as pointless as it gets, which simultaneously wastes Chastain in the process. The makers have chosen to actually have suspects front and centre for the crimes on screen (unlike the real life cases, most of which remain unsolved), well they intend to keep it mysterious, but anyone paying attention will catch on quickly enough. There’s also problems with the sound mix, which at times is appalling, rendering some crucial dialogue exchanges as inaudible. Cast are good, especially Morgan and Moretz, and Mann shows a good hand at action sequences to compliment her astute mood setting skills. But this still feels like a misfire, and subsequent critical appraisals and internet rating systems have it as just above average. That’s a little unfair, there’s much for the neo-noir/crime movie crowd to get enthralled by here, but Mann may need to sharpen up her story telling whiles to fully bloom her undoubted potential. 6.5/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Sam Worthington
Mike Souder
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Brian Heigh
Jessica Chastain
Pam Stall
Chloë Grace Moretz
Little Ann Sliger
Jason Clarke
Rule
Annabeth Gish
Gwen Heigh
Sheryl Lee
Lucie Sliger
Stephen Graham
Rhino
Wayne Ferrara
Canine Officer
Kerry Cahill
Carla Romer
Maureen Brennan
Mrs. Kittredge
Tony Bentley
Captain Bender
James Landry Hébert
Eugene
John Neisler
DPS Officer
Deneen Tyler
Lady Worm
Samantha Beaulieu
Sheila
Kelvin Payton
Congregation 1
Ron Flagge
Congregation 2
Jon Eyez
Levon
Joseph Meissner
Uniformed Cop
Joe Chrest
Salter
Donna DuPlantier
Riba
Jen Kober
911 Operator
Ryan Reinike
911 Supervisor
Lyle Brocato
Jim
Kirk Bovill
Boyfriend
Jason Mitchell
7-Eleven Cashier
Lenore Banks
Haddie
Brian Duffy
Flannel Shirt Poacher
Tom Proctor
Poacher 2
Mark Adam
Surveillance Detective 1
Jonah Markowitz
Art Direction
Stuart Dryburgh
Director of Photography
Christopher Lawrence
Costume Design
Darrin Prescott
Stunt Coordinator
Chelsea Bruland
Stunts
William Scharpf
Stunts
Ami Canaan Mann
Director
Darrin Prescott
Second Unit Director
Bonnie Timmermann
Casting
Allison Estrin
Casting Associate
Bill Block
Executive Producer
Michael Jaffe
Producer
Michael Mann
Producer
Dickon Hinchliffe
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