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Netflix is, as soon as once more, respiratory new life right into a largely forgotten film from yesteryear. The film in query is “Do not Say a Phrase.” Do not fret if that title alone raised an eyebrow, as this is not precisely an early 2000s cinematic traditional, all due respect. All the identical, the thriller is discovering a large viewers on the steamer as we head into the Halloween season.
Starring Michael Douglas (“Primary Intuition”) and the late Brittany Murphy (“Uptown Women”), director Gary Fleder’s 2001 thriller “Do not Say a Phrase” is at the moment trending in Netflix’s high 10 most-watched film charts. The movie is at the moment sitting within the quantity 5 spot, simply behind this 12 months’s “I Know What You Did Final Summer season” reboot and simply forward of the animated film “The Twits.”
For individuals who might not be acquainted, the movie facilities on criminal Patrick Koster (Sean Bean) and his associate, who seize younger Jessie Conrad (Skye McCole Bartusiak), holding her at ransom from Jessie’s therapist father, Nathan (Michael Douglas). They do not need cash, nonetheless. As an alternative, they need him to coax a traumatized teen named Elisabeth (Brittany Murphy) into revealing a mysterious code quantity that may cause them to a hidden jewel value a fortune. The twist? She hasn’t spoken in 10 years. Let the video games start.
The movie got here at a singular time as Murphy was reaching the heights of her star energy earlier than her premature passing on the age of 32 in 2009. It was additionally form of close to the top of a very unbelievable run by Douglas, with the actor ascending to the highest of Hollywood’s A-list within the ’80s with gigantic hits like “Deadly Attraction.” On the time of its launch, the high-concept thrill experience wasn’t an enormous success, taking in $100 million on the field workplace in opposition to a $50 million funds. Critics of the day additionally weren’t significantly type to it.
Do not Say a Phrase is the newest forgotten film to seek out new life on Netflix
It was a type of films that simply form of got here and went in its day, did not work out fairly in addition to Fox had hoped, but in addition arrived through the period when DVD gross sales and cable might function a security web to make sure a given film would earn a living. In any occasion, it is clear that the mixture of stars and an attractively intriguing premise has allowed this oft-forgotten early 2000s launch to thrive 24 years later.
What’s attention-grabbing is that this form of factor appears to be occurring continuously on Netflix. 2004’s “After the Sundown” lately discovered nice success on the streamer greater than 20 years after it flopped in theaters. Even now, the highest 10 consists of films like 2015’s “Trip” and “The A-Crew.” There are numerous examples, nevertheless it’s an attention-grabbing phenomenon.
For no matter purpose, whilst Netflix continues to pour untold billions into authentic films, many of those comparatively unremarkable “film for a film’s sake” films wind up dominating the streaming service’s charts. All of the whereas, large authentic blockbusters like “The Electrical State” flop as right here right this moment, gone tomorrow curiosities with no cultural endurance. For as a lot as Netflix has managed to disrupt Hollywood, customers nonetheless appear to seek out a variety of consolation in acquainted films that had been launched in theaters, even when they weren’t hits of their day.
It could additionally converse volumes about generational nostalgia that individuals of a sure age have for Murphy, who starred in teen classics like “Clueless” in addition to “Woman, Interrupted,” amongst others. Both manner, it is simply the newest instance of Netflix unintentionally shining a lightweight on a bit of cinema that, prior to now, felt prefer it would possibly as effectively have been misplaced to time.
You can even seize “Do not Say a Phrase” on DVD from Amazon.
