Amazon.com: Bryan Singer's follow-up to his postmodern caper-thriller The Usual Suspects trades in the flamboyant narrative flourish of that film for a moody meditation on the allure of evil. Based on the Stephen King novella (featured in the collection Different Seasons), Apt Pupil follows the disturbing spiral of a bright young schoolboy, Todd (Brad Renfro), who discovers a wanted Nazi war criminal is living in his town and then blackmails him into telling stories ("everything they're afraid to show us in school") of the horrors of the Holocaust. The old man, Dussander (a terrifying performance by Ian McKellen), comes alive while telling his tales and is soon reliving his past glories in a SS Halloween ordered by Todd. It's not long before Dussander's homicidal streak is unleashed and he is pulling Todd along with him. Although set against a backdrop of Holocaust history, the issues raised in the stories are ignored in favor of shocks and suspense, and the film ultimately sacrifices the opportunity to be a fascinating psychological thriller about the seductive power of evil for a trip into Stephen King territory. Despite such limitations, Singer delivers a stylish and sometimes unsettling horror picture, which is largely due to McKellen's chilling portrait of a slumbering sadist awakened. --Sean Axmaker
What Is Evil?... I loved Stephen King's Different Seasons, except for one thing. I always thought that the story APT PUPIL was about fifty pages too long. The film version takes care of this concern, distilling PUPIL down to it's basic elements: old evil passing itself on to a young, all too eager student. Ian McKellen (yep, Gandolf himself!) is perfectly, quietly malevolent as the ancient nazi war criminal, hiding out in suburbia. Brad Renfro plays Todd Bowden, the normal-looking high school kid, concealing a darkness that appears to be insatiable and without limits. Todd fools his family, friends, and guidance counselor (David Schwimmer), into believing he is just another highly gifted teenager. In reality, he is a sociopathic wretch, coasting along by gaining the misplaced trust of others. Studying the holocaust in history class brings out Todd's blackened interior, causing him to hunt down and ensnare McKellen's character. What follows is a study of twisted evil in the midst of apparent normalcy. Todd and his "teacher" develop a seemingly symbiotic relationship that is in actuality purely parasitic. They are destroying each others souls. APT PUPIL's horror lies in it's use of demonic evil in broad daylight. Most of the movie is played out in the sunny afternoon. Evil doesn't wait for nightfall. It hides in plain sight, looking clean-cut and well-adjusted...
In memorance of Brad Renfro The death of Brad Renfro shocked me. I watched this and other films by him, but by far this is a remendous achievement and it's a shame he didn't get the press or attention other celebrities get when they pass on. His role in this film demonstrates his tremendous acting ability, although it wasn't realized by the powers that be in Hollywood.
I'll miss him, but I have his films to keep his memory fresh in my mind.
Well done, but could have been better This movie is from a short story by Steven King. The book was better, but, the actors in this film were sincere. Brad Renfro was perfect as the smart, successful, spoiled only child of upper middle class parents. Sir Ian was a good choice as the elderly, but still dangerous, ex-nazi officer that Brad gets obsessed with. Making the miserable man re-live his experiences as a murder of innocents, because the boy threatens to turn him in to Israeli officials. The ending should not have strayed too far from the actual story ending, almost as if the movie set had to close down within 10 minutes or they'd be charged an extra fee, it seemed rushed for no reason. Enjoy!
I was a little disappointed With the ending of this the first time I saw it after I checked it out at the library because there was a song by the heavy metal band Anthrax that kept more to the original story from Stephen King where he told the ending of how it too something like 6 hours for the authorities to bring the kid prodigy of this Dusannder (Nazi War Criminal) down with thier weapons of mass destruction in a harrowing shoot and chase sequence that was in the short story of the book Different Seasons by King. The movie ending was entirely different but about 3/4 of it follows the story like but I saw an interview with Brian Singer the director on the tv show The Directors and he said that he toned it down because he's Jewish and is still fasinated by the whole idea of 'Nazi-ism' just as a study point, kind of an odd thing for a jewish person to say but I can sort of see his point to an extent. It makes you wonder why George W.anker Bush one dictator killed in Iraq and supports or props up another one in Pervez Musharrif of Pakistan?
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they messed up one thing Most excellent rendition from the Stephen King story, however they screwed up one thing and that was the final scene. What happened? That final scene would have not taken up that much time and would have really been the real ending. I suppose it doesn't matter, but why be PC about it because those things happen all the time? I can still see that final scene in my head, the kid on the hill, the cars down on the freeway, but for some reason they changed it in the movie. Well anyways peoples even though they screwed up that part it is still a very good story and I hope you like it. Great cast in this movie you will like the cast yes yes!
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