DVD Review | Three Blind Mice
Written by: Kage Alan

The amount of money being spent over the internet these days on adult content must be staggering.  Unfortunately, along with profit must come some bit of risk and, unfortunately, danger.  What kind of danger you might ask?  What would happen if the events in “Basic Instinct” had been caught by a webcam and transmitted to people logged in all over the world?  You know, people who would pay to watch something like that?  We call those “snuff” films and while there are always rumors of real life ones floating around (they’re illegal for obvious reasons), they’re almost urban legends of a sort.  Well, what better plot fodder for a direct-to-video film than that?

Thomas Cross (Edward Furlong, “Terminator 2”) lives in England as a computer programmer who has a habit of putting webcams…well, pretty much everywhere and then sitting back and watching everybody on his screen.  I guess it keeps him informed, especially at work.  Right.  The word voyeur comes to mind.  Anyway, as soon as he leaves work, the lad heads home and hops right back on to cyber with a beautiful young woman.  It’s one of those pay services that many people use who enjoy watching a woman willing to exploit herself, only Thomas is one of her favorites.  When a firewall suddenly appears and blocks him from seeing his lady red, he manages to acquire a password off of his brother’s computer (unbeknownst to his brother, mind you) and logs on.  A few minutes later, Thomas witnesses an intruder entering the woman’s apartment and brutally murdering her.

The Police think he’s their prime suspect (where is Helen Mirren when you need her?), only one of the detectives, Claire (Emilia Fox, “The Pianist”), isn’t so sure.  Things just don’t add up and she’s not willing to suggest prosecution based on the evidence at hand.  When a clue points to Thomas’ brother and the man ends up dead, Claire is dismissed and the case is closed as unsolved.  Well, it wouldn’t be much of a movie if it ended that quickly and badly, so she, Thomas a few others decide to finish things their own way.  Unfortunately, not only are they followed by unknown individuals, but their residences are being monitored.  Who’s leading these blind mice around and can a last ditch plan to catch the masterminds behind the murders succeed?

Conceptually, “Three Blind Mice” makes use of a unique idea, especially with wondering who is really pulling the strings.  It’s too bad that some of the twists and turns, especially at the end, feel forced and rather senseless.  This sort of thing in movies is normal these days, but it really just speaks of insecure filmmaking.  Edward Furlong is in fairly fine form here, but this material is a bit beneath his abilities and I found it rather humorous to see him in an intimate scene when he still looks eighteen years old.  Somebody in casting didn’t fully think the role out very well when they offered it to him.

First Look Home Entertainment has released “Three Blind Mice” in a slightly grainy Widescreen transfer.  Colors are fairly good, but it unfortunately looks like a B-movie.  Sound quality is okay, but nothing exceptional.  As for extras, there were none on this screener disc, but it doesn’t look like there will be anything more than some previews on the finished product.

As direct-to-video fare goes, “Three Blind Mice” isn’t bad, but it’s not all that it could have been either.  Had the director stuck to a more straight up story with intrigue, he might have succeeded better, only the final couple of twists just come across as senseless and a bit ludicrous.  Even the film’s nudity feels like it was thrown in for the sake of having some in there in order to make back its budget with a male audience.  Perhaps that’s why Edward Furlong only showed his backside.  Pity.  Somebody missed out on a whole other audience.

Film Rating: B-
DVD Special Features: TBD