Overview: Based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley), a young woman becomes inexplicably attracted to a man who is stalking her. When her boyfriend goes missing, the stalker is the immediate suspect, until a game of jealousy and betrayal turns deadly.

DVD: OK, so, if you feel like halfway through this thriller that you've seen the plot before, well, 'The Cry of the Owl' is based on the 1962 thriller by Patricia Highsmith; herself, the late misanthropic author of 'Strangers on a Train' and the five Tom Ripley novels. Indeed, Highsmith is a fine writer of suspense fiction, one of the better ones of the past many, many year, if truth be told. So, does it help this movie and its plot strive for the light of viewer adoration? Nope, sorry!

Despite featuring a few familiar actors, 'The Cry of the Owl' just isn't that good, and isn't likely to stay in your mind much thereafter, unfortunately. I mean, it's a shame as I love (or should that be, I am IN love) with Julia Stiles, but even she can't get the party started here.

The other main actor is Brit Paddy Considine ('The Bourne Ultimatum'), who stars here as an American aeronautics designer. He has left the big city and moved to a small town in the country, where he's in the process of divorcing his (annoying) wife - played with gusto by Caroline Dhavernas.

Anyway, having battled depression and troubling homicidal urges, he is now basically just lonely - until is passion for voyeurism kicks in and he is found watching a young banker (Stiles) contentedly do her dishes in the kitchen of quiet home!

Now, if I said to you which one would make the most sense as the next step for her, the moment she spies him spying on her, which would you choose: a) She freaks, calls the police and he is arrested, or b) she invites him for coffee, a chat, and a cookie to go?! Yup, she chooses the later, which is where I'm gonna end the review - 'cause, come on now, who in their right mind, in her shoes, does that to a peeping tom?!??!

As a tidbit of info, the film is adapted and directed by Brit Jamie Thraves, the same man that has helmed music videos form such bands as Coldplay and Radiohead. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.

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