Director Anthony Waller
Starring Marina Zudina, Fay Ripley, Evan Richards, Oleg Yankovskiy, Igor Volkov, Alec Guinness

Not sure why, but I never got around to watching this when it first came out, close to 30 years ago. But now, with the new 4K release coming out, I have fixed that and I’m glad I did.

Mute Witness was director Waller’s first film, which I know would have made me pay attention to his career. Unfortunately, his next feature was American Werewolf in Paris (1997), which probably would have made me stop paying attention! But none the less, we are here to talk about his debut feature, which is about a young woman, named Billy Hughes, who is a special makeup effects artist working on a slasher film in Russia. She also happens to be mute. She can hear, just can’t speak. Her sister is on the crew, as well as dating the director, who helps her with any language barriers or difficulties with the crew or actors.

One night she gets locked into the studio when she goes back to get her stuff. After a while, she hears some noise in another part of the studio and goes to investigate, only to come across what looks to be a porno being filmed, with one guy running the camera, while another is having sex with a woman. Billy recognizes them as part of the crew of the film she’s working on. They don’t see Billy hiding in the background, but the woman does. The guy starts to get violent, slapping her back and forth, and then pulls out a knife and starts to stab her. As shocked as Billy is, she can’t help but see the look of sheer terror in the eyes of the woman as she stares back at Billy. Billy tries to get away, but accidently makes some noise to alert the two twisted filmmakers.

After a tense game of cat and mouse, her sister and the director arrive to help her. They bring the police but can find no evidence of a real crime, with the two Russians saying they were trying out some effects and camera work for the production. Nobody seems to believe Billy, and everyone goes on their way. But we soon see that these two snuff filmmakers are part of a crime syndicate, lead by a man known only as The Reaper. But soon after, they are trying to tie up loose ends, and Billy is definitely in great danger.

The thing that really surprised me about this film is the camera style. Between Waller, cinematographer Egon Werdin and editor Peter Adam, they created some incredible shots that are edited in these quick zoom cuts to emphasize the moments of terror that work really well. Just when we feel a little break in the tension, where we think things will be okay, a moment later we’re right back on the roller coaster for some more twists and turns.

What I was really surprised at was the appearance of Sir Alec Guiness as The Reaper. Even more surprising was his scenes were filmed a decade before the rest of the film! Waller had met him in Germany and asked if he would do a one scene cameo for him, which Guiness said he would, which they filmed the next morning. You would never know by watching the film.

Marina Zudina, who plays Billy, was a Russian actress who did not speak English at the time, but since she was playing a character who couldn’t speak anyway, it didn’t matter. Zudina definitely plays Billy with a combination of a strong, smart woman but yet makes the viewer feel just as terrified as she is in the story. We know if she is caught, she’s done for. Oleg Yankovskiy and Igor Volkov play the two snuff filmmakers that create all the tension and terror because they are both very intimidating, especially Volkov.

This new release from Arrow Films has 2 different brand-new audio commentaries, one with writer/director Waller, and the second one with production designer Mattias Kammemeier and composer Wilbert Hirsch, which is moderated by critic and film scholar Lee Gambin. The discs also contain original footage of the scenes with Alec Guiness, filmed as I mentioned earlier, a decade before the rest of the film. There are also two video essays. The first is called The Wizard Behind the Curtain by Chris Alexander who dissects the film-within-the-film aspects. The second is from author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas called The Silent Death, which is about the film’s relationship with snuff films. There is also an original piece made that was used to help get financing, when the film still had the original title of Snuff Movie, where we get to hear from director Waller and people from the production team.

The 4K print looks amazing, but honestly, I would add this to the collection on the film itself since it is a very well-made thriller that is both tension filled, as well as pretty terrifying. And if anything, this film is going to get me to look into some of Waller’s other films.