Nightwatch (1994)

Not the new Russian franchise that I wrote about last summer nor the pretty feeble Hollywood remake with Ewan McGregor, but the original Danish film on which the latter was based.  Like the remake of "The Vanishing", the Hollywood job was perpetrated by the original director and it's a mystery how the first film could be so good and the second so poor.  But that's by the by when the reviewing "Nattevagten" to use its Danish name.  It's the story of a student who takes a night watchman's job in a morgue and who gets involved with a series of prostitute murders.  The movie is extremely creepy at times, but there is a leavening of humour which balances the procedings.  This European take on the serial killer genre works well on its own terms, but it's no real surprise that it could never successfully translate back.  The tale is helped by a group of well-rounded characters including our hero's best friend and their girlfriends.  Having seen the film before, the identity of the killer could not come as a shock the second time, but first time round it was a zinger.