Rent Apt Pupil (1998)

Excellent Movie Based on a Stephen King Novella - Apt Pupil review by PV

I don't always like Stephen King adaptations, but loved this. The interplay between the characters was utterly believable and full of twists and turns, not all 100% believable, but then this is fiction!

Of course, there have been many cases of former Nazis being extradited from the USA or Latin America to face trial, so King had a mountain of real information to base this on.

Ian McKellen is superb as the main character, with a spot-on accent. I suspect that comes from his decades working in theatre.

OK, the ending my stretch coincidence too far (no spoilers!) but then this is fiction!

4.5 stars rounded up.

When your old neighbour has some extreme views… - Apt Pupil review by HW

I watched this because I read the crazy Stephen King ‘novella’ (except it was over 200 pages so practically a novel). The film is a slightly more toned down, subtle version of the more gross, violent book, but still harrowing. The biting satire of a golden American boy admiring a Nazi war criminal is not lost. The boy playing the sick adolescent was captivating, but Sir Ian McKellen was incredibly and disgustingly compelling as the sly, murderous Dussander. A lot of the key events and dialogue were kept from the book, with some intriguing changes. Crazy to see David Schwimmer co-starring in such a dark movie, and to think that the director would go on to do ‘X-Men’ next. Sometimes evil is just around the corner….