Mute Witness

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Mute Witness ★★½ 1995 (R)

Low-budget British thriller, lensed in Moscow film studio, about U.S. filmers making a cheap thriller in Moscow film studio. Billy (Sudina) is the mute make-up artist of the title who, returning to the studio for a forgotten item, witnesses some of the crew shooting a snuff film with a real-life stabbing. First-timer Waller mocks both thriller genre and film biz, sometimes relying on, rather than spoofing, cliched elements. Highlight is 20-minute long chase scene with the killers pursuing Billy in the cavernous studio. Guinness makes a surprise appearance in a cameo. 100m/C VHS, DVD . GB Marina Sudina, Fay Ripley, Evan Richards, Oleg (Yankovsky) Jankowsky, Igor Volkow, Sergei Karlenkov; Cameos: Alec Guinness; D: Anthony Waller; W: Anthony Waller; C: Egon Werdin; M: Wilbert Hirsch.