The disturbing, R-rated ’90s psychological thriller is a relentlessly deadly mind game
By Robert Scucci | Published
Simple procedural thrillers are so fun to watch because you know exactly what’s at stake from the start, and you can spend your time watching those stakes unfold with little to no ambiguity. 1999s Oxygenstarring Adrien Brody and Maura Tierney, is exactly that kind of thriller, and it’s a gripping watch because there are clearly good guys and bad guys. The tension comes from wondering how these good guys and bad guys will act, not what they are hiding from each other.
Sometimes it’s a lot of fun to have your expectations turned upside down, but don’t get into Oxygen I expect that. There are the moral, social, and procedural fallout expected from a story like this, but we’re not here to solve a mystery. We know what’s happening and the entire film becomes a race against time to avoid a very specific outcome.
Starts with a live burial and escalates
Adrien Brody plays a criminal psychopath who goes by the name Harry Houdini in Oxygen. The film opens with Harry kidnapping Frances Hannon (Laila Robins), the wife of an extremely wealthy businessman named Clark (James Naughton). Harry buries Frances alive in a shallow grave in an undisclosed location, planning to collect a million dollars in ransom before revealing where she was left to suffocate.
Harry is quickly apprehended, and Maura Tierney’s Detective Madeline Foster is tasked with finding Frances before she runs out of oxygen. Madeline is a competent detective, but she is far from organized. Her husband and partner, Tim (Terry Kinney), is only vaguely aware of her marital improprieties, but fully aware of her alcoholism, which causes a rift not only in their relationship, but also in their professional dynamic.
Knowing this, Harry insists on only talking to Madeline so he can manipulate her, and he has a little too much fun doing it. Fully aware of being observed through a one-way mirror, Harry brings Hannibal Lecter’s earnest energy through his probing questions and uncomfortable assumptions about Madeline’s life, most of which come uncomfortably close to the truth. With only hours to locate Frances, all the pressure falls on Madeline, who must face her own problems in order to bring the case to fruition before it’s too late.
Not the type to bounce
Oxygen is a crime thriller so simple that it almost seems criminal. At the same time, half of its appeal comes from the fact that there are no looming mysteries to unravel. We know that a woman is buried alive for ransom. We know that the person responsible is completely unhinged and not particularly motivated to pay, preferring instead to exert control and watch it all unfold. We know that our detective is haunted by her past and present actions and that her current mental state could compromise the case.
What Oxygen What thrives is watching these variables collide and seeing how conflict plays out under extreme pressure. The tension comes not from surprise, but from escalation.
You don’t get a whodunnit with Oxygen. You know who did this, and he’s been in custody from the start. The suspense comes from knowing what he really wants and how his mind games affect everyone involved. Is Frances Harry the real target, or was she just bait because Madeline was always the real target? These questions are answered in Oxygenbut it’s the journey there, along with Adrien Brody’s deeply unsettling performance, that makes you hold your breath.
Oxygen is streaming for free on Tubi.
