Review of The Passage

I'll put a disclaimer right at the top here that states that I do think 1979's The Passage is not a good film. It's a nasty watch, full of drawn out, sadistic situations and a bleak plot that elicits the hollow response of "why" to anyone who spends their time on it. And yet, it's interesting, if only to see the completely bonkers, untethered performance by Malcolm McDowell as a maniacally evil SS nazi officer. It's like they gave him a bunch of coke and liquor before the cameras were rolling, dressed him up in gestapo digs and set him loose on the other cast members. The story is about a German scientist (James Mason) being led across a treacherous mountain range by a rugged guide (Anthony Quinn). Hot on their heels is McDowell's Captain Von Berkow, who will stop at nothing, as well as kill, maim and intimidate everyone along the way to capture them. That's about all the plot goes for, and aside from some gorgeous Swedish locations, it's a very unpleasant affair to put yourself through, unless, like me, you're a die hard McDowell fan. His performance is something to bear witness to though, like a particularly bad car crash, so messed up and terrible that you can't take your eyes off it. Whether he's terrorizing and murdering a poor gypsy village led by Christopher Lee, shedding his uniform down to his outlandish SS issue jockstrap and raping Mason's daughter, or jovially playing chef as he chops off Michael Lonsdale's fingers with kitchen knives, he's a devilishly disgusting monster and one wonders how a performance so brash and obviously over the top slipped through the producer's net. An off putting, ugly, gratuitous flick that's worth a watch for pure morbid curiosity, and to see McDowell truly push boundaries into zones of extreme discomfort.