Running Scared

Director: Wayne Kramer Wayne Kramer

Overview

A minor crook finds himself in major peril when a "hot" weapon goes missing in this violent crime thriller. Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker) is a low-level "mechanic" in the Mafia who hopes to rise through the ranks by doing whatever is needed. One night, a drug deal goes very wrong when police show up and try to close down the operation; shots break out and a battle ensues, with a pair of of cops meeting a particularly violent fate at bad end of a gun barrel. Joey is given the gun that killed the policemen and is told to make it disappear so it can't be used as evidence; however, before he can do that, the weapon is stolen by Oleg (Cameron Bright), a friend of Joey's young son, who takes the pistol and uses it to shoot his abusive stepfather. Now that the gun is implicated in high profile crimes, it's vitally important that Joey find it as soon as possible, but his search for the firearm is complicated by the fact that Oleg's stepdad is affiliated with a rival gang of Russian mobsters, and that Rydell (Chazz Palminteri), a seriously corrupt police detective, is hot on Joey's trail. Joey's search for the gun takes him through the grim criminal netherworld of the city, where he must face off against nearly every sort of crook, con artist, and deviate that has ever walked the earth. Running Scared is from writer-director Wayne Kramer, who made a name for himself with the well-reviewed independent feature The Cooler.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/06/2006
UPC:	0794043103056
Original Release:	2006
Rating:	R
Source:	New Line Home Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:02:00
Sales rank:	37,918

Special Features

Closed Caption;Commentary with writer/director Wayne Kramer; Behind-the-scenes documentary; Storyboards drawn by Wayne Kramer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Paul Walker	Joey Gazelle
Cameron Bright	Oleg Yugorsky
Vera Farmiga	Teresa Gazelle
Karel Roden	Anzor "Duke" Yugorsky
Johnny Messner	Tommy "Tombs" Perello
Ivana Milicevic	Mila Yugorsky
Chazz Palminteri	Detective Rydell
Alex Neuberger	Nicky Gazelle
Michael Cudlitz	Sal "Gummy Bear" Franzone
Bruce Altman	Dez
Elizabeth Mitchell	Adele
Arthur Nascarella	Perello
John Noble	Ivan Yugorsky
Idalis DeLeon	Divina
David Warshofsky	Pimp Lester
Jim Tooey	Actor
Thomas Rosales Jr.	Actor
Morgan Johnson	Actor
Jamba Mulimbwe	Actor
Maurice Lee	Actor
Viktor Cervenka	Actor
Oakley Lehman	Actor
Jan Kohout	Actor
Jeffrey Smith	Actor
Karen Cifarelli	Actor
Brian Caspe	Actor
Ryan James	Actor
Ellen Savaria	Actor
Mark Isham	Composer

Technical Credits

Wayne Kramer

Wayne Kramer	Director,Screenwriter
Rudolf Potancok	Special Effects
Jeffrey Wood	Special Effects
Andreas Grosch	Executive Producer
Stewart Hall	Executive Producer,Producer
Matt Luber	Executive Producer
Andrew Pfeffer	Executive Producer,Executive Producer,Producer
Andreas Schmid	Executive Producer
Sammy Lee	Producer
Michael Pierce	Producer
Brett Ratner	Producer
Jay Scully	Casting
Anne McCarthy	Casting
T.J. O'Mara	Sound/Sound Designer
Jiri Klenka	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

An unabashedly sleazy, semi-expressionistic action thriller that's so over-the-top in both style and substance that it's a miracle it doesn't collapse back onto itself and crumble into a heap of self-parody, Running Scared offers a sordid journey into a hell on earth in which law and innocence take a backseat to humankind's darkest impulses, bloodlust and revenge. For those with the fortitude to sit through a film where guns are held to grimacing children's heads and murderous pedophiles purchase pint-sized body bags in bulk, the element that sets Running Scared apart from the pack is a potent sense of danger in which the audience is never quite sure how far the filmmakers are willing to go in upping the ante. Starting off like a bullet out of the barrel and rarely slowing except to pile on convoluted plot point after convoluted plot point, Wayne Kramer's blood-spattered frenzy of a crime flick may, in the end, not be what one might consider a "good" film, though it is certainly far from boring. The world of Running Scared is a dark one indeed, and as faceless, menacing transients emerge from the darkness to prey on children and shutterbug pedophiles cast shadows that would give Murnau's Nosferatu a run for his money, the nightmarish vision of urban depravity quickly descends into a hyper-stylized representation of hell on earth. This is truly a world in which everyone has a hidden agenda and to trust is to die; and though a majority of viewers will simply be put off by the reprehensible cast of characters who populate Running Scared, those willing to set aside moral judgment and accept the film on its own twisted terms are in for a loud, audacious, and trashy two hours of entertainment that will leave shell-shocked viewers stumbling from their seats in a dizzied haze of disbelief.