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Netflix is, once again, breathing new life into a largely forgotten movie from yesteryear. The movie in question is “Don’t Say a Word.” Don’t fret if that title alone raised an eyebrow, as this isn’t exactly an early 2000s cinematic classic, all due respect. All the same, the thriller is finding a sizable audience on the steamer as we head into the Halloween season.
Starring Michael Douglas (“Basic Instinct”) and the late Brittany Murphy (“Uptown Girls”), director Gary Fleder’s 2001 thriller “Don’t Say a Word” is currently trending in Netflix’s top 10 most-watched movie charts. The film is currently sitting in the number five spot, just behind this year’s “I Know What You Did Last Summer” reboot and just ahead of the animated movie “The Twits.”
For those who may not be familiar, the film centers on crook Patrick Koster (Sean Bean) and his partner, who capture young Jessie Conrad (Skye McCole Bartusiak), holding her at ransom from Jessie’s therapist father, Nathan (Michael Douglas). They don’t want money, however. Instead, they want him to coax a traumatized teen named Elisabeth (Brittany Murphy) into revealing a mysterious code number that will lead them to a hidden jewel worth a fortune. The twist? She hasn’t spoken in 10 years. Let the games begin.
The film came at a unique time as Murphy was reaching the heights of her star power before her untimely passing at the age of 32 in 2009. It was also sort of near the end of a truly incredible run by Douglas, with the actor ascending to the top of Hollywood’s A-list in the ’80s with gigantic hits like “Fatal Attraction.” At the time of its release, the high-concept thrill ride wasn’t a big success, taking in $100 million at the box office against a $50 million budget. Critics of the day also weren’t particularly kind to it.
Don’t Say a Word is the latest forgotten movie to find new life on Netflix
It was one of those movies that just sort of came and went in its day, didn’t work out quite as well as Fox had hoped, but also arrived during the era when DVD sales and cable could serve as a safety net to ensure a given movie would make money. In any event, it’s clear that the combination of stars and an attractively intriguing premise has allowed this oft-forgotten early 2000s release to thrive 24 years later.
What’s interesting is that this sort of thing seems to be happening constantly on Netflix. 2004’s “After the Sunset” recently found great success on the streamer more than 20 years after it flopped in theaters. Even now, the top 10 includes movies like 2015’s “Vacation” and “The A-Team.” There are countless examples, but it’s an interesting phenomenon.
For whatever reason, even as Netflix continues to pour untold billions into original movies, many of these relatively unremarkable “movie for a movie’s sake” movies wind up dominating the streaming service’s charts. All the while, massive original blockbusters like “The Electric State” flop as here today, gone tomorrow curiosities with no cultural staying power. For as much as Netflix has managed to disrupt Hollywood, users still seem to find a lot of comfort in familiar movies that were released in theaters, even if they weren’t hits in their day.
It may also speak volumes about generational nostalgia that people of a certain age have for Murphy, who starred in teen classics like “Clueless” as well as “Girl, Interrupted,” among others. Either way, it’s just the latest example of Netflix unintentionally shining a light on a piece of cinema that, before now, felt like it might as well have been lost to time.
You can also grab “Don’t Say a Word” on DVD from Amazon.
