The Woodsman

Director: Nicole Kassell
Year Released: 2004
Rating: 1.5

Kiddy fiddler Walter (Kevin Bacon), after having served time in prison, goes to work in a lumber yard while suppressing deep urges to abuse more underage girls - there to offer emotional (and physical) support is co-worker Vicki (Kyra Sedgwick), who has her own dark history. There's almost nothing surprising in this one, with everything fitting in so-very-neatly: it's only a matter of time before people at work discover his "secret" and physically attack him, the reason Vicki sticks by him is because she was abused as a child (by her brothers ... go figure), Walter meets (and tries seducing) a little girl before finding out her father abuses her and then Walter "redeems" himself by beating up another pedophile (who likes boys, meaning he's "even worse" than Walter), thereby 'helping out' Mos Def's officer. It isn't the first time Bacon's played a rapist (remember Sleepers?), but he's a little hard to believe as the lead (he's just too naturally charismatic to be this passive) ... coincidentally, Michael Shannon (!) is in there as a psychiatrist: would them switching roles have been even better or what?