Monster's Ball (2001)

Max Schreck as Graf Orlok in "Nosferatu" (1922)

Film Arts Guild

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

Film.com's FREE movie of the week is "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror." This 1922 classic of cinema based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (but with names changed) directed by F.W. Murnau and starring Max Schrek in one of films most famous and frightening make-up jobs.

CinemaSource

Studio: Lionsgate Studio: Lionsgate Studio: Lionsgate Studio: Lionsgate Studio: Lionsgate Studio: Lionsgate

Rating: R

Release Date: Nov 11, 2001

Running Time: 111 mins. (V)

Country Of Origin: United States

starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Peter Boyle, Heath Ledger, Sean Combs, Mos Def, Coronji Calhoun, Taylor Simpson, Gabrielle Witcher, Amber Rules

director: Marc Forster

Monster's Ball

Hank, an embittered prison guard, lives with his aging racist father, Buck, and his own twentysomething son, Sonny. Hank and Sonny work for the local prison where they are preparing the electric chair for a black inmate. After the man is executed, Hank falls in love with Leticia, the inmate's widow. This emotionally-charged affair forces Hank to re-evaluate how deeply prison work and his father's infectious hatred have affected his soul.

December 20, 2001

In the Oscar sweeps, you don't want to forget Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry in a rubbed-raw drama that the word offbeat doesn't begin to encapsulate. Thornton plays Hank, a guard on death-row duty at Georgia State Penitentiary. At home, Hank's sick dad (Peter Boyle), a retired guard, sucks oxygen and spits redneck bigotry. Hank's son, Sonny (a de-glammed Heath Ledger), shares guard duty with Dad and also the same tired hooker, whom they both bang standing up. Nice, huh? Director Marc…

More Reviews from Rolling Stone »

Monster's Ball is the story of three generations of men: the elderly, racist Buck and his son Hank and grandson Sonny, both of whom work as correctional officers at a federal prison. But prepping inmates for the electric chair has affected their psyche in dramatic and tragic ways.

Story

Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton) lives with his aging, white-trash father Buck (Peter Boyle), and his twentysomething son Sonny (Heath Ledger) in a backwoods Georgia town. Hank and Sonny are both correctional…

Director

Hank Grotowski

Leticia Musgrove

Buck Grotowski

Sonny Grotowski

Lawrence Musgrove