POINT FURY

This debut about a 20-something slacker held captive on a remote island starts leaking its intrigue about halfway through and never regains it. The slacker is Chris Nielson, adrift after being dumped by his girlfriend and fired by his rock band. Hoping to take a break from drugs, write a few songs and relax while pondering his future, Nielson accepts a job house-sitting on a sparsely populated island off the Maryland coast for his father's rich friend, Ted Harper. While lounging around, Nielson strikes up a friendship with the island's only other inhabitant, the mysterious but attractive Caroline. Soon, however, he discovers that something's not right with Caroline, nor with Harper, a man who reveals one eccentricity after another. While prowling through the house, Chris discovers his employer has an extremely violent side. Harper, in turn, finds that Chris has been poking around and doesn't like it. Along with a couple of hired thugs, he returns to the island. Once there, Harper holds Chris prisoner and puts him to work digging up beach weeds and playing the cello. It's at this point that Maxwell's tantalizing narrative starts to lose its grip. The pace slows, the plot grows freakish and Harper evolves into a tiresome psychopath whose motivations and reasonings are never fully explained. Maxwell, a sound recordist for film and television, gamely tries to tie it all together in the homestretch, but muddies it up again with a bloodbath finale that leaves one wondering what it was all about. (Apr.)