This film begins with a young boy playing in a chess match and then physically attacking his opponent upon losing the game. After being hospitalized he is released to the custody of his mentally ill mother who is told that he must abstain from playing chess from now on. Not long afterward, he discovers blood dripping from the ceiling and upon investigation notices his mother bleeding profusely in her bed and then weakly asking him to help her. But rather than helping, he chooses to open up the night stand by the bed and pulls out the chessboard that he had been deprived of and calmly helps himself to some milk and cookies before beginning a new game. The scene then shifts to twenty years later with a European Grandmaster named "Peter Sanderson" (Christopher Lambert) participating in a tournament when his lover is found in bed totally drained of blood with a sign above her body saying "Remember". And because of his connection to this woman Peter Sanderson is a prime suspect. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an entertaining movie for the most part with both Christopher Lambert and Diane Lane (as "Kathy Sheppard") performing in a fine manner. I especially liked the way in which the mystery was sustained up until the final moments. On the other hand, the way some of the chess players were depicted as being mentally unstable was somewhat overdone. Neither did I care for the rather obvious allusions to Bobby Fischer in the introduction of Peter Sanderson. Even so, I still enjoyed this film and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Peter Sanderson is a chess grandmaster whose freedom gets threatened after a murderer of females shows up in the city they all live in. Filmmakers bring all the doubts throughout the story to let spectator curious about who the lunatic may be, which is very classic in the called "whodunit" thrillers. It feels IMPOSSIBLE not to notice how much like 2004's "Saw" this movie does look; in my opinion, it's pretty clear that James Wan has had at least an inspiration in "Knight Moves". Of course "Saw" is a lot more elaborated and well produced than this, but I won't deny this film has brought a nice idea to the genre. Unfortunetaly, there is, in fact, a little of bad acting in this 90's hidden project; nobody seems to be acting naturally in the character they've been given. Maybe a better director or casting director would have made something better about it. "Knight Moves" has, eventually, a good ending that makes you feel a little happy-- mainly because Sanderson doesn't turn out to be the monster that policemen were saying--, so I can state it's a regular thriller, deserved to be seen. Just don't get mad with the occasional bad acting and the poor photography directing and you'll probably have a good time.

"Knight Moves" is one of the better thrillers of the early 1990s. It has an attention-grabbing opening, it's atmospherically directed, well-plotted (with at least one admirably effective red herring - I was fairly certain about who the killer would be, but I was wrong), it avoids gratuitous gore, and the music score (by Anne Dudley) is terrific. The film almost plays like a precursor to "Seven" and the other "serial killer teasing the police with riddles" thrillers that followed. My only major reservation: Christopher Lambert is not entirely convincing as an international chess grandmaster, which is probably the reason the film does not really focus as much on chess itself as it may appear to at first. **1/2 out of 4.

A psychopath uses the game of chess as a blueprint for a series of brutal murders, in this stylish 1992 film directed by Carl Schenkel. Cinematography, sound effects, scary music, and sparse dialogue combine to create an atmosphere of terror, suggestive of the "giallos" of Dario Argento.We see the killer's black gloved hands; we see the flashlight shining in the darkened room of the next victim; we hear the killer's breathing through a mask. And in these scenes, absence of dialogue amplifies the surreal, menacing presence of the killer.Suspense scenes alternate with scenes of mundane normalcy, which gives the viewer a chance to select the murderer from a pool of suspects whose behavior appear more or less normal. But beware; there are plenty of plot twists and false clues. The whodunit element kept me guessing and unsure; the film's suspense kept me fully engaged.Acting quality is average. Diane Lane gives perhaps the most convincing performance of the bunch. My main criticism is the screenplay. In any murder mystery, the viewer needs enough information to have a fair chance at solving the whodunit puzzle. But in "Knight Moves", crucial details are left out. Also, several characters are poorly defined; we know almost nothing about them. Moreover, in several key scenes, the behavior of one of the main characters is not credible, given the story's underlying premise.As a result, it's going to be almost impossible for the viewer to identify the killer, based solely on the plot. A script re-write, with more emphasis on character development, combined with the deletion of superfluous scenes would, I think, have made for a more satisfying whodunit puzzle.Even so, I recommend "Knight Moves" as a most frightening and spine-tingling suspense thriller. For maximum effect, try watching it alone, in a mansion, at night with the lights turned out, during a thunderstorm.