Gory Days -- The Body Count Rises As `Switchback' Joins The Lucrative Lineup Of Serial-Killer Thrillers

Movie review XX "SwitchBack," with Danny Glover, Dennis Quaid, Jared Leto, Ted Levine, R. Lee Ermey. Directed and written by Jeb Stuart. 121 minutes. Auburn Cinema 17, Bella Bottega 7, Everett 9, Factoria, Gateway, Grand Cinemas, Issaquah 9, Lewis & Clark, Meridian 16, Oak Tree, Puyallup 6, Renton Village. "R" - Restricted because of violence, sexuality.

This week's serial-killer thriller isn't as lurid as "Kiss the Girls" or as lazy as "I Know What You Did Last Summer," but it's not a major improvement. And just like them, it wears out its welcome by running on too long.

However, this is definitely what they're buying at the multiplexes this fall. Forget about Brad Pitt and Tibet, Ethan Hawke and genetic engineering, no matter how many magazine covers they adorn. As "Girls" and "Summer" did earlier this month, "SwitchBack" will probably shoot straight to No. 1 at the box office this weekend.

It really doesn't matter how bad these movies are. As long as they include half a dozen shock killings, a few other nasty surprises, a chase or two and a spectacularly gory finish for the killer, they'll clean up. While "Scream" had more of a sense of humor than these pictures, it now has much to answer for.

The chief gimmick in "SwitchBack" is the obsessed, lawless lawman on the killer's trail. Dennis Quaid, lowering his voice and looking stern, plays a rogue FBI agent, Frank LaCrosse, whose son was kidnapped by the man he's been pursuing.

The killer thinks that only LaCrosse is smart enough to track him, and he makes the situation personal, even supplying a series of crossword-puzzle-style clues to his whereabouts. The FBI reacts by taking LaCrosse off the case and closing it. He doesn't care. He goes after the killer anyway, with no help from the FBI, which aggressively thwarts LaCrosse's efforts to identify the killer and stop him from killing again.

Somehow, this murderer has been piling up corpses for more than a year without being identified. The authorities know only that he's male and between the ages of 20 and 50. The audience is almost as clueless, though first-time director Jeb Stuart (he co-wrote "Die Hard" and "Another 48 HRs.") narrows the search by concentrating on a surprisingly small number of characters.

The most entertaining is a Texas sheriff, Buck Olmstead (R. Lee Ermey), who is inconveniently up for re-election at the same time LaCrosse and the killer turn up in his neighborhood. Olmstead has to dance his way around several ticklish situations, finally taking a risk by allying himself with LaCrosse against the FBI. The other characters are one-note types; Ermey takes the richest role and runs with it.

In a parallel story, a lone hitchhiker, Lane Dixon (well-played by Jared Leto), gets picked up by a former railroad worker, Bob Goodall (a rare unpersuasive performance by Danny Glover), whose car is wallpapered with Playboy nudes. The two men get off to a bumpy start, but a bond develops that keeps them together even after they lose Goodall's car on a treacherous mountain road.

The Rocky Mountains settings are enthusiastically captured by cinematographer Oliver Wood ("Face/Off"), who brings a strong sense of place - and temperature - to the picture: You can almost feel the frost when Dixon and Goodall get stranded in the snow or when they end up sharing space on a chilly train. There's a typically vigorous score by Basil Poledouris, who also did the music for next week's blockbuster, "Starship Troopers."

But for all the big-budget trimmings, "SwitchBack" is little more than an unpleasant exercise, redeemed momentarily by the scenic views and Ermey's portrait of a politician/law enforcer trying to do the right thing.