Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," released in 1960, famously terrified audiences to the point where a generation was checking the door locks before taking a shower. Stephen Spielberg's "Jaws," released in the baking summer of 1975, kept many people on the beach and out of the water. Now along comes "127 Hours," which is not exactly a horror film, but will definitely leave viewers reluctant to venture off hiking or rock-climbing without a GPS device in their pocket.
The reason for this is simple: "127 Hours" tells the (true) story of Aron Ralston, a guy who goes canyoneering in a Utah national park, falls into a crevice and gets his arm wedged under a boulder. After several days of waiting forlornly for rescue, Aron has to decide whether or not to cut off his own limb to free himself.
Not that I'm giving away anything here: This is all in the trailers. The thrill comes not from suspense as to what might happen but, rather, how in the world director Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire") will make a movie out of such a grim, hemmed-in situation.