Gus Van Sant’s seven-year absence ends with Dead Man’s Wire, a 1977 hostage-crisis crime thriller now streaming on Netflix—featuring Bill Skarsgård and Dacre Montgomery in roles built for dramatic intensity.
By the time Bill Skarsgård turns his attention to a hostage crisis built around a sawed-off shotgun wired to his own escape route, the question isn’t whether you’ll watch. It’s whether you’ll look away.
Dead Man’s Wire—Gus Van Sant’s feature-film comeback—has finally landed on Netflix after opening in limited capacity in 2025. expanding into theaters in early 2026. and now becoming widely available to all audiences. The shift matters. because this is the kind of film that rewards being seen without gatekeeping. especially when it’s anchored by a performance that feels both dangerous and painfully human.
Van Sant is best known for sensitive dramas and sympathetic portraits of societal outcasts. including My Own Private Idaho. Good Will Hunting. and Milk. Yet Dead Man’s Wire turns back toward his early roots as an indie director of anarchic crime thrillers and pitch-black comedies—echoes of Drugstore Cowboy and To Die For in its tonal electricity. On paper, the pivot to a biographical crime drama/thriller about a hostage crisis in the 1970s might seem unlikely. In practice, it lands because the story is built around tension that won’t let go.
The film is set in the winter of 1977. Tony Kiritsis (Skarsgård) takes the president of the Meridian Mortgage Company. Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery). hostage with a sawed-off shotgun attached to a wire. The wire is there for a grim reason: it will pull the trigger on himself if Tony tries to escape. Tony isn’t a random villain in a nightmare scenario. He’s a developer who believes he was cheated out of profits on land he brought to the company owned by Richard’s father. M.L. played by Al Pacino.
From there. Dead Man’s Wire drives a harrowing stand-off among Tony. the authorities. and M.L. while also feeding a chaotic media whirlwind. It’s the kind of pressure-cooker setup that invites comparisons—and the film undeniably shares striking parallels with Dog Day Afternoon. Sidney Lumet’s iconic heist drama. also based on a wild true story in New York City in the ’70s. is a reference point that feels built into the DNA of the moment-to-moment standoff.
Skarsgård’s role makes the case for why this reappraisal is overdue. Already a horror icon thanks to performances as Pennywise the Clown in Andy Muschietti’s IT and its subsequent HBO series. as well as Zach Cregger’s Barbarian and the titular character in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu. he takes a major leap as a dramatic actor in Dead Man’s Wire. Tony Kiritsis is a rare human character for Skarsgård. and he plays the hostile kidnapper with a sense of otherworldly terror. The performance carries idiosyncratic physical and behavioral features. but what cuts deepest is his restraint—Tony feels like a ticking time bomb. darkly funny at moments. and edged with pathos.
Dacre Montgomery. best known as Billy Hargrove in Stranger Things. plays Richard Hall with a cool start that makes you skeptical: a stuck-up. privileged demeanor shaped by nepotism inside his job standing. But Dead Man’s Wire keeps tugging at the threads of that certainty. For all his corporate ranking, Richard becomes a casualty in the true conflict between M.L. and Tony. The film peaks when captor and captive lay out their drastically opposing perspectives on life. until a change begins to surface.
Evocative of Stockholm Syndrome, Richard gradually warms up, and he starts to relate to Tony. The reason isn’t just fear; it’s feeling alienated under the domineering presence of his father. That shift turns the standoff into something sadder than a headline-ready crisis. and it’s part of why the film feels like a character study first and a societal decree second.
In the middle of the frenzy is Fred Temple, a fast-talking and suave disc jockey who acts as a liaison between Tony and M.L. Colman Domingo plays him, and Van Sant lets Domingo run wild while still providing guardrails to keep the radio host grounded—out of his league, but not lost.
The emotional through-line here is unmistakable: Tony’s kidnapping scheme isn’t framed as thrilling. because the reality of crime isn’t a playground. Van Sant handles transgressive subjects without resorting to crass provocation—Elephant is a delicate portrait of school shootings—and Dead Man’s Wire follows the same rule. focusing on the psychological pressure that brings people to the edge.
By the end of the marathon of tension, the film doesn’t chase you for adrenaline. It gives you the uneasy sense that everyone in the frame is trapped by something—money, power, family, and the moment they decide they’re out of options.
Dead Man’s Wire is available now on Netflix. It runs 105 minutes, and it was directed by Gus Van Sant with a release date of January 9, 2026.
Netflix Dead Man’s Wire Gus Van Sant Bill Skarsgård Dacre Montgomery Al Pacino Colman Domingo crime thriller hostage crisis 1977 January 9 2026 IT: Welcome to Derry
So it’s a hostage movie but the hostage has a shotgun? Netflix really don’t chill.
I thought Gus Van Sant was done with crime stuff? Like didn’t he just do all those artsy dramas forever. But now it’s on Netflix and suddenly it’s “widely available,” which sounds like they’re marketing it as intense.
Wait, the wire pulls the trigger on himself if he escapes… so basically the guy set up his own booby trap?? That’s kinda messed up but also why would you ever try to escape then lol. I guess Bill Skarsgård is playing the bad guy but I already know he’ll make it look sympathetic.
Gus Van Sant making a comeback after 7 years? I don’t get it, I feel like Netflix puts out like 10 of these “based on true vibes” hostage thrillers every year. Also 1977 merger drama or whatever—Meridian Mortgage?? Sounds like it’s about Wall Street and land deals more than a real hostage situation. Probably still worth watching though.