A surprisingly subtle serial killer movie, rich in interesting characters and performances and somehow gore-free. Owen Wilson, who wrote Rushmore with Wes Anderson and eerily resembles a young Dennis Hopper, is very effective as the smiling softspoken cipher Vann Siegert, an outwardly gentle sociopath who indifferently reduces the population of a small northwestern town. Brian Cox is also memorable as Vann's troubled landlord, and Janeane Garofalo is perfect as a homely but hopeful post office co-worker. Fancher's adaptation of the novel by Lew McCreary is notable for its internalization of Vann's law enforcement pursuers into aspects of his understated madness, rather than obligatory heroes/foils for the killer. The Minus Man, like its protagonist, operates by lulling viewers into its empty spaces and secretly injecting its poison, and closes with its mysteries intact.