Stuart Gordon has yet to match his feature directing debut, the grotesque but great horror comedy "Re-Animator." There's been some overwrought Mamet here ("Edmond"), some "Space Truckers" there.

So it's nice to see Gordon back near the height of his squirm-inducing powers with this charming tale of a young woman (Mena Suvari) who, coming home from a night of partying, lodges a recently downsized homeless man ("The Crying Game's" Stephen Rea) in her car's windshield and, rather than face the unpleasant consequences of trying to save him, locks him up in her garage instead.

Trouble is, he's a slow bleeder, and the battle of wicked wits between two once-decent people bent on self-preservation grows quite enjoyably vicious and gory. If you're into that kind of thing, of course; if you're not, you can view the whole thing as a metaphorical comment on what a merciless economy drives otherwise good folks to do.

Either way (or both), it's well-acted, suspenseful and has funny sex and drugs stuff, too. Gordon, who co-wrote with fellow Chicagoan John Strysik, based "Stuck" on a true incident, which makes it even more enjoyable in a sick kind of way.

>Bob Strauss

STUCK

>R: violence, nudity, sex, drug use, language.

>Playing: Nuart, West L.A.