ALFRED Hitchcock once said that good practice is to have the bomb ticking but never go off.

He was, of course, talking about the art of suspense. It was his belief that once the audience knew the true shape of the danger, the horror was immediately cut in half.

Obviously young director Mark Romanek is a big fan as he's followed the great auteur's golden rule to the letter for his One Hour Photo (15) - with terrific results.

The film takes a sideways look at the relationship between a family and the man who develops their photographs. He's watched them fall in love, their children grow up. He's almost the distant uncle who visits for only those 'happy' occasions.

But Sy Parrish, a polite supermarket photo lab technician, has a dark side (tick, tick) and, over the years, has built up an unhealthy obsession - which is about to have devastating consequences.

Robin Williams puts in a superb, measured performance as Sy, an emotional enigma whose motivation is cleverly draw by Romanek's direction.

The sterile suburban backdrop works brilliantly to focus the audience's attention on the main characters as the smoke clears and the real truth presents itself.

The beauty of the film though is its understated drama.

The story is told in flashback by Sy. We already know he's been arrested, we already know he's done something bad and that the pictures found in his hotel room "aren't pretty".

But it's not about waiting for him to do something sinister. He's never cast as the antagonistic, he's a dedicated perfectionist and his 'desires' seem more pathetic than harmful.

Instead, Romanek's skill is in putting the spotlight on the happy family and, as Sy says, no one ever takes pictures of the things they want to forget.

It that opens the door for an unique climax that does not disappoint.