Director: Ray Gower
Writer: Ray Gower
Tagline: Terror Breeds in the Shadows of the Soul
Actors: Thora Birch, Toby Stephens, Christien Anholt, Joanna Hole, Lorraine Bruce, Ray Charleson, Michael J. Reynolds, Alan Perrin, Oliver Price, Glenn Beck
Runtime: 1h 32m
Category: Killer, Psychological, Thriller
Synopsis: Susan and David have been trying to conceive for about three years now and so far nothing has worked. A fertilization treatment is their last hope and the stress has gotten to Susan. Lately, Susan has been experiencing intensely vivid nightmares, compiling all of her worries into nonsensical fragments in an alternate reality. Susan’s “dream self”, as described by her psychoanalyst, Dr. Woodleigh, is named Karen Clarke; who is a funeral home assistant and being stalked by a killer known as The Nightstalker; the only constant between her reality and her dream reality. These two realities intermingle consistently until the end, when The Nightstalker is revealed and your worst fears are born.
Review: I think that, like some other movies I’ve seen, that knowing nothing about this movie kinda saved it. Even though I enjoyed most of the movie in all aspects, if I would have gotten a heads-up about the plot or the storyline, I might have passed this by. So please…do not discount this movie. The story and the plot may sound kinda cheesy but believe me…you’re wrong.
The story itself was a bit confusing; although I did enjoy the twists and turns. It seemed like every progression made by Susan negatively paralleled Karen. And having both know that the other is a dream makes for an interesting story in itself. I liked how at one point I thought “What if our own dreams were reality…and our own reality is our own dream.” This is in no way a new idea but I liked that it made me think…and that’s not my fortay. Not too many movies now-a-days actually make me think. But overall the story was fantastic and very compelling.
The acting was, unbeknownst to me, quite good. It’s still kinda hard to see Thora Birch as a legitimate actress; after seeing her in Hocus Pocus (1993) and Monkey Trouble (1994) as a child, and then seeing her show her ta-ta’s in American Beauty (1999) (very nice by the way…wink). But she’s starting to grow on me (not like that…you sick perv). Either way, her youth or her ta-ta’s, she did very well in this movie. I was very impressed with the level of control she displayed over her character and the simple ease she showed playing her. The rest of the cast were just supporting and rightfully so. If this movie was meant to introduce Thora into the wonderful world that is the horror genre…she might be here to stay.
The effects were one of the other things that made me like this movie. From the beginning where the corpse grabs her as Karen and starts ripping open his mouth through the stitches, to when The Nightstalker from the dream licked a fetus after ripping it out of Karen. The visual effects, though masterfully done, were not the only effects that were used. On the contrary, the audio effects may have actually made this movie a whole lot creepier then it was originally anticipated. With slow, froggy voice-overs and those cool sounds that are played when the screen movies really fast, this movie is gonna be big…after people start seeing it more.
Rating: 22. Simply because I would have liked a little more time spent in the dream world. I understand that the dream world was not the basis of the story, but it was the most visually stimulating and therefore the most interesting. But overall this movie was really cool. I would definitely suggest that people catch this flick…soon! (22of25).
Writer: Ray Gower
Tagline: Terror Breeds in the Shadows of the Soul
Actors: Thora Birch, Toby Stephens, Christien Anholt, Joanna Hole, Lorraine Bruce, Ray Charleson, Michael J. Reynolds, Alan Perrin, Oliver Price, Glenn Beck
Runtime: 1h 32m
Category: Killer, Psychological, Thriller
Synopsis: Susan and David have been trying to conceive for about three years now and so far nothing has worked. A fertilization treatment is their last hope and the stress has gotten to Susan. Lately, Susan has been experiencing intensely vivid nightmares, compiling all of her worries into nonsensical fragments in an alternate reality. Susan’s “dream self”, as described by her psychoanalyst, Dr. Woodleigh, is named Karen Clarke; who is a funeral home assistant and being stalked by a killer known as The Nightstalker; the only constant between her reality and her dream reality. These two realities intermingle consistently until the end, when The Nightstalker is revealed and your worst fears are born.
Review: I think that, like some other movies I’ve seen, that knowing nothing about this movie kinda saved it. Even though I enjoyed most of the movie in all aspects, if I would have gotten a heads-up about the plot or the storyline, I might have passed this by. So please…do not discount this movie. The story and the plot may sound kinda cheesy but believe me…you’re wrong.
The story itself was a bit confusing; although I did enjoy the twists and turns. It seemed like every progression made by Susan negatively paralleled Karen. And having both know that the other is a dream makes for an interesting story in itself. I liked how at one point I thought “What if our own dreams were reality…and our own reality is our own dream.” This is in no way a new idea but I liked that it made me think…and that’s not my fortay. Not too many movies now-a-days actually make me think. But overall the story was fantastic and very compelling.
The acting was, unbeknownst to me, quite good. It’s still kinda hard to see Thora Birch as a legitimate actress; after seeing her in Hocus Pocus (1993) and Monkey Trouble (1994) as a child, and then seeing her show her ta-ta’s in American Beauty (1999) (very nice by the way…wink). But she’s starting to grow on me (not like that…you sick perv). Either way, her youth or her ta-ta’s, she did very well in this movie. I was very impressed with the level of control she displayed over her character and the simple ease she showed playing her. The rest of the cast were just supporting and rightfully so. If this movie was meant to introduce Thora into the wonderful world that is the horror genre…she might be here to stay.
The effects were one of the other things that made me like this movie. From the beginning where the corpse grabs her as Karen and starts ripping open his mouth through the stitches, to when The Nightstalker from the dream licked a fetus after ripping it out of Karen. The visual effects, though masterfully done, were not the only effects that were used. On the contrary, the audio effects may have actually made this movie a whole lot creepier then it was originally anticipated. With slow, froggy voice-overs and those cool sounds that are played when the screen movies really fast, this movie is gonna be big…after people start seeing it more.
Rating: 22. Simply because I would have liked a little more time spent in the dream world. I understand that the dream world was not the basis of the story, but it was the most visually stimulating and therefore the most interesting. But overall this movie was really cool. I would definitely suggest that people catch this flick…soon! (22of25).
No comments:
Post a Comment