Blessed

Rating:
Summary: Heather's Baby: Very Dull Religious Thriller
Review: 'Blessed' (2004) is a UK-Romanian product featuring Heather Graham, James Purefoy, Andy Sarkis, David Hemmings (his last film), Fionnula Flanagan, and Stella Stevens, directed by first-time director Simon Fellows.

So ... 'Blessed' is, as the title suggests, an occult thriller, of which basic story resembles that of one Mia Farrow film made in '68, so if you have seen THAT classic, you don't need any further comments from me. Yes, the film is about Heather Graham's heroine Samantha, who receives a medical treatment in a clinic to have a baby. It succeeds, and Samantha, now pregnant, is very happy until she notices that she starts to feel weird things. Like, someone is watching her; or, the next-door neighbors are missing; or, she sees strange visions, or ... well, you see the drift of the story now.

Let's not talk about the obvious similarity with the past films. The real trouble is that the film is not scary, suspenceful, or whatever interesting in any way. The first half of the film is particularly dull, though the director tries to give us a shock or two -- with tantalizing music score and things suddenly appearing on the screen -- but they are all tired tricks the fans would never like.

In the second half, things get slightly better, for you see at least some things happen. However, all of them are predictable, and even the reliable actors like Andy Sarkis (no Gollum CGI here, but sporting a curious Iralian accent) cannot raise this B-film higher than it is. You see, while there should be more mysterious mood in the film's world, and actually the film offers something like mystery, what we really see is ridiculous outcomes of it, or too familiar explanations.

During the shooting of the film, David Hemmings who plays one of the key roles had a fatal heart attack, and sadly he passed away. The producers, heavily shocked, knew that there still were some important scenes in which his character must appear. (It seems the producers used CGIs and a stunt to finish the production.) This tragic incident might still have something to do with the film's failure to fully explain the story, the characters, or their motives.

But I don't think 'Blessed' could be a success, commercial or artistic, from the beginning. There is little thrill, even cheap ones, in the pedestrian story which looks like going on and on automatically. So now, all I can say is, what ever happened to Heather Graham?

Rating:
Summary: Stupid waste of film
Review: I spent an hour watching this boring film, waiting for something to happen and guess what? Nothing happened. Sure, there is a car crash at the last part but I dare anyone to explain the ending to this mess. To make matters worse, they put this thing on DVD - so the poor direction and bad dialog is crystal clear.

Its not scary or creepy and nothing is explored in this art-school film contest reject.

Poor David Hemmings, his career ended worse than the career of Raul "Street Fighter" Julia.

Rating:
Summary: I thought it was alright
Review: I think to appreciate you have to have kids. The whole thing is she wanted children so bad that she didn't want to give th children up . you know love your child no matter what. That is what the end is about ( what the other reviewers didn't get) It wasn't the best horror ever. But if you have children if gets to you. especially if your a female and have been pregnant.

Rating:
Summary: Rosemary's Clone
Review: With horror remakes being all the rage right now, I don't understand why these filmmakers didn't just remake Rosemary's Baby with Heather Graham instead of Mia Farrow. That's all that this movie really is... Rosemary's Baby with a dash of sci-fi cloning to make it feel like it's something new. Only "Blessed" is done with none of the subtle style of Roman Polanski or Ira Levin.

Instead, the suspense is supposed to be built with ultrasound images that have the Devil's face hidden in them like a Rorschach ink blot. Apparently, some rich guy has managed to procure a vial that contains a few drops of Lucifer's blood. Being a moron, he thinks it'd be a good idea to clone Lucifer using a local clinic that he owns. Poor Heather Graham has no idea what she's in for. When will girls learn that if you go to a fertility clinic, some old man will impregnate you with a Devil clone?

Sounds absurd, right? Well, it is.