Close Your Eyes

Rating:
Summary: Only for those with good ears...
Review: "Close Your Eyes" is a fine suspense story with hints of the supernatural and more than ample gore. I'd probably rate it a 3 or 4 star DVD but it was, strangely, lacking captions for the hearing-impaired (which includes those of us who have difficulty comprehending some severe British accents). Amazon's listing shows "closed captions" but the only captions are in Spanish.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Supernatural Thriller.
Review: "Close Your Eyes" is a supernatural thriller based on Madison Smartt Bell's novel "Doctor Sleep". When police detective D.I. Janet Losey (Shirley Henderson) visits a London hypnotist, Dr. Michael Strother (Goran Visnjic), to try to quit smoking, she discovers Dr. Strother's unusual gift: he sees what his patients see while under hypnosis. The London police are at an impasse in a child murder investigation. An apparent serial killer has abducted children, transfused their blood, and tattooed them with an occult symbol. D.I. Losey is charged with protecting a 10-year old girl named Heather who escaped the killer but has not spoken a word since. Losey convinces a reluctant Strother to assist in her investigation by hypnotizing Heather to find out what she remembers about her captor.

"Close Your Eyes" is an enjoyable supernatural thriller that plays for the "Da Vinci Code" audience as well. The murder investigation involves Rosicrucian alchemy, ancient heresies, and the occult, although these things are not explored in depth. Like most thrillers, the story isn't intended to be credible, except on an emotional level. And "Close Your Eyes" does build real suspense. The ending will undoubtedly be too far-fetched for some people. I found that it disappointed on some counts, but packed a nice punch on others. "Close Your Eyes" owes much of its success to its two lead actors, Goran Visnjic and Shirley Henderson. I like these two in every movie I see them, and they don't disappoint here. Both bring a distinct style to their roles, which is very appropriate and appealing in this film. "Close Your Eyes" has some tendency to rehash elements we have seen before, but it is a entertaining thriller nonetheless, and Goran Visnjic is a charismatic presence.

The DVD: The bonus features are nothing special. There are two featurettes and a theatrical trailer. "Cast & Crew Interviews" (8 minutes) consists of short interviews with actors Goran Visnjic, Shirley Henderson, Miranda Otto, and Paddy Constantine, in which they talk about their characters, and interviews with director Nick Willing and producer Michelle Carmada. "Behind the Scenes" is 9 minutes of unnarrated on-set footage taken during production. The theatrical trailer is long and full of spoilers. I've never seen anything like it. The trailer inexplicably tells the movie's entire story. Why anyone would want to do that in a trailer, for a thriller of all things, I can't imagine. Subtitles are available in Spanish.

Rating:
Summary: Good film that warrants a closer look
Review: Close Your Eyes is a creepy little film. And that is what it is intended to be - a creepy little thriller.

We have a hypnotherapist who can help people quit smoking. He and his family have just moved to London from the U.S. because of some problem which we are not immediately told about. During a session with a female detective, he accidentally reveals his ability to see into people's minds. She blackmails him into assisting her on a serial murder case where one young girl managed to escape from the killer. The kid's in shock and not talking and they need to catch the killer before he kills again.

It has a good pace, and excellent production values along with very good acting. It's not a big budget or big name picture, but frankly I find that blockbusters are usually lackluster. It's the workmen films that really deliver - and this does.

Check it out.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining occult mystery movie
Review: Entertaining occult mystery movie. A few difficult to watch scenes (if you've seen CSI you'll be able to handle this). Similar fare would be The Ninth Gate and Angel Heart. I wouldn't go out of my way to see this one, but if you're bored or it's on cable then it's worth checking out.

Rating:
Summary: Another attempt at filming a great novel....
Review: Madison Smartt Bell's Doctor Sleep, the novel on which this film is based, is a very well written thriller that delves into the occult to connect a hypnotist with insomnia, a little girl who is mute, and a single female cop in a case involving the murder of young children. Bell, true to his name, really is a smart writer; he knows how to seamlessly fuse the literary with the popular in this great piece of fiction.

There are always problems in translating a well written novel to the screen. The best cinematic adaptations take from their source novels a combination of the characters, plot, and, most importantly, atmosphere and the links that connect all the standard elements, as best they can, ideally converting the tone, the flavor of the novel into a visual counterpart. It is a tough job. One of the great adaptations, in my opinion, is Tom Jones, the 1965 Tony Richardson film, from Henry Fielding's novel--a masterful translation that seamlessly made the transition in a bawdy comic masterpiece of a film.

But here in Close Your Eyes, Nick Willing's film based on the Bell novel, we have a different work altogether. The problem with the film is that the screenwriter and director have focused on the thriller element(s) to such an extent that the intrigue of the novel is only sketchily presented. The links to the occult are there in the film, but they are basically given lip service only, so that although viewers know that there is a connection to Rosicrucian alchemy, they do not know how that is linked so inextricably to the "bad guy" or, for that matter, to the "good guy", the hypnotist.

What the viewer sees is a guy with personal doubts (been there, done that) confronted with a terrible situation (yawn) aided by an outcast cop (cliche) who runs into an evil villain (trite) with an ending straight out of 80s horror movies in which when you think things are all peachy, fine and dandy, and everything's right with the world again, OOPS! here's the tiny little signal that, guess what, the horror LIVES ON!! Ooooooh, scary!!

There are some nice visual sequences here and there and some of the dialogue is smart, somewhat echoing Mr. Bell's fine novel. But for the most part, this is a horror film/thriller that too uncomfortably echoes so many of those that have gone before. By the time the all-too-predictable ending comes along, the smart viewer has given up on trying to find something truly unique and riveting in a horror film for the 21st century. In my opinion, the closest we have so far to this category are Pi, by Darren Aronofsky, and the brilliant Safe, directed by Todd Haynes.



Rating:
Summary: Scared To Be Hypnotised - You Will Be!
Review: This psychological horror starring Goran Visnjic and made by BBC Films is basically in the same vein as Stir Of Echoes, but has a completely different story. It concerns a murder case involving an (or maybe a group of) occultists who are kidnapping children for evil purposes.
Goran's character is a hypnotist who is ropped into helping a female police detective question a young, now mute, girl(who was the last captive child but escaped)to find clues to the case;He's also suffering from insomnia (altering his sense of reality) and was involved in the drowning of his former patient back in the States.
To provide a change for themselves, the hypnotist, his pregnant wife and young daughter have moved to London and aren't finding life any more pleasant than back home.
It's a very hypnotic scary little film which i definately recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Keep Your Eyes Open!
Review: Yes, the story is a little weak. Yes the execution is a little tired. Indeed, the thrills and chills are somewhat predictable and the chick performing opposite Goran Visnjic is like a poor man's Natasha Richardson or Helena Bonham Carter.

But my dears, does any of this matter when Goran Visnjic smoulders in every scene? Stop worrying about the art and just enjoy the view! Trust me, as soon as you do, you won't want to close your eyes.

Rating:
Summary: An Occult Thriller!
Review: _Close Your Eyes_ is an occult thriller featuring a hypnotherapist mind reader who is asked to investigate an abduction for one of his police clients. The abduction involves a little girl who was taken from her home by a zodiac killer and made to undergo ghastly rites before her escape. When the hypnotherapist meets her she is mute, in a state of post-traumatic cataleptic shock. The therapist attempts to hypnotize her so that she can provide him with information to catch the abductor. During the sessions the girl begins to reveal secret symbols which require the police to involve an expert on the occult. The movie involves a search for a secret church which contains the symbol of an evil sorcerer from the nineteenth century. The movie unfolds and features a disturbing series of events, including a lobotomy, and the use of blood transfusion rituals to keep an ancient demon alive. This movie is thrilling and is worth watching for a night's worth of entertainment.