Hypnotic

This is a curiously shaped thriller from Britain. While obviously made on a low budget, it still delivers the ability to shock and keep us guessing until the end.

When Michael Strother, a hynotist, sees something in the hypnotic state of a client, she asks him about it. It turns out she’s a policeperson who’s searching for a little lost girl and the fact he saw the girl in her hypnotic state proves to her he can read minds. (It's less confusing than I made that sound).

She soon ropes him into the investigation and, before long, he is finding his family under threat even as the investigation gets nearer the killer. The modus operandi has seen three other children killed when the killer’s blood was injected into them. One child survives and escapes and it is she who Michael must get to open up from her deeply catatonic state. What he uncovers is an underground cult based on the teachings of a 14th century architect who believed the soul could be extracted and replaced into another, thereby extending life.

This is told in a clearly British manner and utilises one of their prime standards of horror, the child murder, to quantify the telling. This works as the lead characters claw their way through the murkiness of the ancient cult and leaves a string of scary moments with Michael’s own daughter and pregnant wife (the versatile and American-accented Miranda Otto).

Based on the book Dr. Sleep by Madison Smartt-Bell, Hypnotic makes use of England’s historical churches and older cultural and mystic beliefs to spin a fairly tense thriller. There’s no real twist ending, there’s no high-drama action scenes, just a simple police pursuit that spirals fairly evenly toward the conclusion. Performances are fairly well done, although the grating singular attitude of Shirley Henderson as D.I. Losey in the lead policewoman role takes some getting used to.

Still, it’s a fairly cool story told in a rather well-worn formula of piecing together the evidence trail, but that’s enough, as that’s what the film is all about after all.

Some stylish cuts work well here, but are used fairly sporadically, which tends to unbalance the picture slightly. It wants to be of a specific style, but seems mired in the formula of the police chase, rather than the New Gothic vampire-mystery. That’s okay though; London still looks pretty grimy here, even in the broad sunshine.

Delivered here in the wide-widescreen aspect of 2.35:1 with anamorphic enhancement, the film is practically artefact-free, with only the occasional blemish marring proceedings. Colour is even and blacks are true. Flesh is pallid at times, but this is England after all, while shadow detail is fairly average. It doesn’t give us all, but doesn’t take all away either. The only real fault comes at 35:00 when one or two frames suffer a mid-strength diagonal series of pixels that are quite apparent.

Dolby Digital 5.1 delivers here and does so very well. There’s no worrying background noise or static and the surrounds do quite a bit of work, sending traffic sounds, storms and distant thunder rumbling all around us. The subwoofer takes the night off though, maybe throwing in one or two efforts here and there, but generally staying sleepy.

Dialogue is all clear and occasionally breaks into Latin or French (only French has subtitles). Sound effects are sparse, but are used well to shock or create the tension necessary for the particular scene.

Finally, the music does a fairly good job of supporting, but isn’t anything extraordinary for the genre. Fairly average but able.

Some minor fragments are here to support the film with our first being the trailer. This is only delivered in 1.85:1 but is anamorphically enhanced. It sells the film as a far more visual treat than it turns out to be, utilising the majority of the CG elements to entice us towards a film that doesn’t quite measure up. An extended trailer follows and contains about a minute more than the first, though this is delivered in 2.35:1 without enhancement. Monstrously long (for a trailer) at 4:17.

Lastly, we have a tacked-on series of interviews with principal cast plus director Nick Willing and producer Michele Carmarda. The longest of these runs for 5:13 and features soundbite responses to text questions.

This is an interesting trip into the mindset of those folks obsessed with eras behind ours. The photography, while nothing extraordinary, does the job of finding the malevolence in the everyday that bleeds into the undercurrent of the story with clever subtlety. Performances are certainly able, with some stylish shots and new editing techniques sharpening the presentation, even if they appear a little out of place at times.

Worth checking out, but the limited extras don’t do much to sweeten the deal. Perhaps try renting it first and get a feel for it.