Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining Supernatural Thriller., September 27, 2004
"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.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
compelling psychological thriller, August 8, 2005
***1/2
Written and directed by Nick Willing, "Close Your Eyes" (aka "Doctor Sleep") is a taut, highly effective British thriller that supplements its crime drama scenario with generous helpings of the supernatural and paranormal.
Michael Strother is a hypnotherapist who has returned to England with his pregnant wife and young daughter after seven years living in the States. Strother is asked by one of his patients, a policewoman named Janet Losey, to bring his professional expertise to bear on one of her most baffling cases, that of a little girl who's managed to escape the clutches of a serial killer but who has been rendered mute by the experience. Strother's involvement leads to complications not only with the highly skeptical police force who are less than thrilled at the prospect of having a hynotherapist working on the case, but with his wife as well who fears that any untoward publicity might reflect badly on her husband's career. Of even more concern is the fact that Strother's involvement might also be making him and his own family a target of the killer.
It would hardly be cricket to reveal much more of the plot here, so I'll just say that "Close Your Eyes" boasts a better-than-average storyline, intriguing characters, an effective back story involving Strother's past in America, and enough genuine suspense to help us ride up and over some of the inconsistencies and absurdities inherent in the material. And if the resolution comes out as a bit flatfooted - well, that doesn't wind up being too much of a handicap since weak endings seem to be just about par for the course when it comes to these types of films anyway.
The prime selling point of "Close Your Eyes" is that it makes us care about the characters, particularly Strother, who elicits our interest and sympathy from the start. Goran Visnjic and Shirley Henderson make an engaging crime-fighting team with just the right amount of unrequited sexual chemistry bubbling under the surface to add to the tension.
As a director, Willing frequently interrupts the narrative with free-floating flashes of dreams, memories and hypnotic suggestions, reflective of what is occurring in the minds of the characters. The effect is sometimes confusing but almost always effective in ratcheting up the level of mystery and feeling of dislocation necessary for the story. The film is a bit gruesome and gory at times, but the prime focus almost always remains on the character's interactions and the unraveling of the plot. This is a solid, well-crafted thriller.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Scared To Be Hypnotised - You Will Be!, July 2, 2004
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.
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