Regression

Dir: Alejandro Amenábar

2015

**

With amazing films such as Thesis, Open Your Eyes, The Others and The Sea Inside under his belt, I really expected more from Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar. I liked Regression’s synopsis and I generally trust Ethan Hawke movies - so I’m guessing the film looked good on paper - but as far as the film goes, it’s just another formulaic horror/thriller. It couldn’t have been more clichéd or predictable. The film takes place in Minnesota, in 1990. Detective Bruce Kenner (Ethan Hawke) investigates the case of John Gray (David Dencik), who admits to sexually abusing his 17-year-old daughter Angela (Emma Watson) but has no recollection of the abuse. They seek the help of Professor Kenneth Raines (David Thewlis) to use recovered-memory therapy (also known as regression therapy) on John Gray to retrieve his memories, and come to suspect that their colleague Detective George Nesbitt (Aaron Ashmore) is involved. They detain him but fail to find evidence against him. Detectives suspect a satanic cult is involved because of Angela's testimony, in which Angela says that she was abused by people in masks and someone took pictures of it. Bruce and Kenneth meet Angela's estranged brother Roy Gray (Devon Bostick) to inquire about why he left the house. Using the regression technique on him, he recalls hooded figures entering his room while he was young. Bruce and Kenneth suspect Roy's grandmother, Rose Gray (Dale Dickey), has some involvement but find nothing after a search of her house. Meanwhile, Bruce begins having nightmares involving satanic rituals. Angela tells him that the cult is out to kill her as she has shown her demonic mark to him and that he is in danger as well. She tells him that her mother received miscellaneous calls and saw strange figures staring at her in the street before she met with an accident. Bruce starts to experience the same things and his nightmares increase in intensity. Rose jumps from the window of her house after seeing ghostly figures, injuring herself. Bruce meets Angela in the church's cemetery to reassure her and after an emotional outburst, she kisses him. Shocked, Bruce leaves her there and returns to his home. He sees a soup advertisement on the street and recognizes the woman in it as the one he sees in his nightmares. He concludes that his imagination has run away with him. He tells Kenneth that all these past memories are induced by therapy and the whole situation is just the result of mass hysteria. Though the professor is initially resistant to the idea, he too comes to suspect that these memories were not real. Bruce is attacked by two hooded figures who finally reveal themselves as George and their colleague, Farrell (Aaron Abrams). George was seeking revenge after Bruce detained him as a child molester and ruined his career. Bruce offers to forget the whole situation if George tells him everything he knows. After George reveals things, Bruce confronts Angela about her abuse and she insists she told the truth. Finally Bruce concludes that she was fabricating everything from the beginning as she wanted to escape from her family, whom she thinks are responsible for her mother's death. She wanted to elope with George, as they had a sexual relationship for some time, but he refused to elope with a minor. Angela accused her father in order to escape the house. When Bruce confronts her, she tells him that no one is going to believe him, especially if she tells them that they kissed in the cemetery. Bruce tells John everything but John decides to take the blame and pleads guilty in order to rescue Angela and hopes that she will forgive him one day for being a bad father. The film ends with a statement that many cases like this were reported before the satanic abuse hysteria faded. The film is dim lit and everything is dark. Most of the film takes place at night for no apparent reason and all of the ‘dreams’ are filmed as if they are real. Hawke’s detective Kenner – a level-headed man – seems to fall into a hysterical haze almost immediately and the chemistry between he and Emma Watson’s character is as gringeworthy as it is unconvincing. All the clichés are present, from the ‘It was all a dream’ scenes to the cat jumping out of the dark and making everyone jump - everyone but me that is. It’s not scary, nor thrilling and not even slightly intriguing. I saw the ending coming a mile away, in fact it was so obvious I thought that it was intentional and they’d be another twist at the end but no. Sadly, David Thewlis playing a disgruntled semi-villain has somehow now become a poor horror film cliché too. Emma Watson brings nothing to the film, other than her name. It’s a tired formula and if it weren’t for the cast and Amenábar’s reputation (which is now damaged) this would have been a straight to DVD horror without a doubt. Shame really, as there is an interesting story in there somewhere.