Strong and Moving!

A Major Disappointment

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

***SPOILER ALERT*** This group of cultists have been kidnapping young girls in and around London and, after giving them a blood transfusion, tattooing them. It turns out that little Heather, Sophie Stuckey, somehow escaped her captors but has since become unable to speak. Heather ended up spending all her time in a London Police safe-house staring aimlessly at the TV.It's when London lady cop Janet Losley, Shirley Henderson, was being treated to stop her from smoking that she, in her subconscious, revealed to her hypnotist Michael Strother, Gran Visnjic, about the comatose Heather which he, in explaining her smoking habits, innocently revealed to her.Knowing that Michael is on to something, in that there was no way he could have known about Heather, Janet literally blackmails him into helping her. Janet tries to get Michael to help her in not only getting into Heather's mind but in finding out who's behind her kidnapping and the murder of three girls who weren't as lucky as she was. As we soon find out Michael is in self imposed exile in London from the US after he "cured" one of his patients back in Seattle Washington. The man that Michael "cured" was so deathly afraid of water that he wasn't even willing to take a bath or shower in it! After being "cured" by Michael he then jumped into a lake that was, in the early spring thaw, too cold to take a dip in. This had the poor guy lose consciousness, from a severe case of hypothermia, and drown! With him now being forced to solve the so-called "Tattoo Murders" Michael now feels he can redeem himself not knowing that he's about to become the killer's latest victim.Extremely muddled story about this cult leader Francis Paladine,John Rogan, who's over 500 years old and uses the lifeblood of his victims, like Dracula,to keep himself alive forever. Michael puts his life on the line to get to the bottom of the "Tattoo Murders" only to end up on a slab with his blood being drained out by the mad Francis Paladine himself. It's only little Heather, after snapping out of her coma, that comes to Michael's rescue.***SPOILER ALERT*** With all the bad guys put on ice in the city morgue for good we, and Michael, get the shock of our lives in the final moments of the movie which we all thought was going to be a happy ending. Were shocked to see this strange and bizarre finger pointing routine we saw earlier in the film by the real cult leader who, judging from the persons age and medical condition, didn't seem to have much long to go in this world. As it turned out the cult leaders "Lifeforce" was transfered on to someone else in order to keep the evil alive and active in its next incarnation. That someone else turns out to be someone that's very near and dear to both Michael & Janet hearts!

A hypnotherapy's (Goran Visnjic) is been asked by a Scotland Yard Detective (Shirley Henderson) to help her solve a troubling case involving a Serial Killer and a little girl (Sophie Stuckey), who's been traumatized since she was captive by the Serial Killer.Directed by Nick Willing made a strong, unique thriller mixing elements with the occult, a whodunit and a horror film. Visnjic is excellent in the film. The movie also stars:Miranda Otto from "The Lord of the Rings" series. Close your Eyes is a instant cult film with one of a kind premise. Based on a Novel by Madison Smartt Bell, which her novel is titled"Doctor Sleep". Which Bell also appears in a cameo in the opening scene. This film is also known as "Doctor Sleep" and "Hypnotic" outside the U.S. Never receive theatrically in the U.S. Super 35. (****/*****).

A fairly intriguing horror-thriller which plays like a hybrid of Jonathan Demme's The Silence Of The Lambs and Gregory Hoblit's Fallen, Doctor Sleep (aka "Close Your Eyes") has a fair few effective moments. Some reviewers here on the IMDb have complained that the film is poorly directed, but I don't see where they're coming from. The film is unfussily directed, but to use the word "poor" is somewhat harsh. The plot - while fundamentally rather silly and hard-to-swallow - is at least quite unusual, and helps the film to come across as a reasonably original and unpredictable piece of hokum.A psychiatrist with unusual telepathic powers, Dr Michael Strother (Goran Visnjic), moves from Seattle to London after his treatment results in the death of a patient and a subsequent witch-hunt by the American media. Once in London, he inadvertently gets drawn into the plight of a young girl, Heather (Sophie Stuckey - an excellent child actress), who recently escaped from the clutches of a wanted serial killer known to police as the Tattoo Murderer. Since her ordeal, Heather hasn't spoken a word, but ambitious policewoman Janet Losey (Shirley Henderson) hopes that Michael can find a way to get her to open up.... and maybe reveal a clue as to the killer's whereabouts. An internet geek with interests in occult history, Elliot Spruggs (Paddy Considine), is called upon to help and he gradually figures out that the killer seems to be following the methods of a 500 year old cult, the fundamental belief of which is that life can be prolonged and transferred from body to body, via a gruesome ritual involving blood transfusions (it is for these transfusions that the children have been taken by the Tattoo Murderer).Doctor Sleep has some very creepy moments in spite of its unlikely premise. Visnjic plays the doctor quite well (he has a great, soothing voice which makes his psychiatric scenes particularly believable), though Shirley Henderson as the police lady doesn't register too strongly. The shocks are simple but effective, and the film generates an eerie atmosphere without resorting to full-on gore, nor falling back on the slasher movie mentality that seems to permeate too many recent horror flicks. There is a very chilling twist ending (which has been called confusing in several reviews and message board postings on this site - though in actual fact it is rather clever, not to mention disturbing, if you've paid close attention during the film). On the whole, Doctor Sleep is a solid, workmanlike chiller which achieves its modest aims with a degree of success.

Without wanting to sound childish, I don't think there are words to describe just how bad a film this really is. I felt bad for some of the actors involved, and maybe the writer wasn't even that bad.. I'm really not sure because i couldn't see past the horrible directing. This might have been the most poorly directed film i've ever seen. It was bad in too many ways to bother elaborating very much, but if you saw this and did enjoy it then that's great; but speaking as someone that loves films (no not a film student), my advice is - don't even consider watching this, not even on the telly. It's 2 hours of your life you'll never get back. You could have been watching paint dry mate.