Why so much hype?

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

First of all, this movie was too jumbled to sink your teeth into. There was no depth. It was hard to keep track of the characters and what they did or didn't do because none of them had any screen time worth mentioning except for Ethan Hawke and, to some extent, the psychiatrist. At no time did the film draw me in.**SPOILER ALERT**The crappy ending was a neat little summation that you might have missed if you blinked. I was like, are you freaking kidding me?!Even if a young woman wanted to seek revenge on her family for her lackluster upbringing (which is a weak premise in itself), what about all of the people who, independent from her, had corroborating memories? Her father was in real anguish over his memories of satanic abuse, which not only matched the girl's brother's details and traumatic emotion, but both she and her father named the same abuser, unbeknownst to the other. He was willing to go to prison for life, possibly get the death penalty, for feeling guilty because he wasn't Father Knows Best...? Seriously?! Meanwhile, the crazy grandmother is also harboring the same satanic delusions as the others in the family... and yet... nobody ever actually experienced ANY of it!The detective has some pretty vivid nightmares, to the point of thinking they may actually have happened. He puts a gun under his pillow. And one day, a couple of his fellow officers come to beat the hell out of, or kill him – in black robes, no less! – and he's like "I understand why you're upset with me, so I won't report this". Gimme a break!The worst thing about this movie though, which I find wholly irresponsible and unforgivable, is that the point of the film is a declaration that satanic abuse never happens – it's all in the minds of delusional people! OH. MY. GOD.! Way to dismiss the agony and suffering of the thousands of people who have been victimized by actual, non-imaginary satanic cults which DO, in fact, exist! It is a large network of organized rings around the world.... which certainly makes me wonder about the motive of the people who created this piece of deleterious propaganda...

REGRESSION tells the story of high strung detective Bruce Kenner, played by Ethan Hawke, trying to unravel the mystery behind a suspect accused of child molestation in the small rural community of Hover, MN.The accused father, John Gray, can neither admit nor deny his crime against his daughter, as he cannot fully remember the events. A psychiatrist is brought in to guide the investigation, which quickly becomes complicated and not as it first appears. Several of the characters, including the victim's estranged family members and detective Kenner, all begin experiencing nightmares, brought about by exposure to the horrific events that are described in the psychiatrist's regression therapy sessions. These events center around a sadistic satanic cult and the evil deeds to which their victims are subjected. The nightmares become so intense that is becomes difficult for the characters to separate hallucination from reality.Kudos to writer/director Alejandro Amenabar, from whose hands we can see his tightly controlled craft. He did so many things right in this movie that it more than made up for a couple of slow spots in the script. First, this was a period piece, and the bar for accuracy in period pieces has been raised over the last decade due to TV shows like Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire. Amenabar shows us his vision of 1990 with great attention to detail, including the boxy Chevrolet Caprice cop cars, the tacky furniture and cabinets in Kenner's house, and the micro-cassette recorders and other electronic devices from that era. Amenabar also chooses the side of subtlety as he frightens the audience, using a minimum of blood and gore but leaning heavily on the power of suggestion. This movie leans cerebral over slasher.In the end (here comes the spoiler) we learn that daughter Angela, played by Emma Watson, is making up the accusations against her father as a way to punish him and her family for binding her to her white trash roots with no hope of escaping to a better life. Again, the plot twist is more subtle than earth shattering, but we in the audience don't feel let down by the whole "figment of their imagination" ending present in films like FIGHT CLUB or SPHERE.Lastly, Amenabar's film leaves the audience to form its own conclusions. It doesn't take sides on the religious faith vs. academic science argument, and aptly demonstrates the fallacies of regression therapy without beating us over the head with it.

So, a few minutes before the film will end, I somehow knew it would end because the mysteries of the film were solved - but were they really? I mean, the film ended and I felt like this 'end' should have taken place in first 30 minutes or so and I wished for the film to continue and make things clearer ( for me) ... The ending left me confused. Some of the reviews here cleared the things up a bit.So, actually the film was about a false memory?! Regression into the past that was not actually real?If that is the case then this film did not do a great job. Actually I do not know what kind of film this is and what was the point of it. More so because it is based on true events and it gives some kind of an explanation at the end of the film which is very vague.I picked up to see this film mostly because of Ethan who was great in Sinister and The Purge. I can not say he was bad here. He was OK, as this film is. Somewhere in the middle. I do see a potential in the premise of the film but it was not fully developed to be more captivating.Five from me.

There are a lot of excellent Spanish directors; however only Almoodovar and Amenabar are very well known abroad. And sadly they made great movies long ago but their latest efforts are really badly directed and even worse scripted.After getting Tom Cruise to remade his second movie (Open your eyes) and winning an Oscar for his third (The Sea Inside), Amenabar made an over-produced, and later financial failure called AGORA.The movie blamed the rising Christian faith as the barbarians who destroyed the Alexandria library and its documents and knowledge without any historic accuracy. Some people considered the movie offensive; but it was just a poorly directed, mediocre script whose only goal seemed to be to create controversy.Regression (after an hiatus of a few years) is perhaps more of the same. It is difficult to understand if Amenabar is attacking one more time the Christian faith, psychoanalysis or people stupidity. *** SPOILER FOLLOWS **** Based on real events (which does not necessary means what the movie tells is completely true) it tells the story of a police detective that investigating a possible child molesting case; turn things in a satanic cult stuff, creating a media big mess; to find out later that everything was product of a quite hysterical young women.***END OF SPOILER *****Nothing in the move makes a lot of sense; people believe things without any real proof; everybody (including the "smart" city detective) becomes obsessed almost immediately; but it happens so fast and without any logical reason that is impossible to believeEthan Hawk makes a big effort to with his character (frankly, never trust his character with any investigation) and Emma Watson surprises with her dual personality character. The rest of the cast does whatever they can; but no magic can be done with an script without any proper progression that keeps asking to accept the absurd of a situation.In brief; avoid it !!!