Close Your Eyes Year: 2004 Director: Nick Willing Written by: William Brookfield, Nick Willing Threat: Devil worshiper Weapon of Choice: needle-like object Based upon: novel "Doctor Sleep" by Madison Smartt Bell IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
None

Rish's Reviews
This review might be a little erratic. Please forgive me.
Though released overseas a couple of years ago, this film was newly released (in a limited capacity) here in America just this week, so I'll count it as a 2004 movie.
When a policewoman (Shirley Henderson) goes into Michael Strother's office to be hypno-therapied into quitting smoking, he inadvertently lets it slip that he helps his clients via a psychic ability. She then enlists him to reach the damaged mind of a little girl, the only survivor of a child murderer running around London. As she and Michael try to track down the killer, what they discover about him is more disturbing and more bizarre than they ever could have realized.
Also called Doctor Sleep, Close Your Eyes isn't a terribly memorable title, especially with that Alejandro Amenabar movie from a couple years back. But ah well.
I saw this flick on a date, on a sneak preview the night before it came out.
Or was it a date?
Jeez, I don't know. I guess technically it wasn't a date, not if we're going by your strict definition. I hate you, by the way.
Goran Visnjic (not a name I spelled right on the first try) starred as the hypnotherapist. I really like him on television's "E.R,"--he's handsome, talented, and seems to be a decent person, even though my sister despises him for some reason. Miranda Otto, who everyone now knows from The Lord of the Rings films, speaking with an American accent for no reason I could come up with (after all, that meant they had to cast an American as the daughter, right?), co-stars as his grousing wife. She did a fine job with her accent (except for putting an 'r' on the end of her daughter's name), which makes me admire her more as an actress.
Hypnotism is cool. This has to be the lowest level psychic I've ever heard of, but that made the film more real-feeling, more believable, and if there are psychics out there, I imagine they're a lot more like Michael Strother than Charles Xavier.
Not really a scary film, the reviews and internet all called it a Thriller. But kids, between you and me, this was Horror, though I shan't tell you why for fear of giving away the end of the film (which I'm ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE the DVD cover will anyway).
The film it most had in common with was probably The Cell but that's not a really good comparison. I suppose I picked that because that had a character going into other characters' subconscious, and also featured a serial killer. While not a pleasant film, Close Your Eyes didn't go near the sick, depraved depths of The Cell. But then, that one had Jennifer Lopez in it, and this one doesn't.
But I digress.
This was one of those movies where I saw a surprise ending coming, then was disappointed that the filmmakers didn't go that way. Then they did. I like that. The film isn't great, and I probably won't recommend it to everybody, but I think tyranist would dig it. Maybe you would too.
Best Scare: There are a few really disturbing images in dreams and hypnotism.
Note: If anyone knows what the actual name for the needle-like tool used as this film's Weapon of Choice, please let me know.

Total Skulls: 13

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?