Close Your Eyes

Close Your Eyes (2004) (aka Doctor Sleep; Hypnotic)

Directed By: Nick Willing
Starring: Goran Visnjic, Paddy Considine, Shirley Henderson, Miranda Otto, Corin Redgrave
Filmed in 2001, DVD release September 2004.

Close your eyes is a low budget British psychological thriller about ritualistic murder and the occult. Hypnotist Michael Strother (Visnjic), once an accredited American physician, relocates to London with his pregnant wife Clara (Miranda Otto) and child Martha (Lauren Gabrielle Volpert) after suffering a disgrace that left a patient dead. Struggling to make ends meet, Strother practices as hypnotist, treating detective Janet Losey (Shirley Henderson) in her efforts to quit smoking. During a session, Strother’s psychic ability to “see” visions from his patients’ minds shows him the images of a young girl floating below the surface a stream. Losey is working the homicides of young children, and when another victim of abduction, Heather, turns up alive, Losey needs to obtain whatever information she can about the torture this young girl endured. As a result of her experiences, Heather is mute and in a semi-catatonic state. Losey enlists Strother’s help in reaching the girl psychologically, while trying to unlock the clues behind tattoos found on the girl’s body.

Throughout the treatment, Strother receives visions of occultism, and the girl speaks in gibberish, or more specifically, recites incantations of some sort. Strother and Losey consult Elliot (Paddy Considine), the owner of a bizarre game shop, to decipher the astrological tattoos and words from the incantations. Following his leads, the two delve farther into the history of the arcane beliefs of a 16th Century religious fanatic, his beliefs of obtaining immortality through transference, and his influence on local church architecture.
Throughout the unfolding mystery, Strother is attempting to hide his involvement from his wife, whom he is worried will not understand his need to be involved in the case. Indeed, Clara becomes upset over this decision as she sees familiar changes occurring in her husband – insomnia, paranoia and personality changes – and questions where they will move to next to escape another disgrace.

Close Your Eyes is a creepy, hypnotic film that blends horror and suspense effectively in the gothic vision of director Willing, with obvious influences of Polanski and Hitchcock. Unfortunately, Close Your Eyes fails to keep it’s steady pace and falls into a familiar trap in the last half of the film – trying to explain the motivations of the murders and solve the crime. It is at this point that Close Your Eyes loses some credibility and confidence and dissolves into a typical Hollywood showdown. That said, Close Your Eyes deserves recognition as surpassing similarly themed movies – The Cell and Fallen – in the genre.