Doctor Sleep (2002)

***SPOILERS**** Confusing movie with a totally off the wall plot about what could better be called reincarnation. Not in one getting born after he or she passed away but being inserted or popped into another body via a brain transplant coupled with a blood transfusion! Despite the movie making very little sense it did in fact end up winning a number of awards, in probably putting the most people to sleep while watching it, for it's story and cinematography from the little known Cineygma Luxemburginx Film Festival. It also bombed out at the box office making back a scanty $50,000.00 of the more then $10,000.000.00 it cost to produced this half-baked turkey.There's the star of the film a notorious quack doctor using hypnotherapy on his unsuspecting patients Michael Strother played by Goran Visnjic, the most famous Croatian American since New York Yankeee home run king Roger Maris, who freaked out back in the USA when he tried to cure a patient of his fear of water. That by Strother putting him under hypnosis and encouraging him to jump into a lake in early April while it was still covered with ice. The poor guy ended up catching pneumonia and drowning by following Strother's insane and dangerous advice! Now in London under an assumed name, the same Michael Strother, he's involved in curing people of smoking and taking only cash not checks or IOU's, so no one can check on him, to pay his bills or living expenses. It all starts when Strother cures London police officer Janet Losey, Shirley Henderson, of her addiction to tobacco. While putting Janet under hypnosis he uncovers the reason why this young girl Heather, Sophie Stuckey, a recent kidnapped victim was so traumatized by her experience that she ended up losing her voice! With Losey, using the threat of exposing him as a quack, has Strother put Heather under hypnosis and, what do you know, ends up getting her voice back!From there on the movie quickly goes down hill with this cock & bull scenario about some people in London involved in a string of kidnapping and ritual murders of children to provide them with new lives, how it's done is never really explained, by somehow using the kidnapped and blood drained bodies of adults as their new bodies or identities. Strother who at first thought this is all ridicules soon become convinced it's really real as he delves deeper and deeper into the subject matter. This almost has him become the next person who's body, after being drain of all its blood, is to be taken over by the head of this kidnap and murder gang Catherine Leboug, Flowa Shaw, who looks like, in being almost 100 years old, she's on her death bed already!****SPOILERS**** We also find out later in the movie that the elderly Mrs. Leboug is actually the daughter of another member of the gang Francis Paladine, John Rogan, who's in fact young enough to be her great-great grandson! There's really nothing more to write about "Close your Eyes" since it gets more confusing as it goes on to it's final reward. That's where we see that Strother's new born son who together with his mom Clara, Miranda Otto, is at a carnival enjoying himself now being put under a spell by Heather to have the evil bloodline of the devil worshiping Paladine cult allowed to continue.

I wasn't really expecting too much when my wife rented this film. It wasn't something that I had ever heard of before. I think that it was done very well and the acting was better than could be expected.I absolutely loved some of the scenery and cinematography in this film. There are several breathtaking sceneries that will take your breath away. Even if they were all done by CGI, it was still beautiful and a breath of fresh air.I'm not going to give any of the details away, but this movie relies more on the psychological aspect in giving it's chills and thrills. I loved the movie and I even loved the ending even more. It does a few surprise twist and turns and it won't be too obvious either.Rent this one today!

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.

I have seen this movie a year ago, and I still remember all of it. It is gripping and terrifying, and I was staring at the screen, transfixed, for the entire length of it. It gave me some nightmares too, but it was well worth seeing. The characters were fantastic and scary (the baddies) and some parts were so scary I had to stop myself from screaming! Haunting and well-written, this mystery is great. The end (although I won't say what happens) is especially scary, and shook me, sending chills down my bones. Seriously, the end is fantastic (well, bad really, but the quality is fantastic) and leaves you thinking about the movie when it's dark and you're all alone... This film is fantastic. Go and see it. Rent a DVD/video. Watch it on the TV. But don't do it alone...