Memory (2006)

I don't know why this is going round as a horror movie, it's not even close. Memory is a thriller and a passable one at that.Billy Zane, Dennis Hopper, Tricia Helfer and Ann-Margret star in this clever though ultimately flawed little tale of a man recieving premonitions and his efforts to decipher them.This is evidence once again that Billy Zane is one of Hollywoods most underrated, underutilised and underappreciated actors. The man can do it all yet gets stuck with wall to wall b-movies.Memory has some nice ideas but fails to present them very well, it's one of those films that could have been great if handled by the right people but alas wasn't.Decent enough effort but should have been better.The Good:Cast deliverSome nice ideasThe Bad:Generic deliveryThings I Learnt From This Movie:Billy Zane needs more appreciationDennis Hopper CAN do roles without coming across as weird and/or disturbing

Memory: unforgivably stupid plot, nonsensical action and motivations, terrible performances from everyone but Dennis Hopper, male "characters" are defined by alcohol and sex obsession + vague, cartoonish nobility, female characters have no attributes, music is cheap and overbearing, editing is distractingly shoddy, much of the action is literally the lead character reading exposition aloud to himself, and it's never at all thrilling. There's a very small amount of stupid fun in the film's preposterous conclusion, but all things considered, Memory isn't really worthy of complete sentences. -TK 10/31/10

I had never heard of "Memory" till I purchased it on a 4-movie "Horror Collector's Set" DVD from the bargain bin. In addition to "Memory," the other three movies on the DVD were Tobe Hooper's "Mortuary," "Wages of Sin" and "Bloody Mary." "Mortuary" wasn't too bad but the other two films were flat-out awful, so by the time I sat down to watch "Memory" I really wasn't expecting much. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the best movie on the DVD, even though it certainly isn't what I would consider a "Horror" movie. "Memory" is a fine mystery/suspense thriller along the lines of a James Patterson story (think "Kiss the Girls" or "Along Came A Spider") with some occasional horrific overtones.Billy Zane of "Titanic" stars as Taylor, a researcher for a pharmaceutical company who is accidentally exposed to an unknown drug compound while in Brazil for a convention. When he returns home to Boston, he begins having disturbing flashbacks of a masked person in a black cloak, dark forests, and little girls. Disturbed by these visions, he begins to do some research on the powder he touched and it turns out that Indian tribes in the Amazon have been using it for thousands of years to see other people's memories, through their own eyes. Unfortunately for Taylor, the person whose memories he's now "sharing" happens to be a psycho who's been kidnapping and killing little girls for the past 30 years without being caught. With the help of his artist girlfriend (Tricia Helfer of "Battlestar Galactica") and two family friends (the late great Dennis Hopper and Ann-Margret) he takes it upon himself to unravel the mystery and stop the masked kidnapper before he can claim yet another new victim. As his investigation moves along, it seems that the killer also has a connection to Taylor's past that he has never suspected.Though this was obviously a low budget film (from a first time writer/director) "Memory" is a nice looking film and a tight, fast moving effort. The veteran cast turns in fine performances all around, and the twists and turns of the plot will keep the viewer guessing till its creepy finale in the kidnapper's lair. This is also the coolest set piece in the movie, a cavernous building loaded with scary looking mannequins and bizarre scrawlings on the walls. I thought I had the ending figured out early on but as it turns out, the filmmakers threw me a curve ball that I wasn't expecting. Horror fans will probably be disappointed by this flick (as I said, it really doesn't belong on a "Horror" DVD) but fans of psychological thrillers should be pleased with this little known gem."Memory" can apparently be found cheaply wherever bargain DVDs are sold so I would recommend checking it out. Just a tip, if you happen to buy it on the same "Horror Collector's Set" that I did, skip the other three movies on it and go right to this one.

For a first time director / producer / writer team this is not a bad movie. It has its rough parts, it is not a polished as a production from a major studio or development group. But that is some of its charm.The story holds together throughout the movie and builds to a climax and letdown. The DVD extra features explain how long the process was to make this movie. The writer director story boarded the whole thing. The production values are very high for their budget. They shot what they needed and did not waste much time on extra footage.The plot twist at the end was somewhat confusing because of all the visuals that you had to catch to understand that the killer was not his father but his mother, and the person he thought was his mother was not. Once those concepts fall into place the ending becomes clear. This movie needs to be seen a couple of times to catch the subtle clues.This is not guerrilla film making - with a single set and some of the filming done on the cuff. A good example semi-guerrilla film making is the film by Darren Aronofsky in 2000 "Requium for a Dream": that cost $4.5 million 5 years ago. Aronofskys' first non-student movie was Pi in 1998. It was done in black and white for $60k in 1998.An interesting start of a career, lets see what they can bring us in the future.