Regression

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Like most thriller movies, "Regression" starts out great, and then the next thing you know... it had already gone horribly wrong in almost every aspect. Unsurprisngly, though. Ethan Hawke gave a marvelous performance as he portrayed the role of a detective. However, on the contrary, I was surprised to have thought that the movie's weakest link was Emma Watson. She did good, but the rest of the cast had just out shined her. Also, the movie had great cinematography. The musical scoring was quite good, too. Weird enough, but it wasn't enough to save the movie from its' poor script. 'Regression' is a not-so-thrilling mystery-thriller film for it has failed to deliver what it really is supposed to. I'd say, it kinda got quite pretentious near the end.

'Sinister (2012)' with Ethan Hawke is one of the more creepier horror- movies of recent years, so when I saw that the Hawke once again was gonna dwell in the horror genre I was actually somewhat excited. Unfortunately, this movie was not at all scary and just plain dull for the more-part of it. It's about a father who is suspected of raping his daughter but he doesn't remember if he did or didn't, and Ethan Hawke plays the cop assigned to the case and it's from his perspective we see the movie trying to puzzle it all together. Now that might not sound like much of a horror and to be fair it kinda isn't although there are satanic elements in the story. It's the kind of horror that cranks up the volume to 150% when the 'scary scenes' occur (although I wonder if this particular movie it wasn't like 175%) so you have to constantly turn the volume down when it get's 'scary' and turn it back up in the regular scenes because otherwise you can't hear what they are saying. Which is annoying but it's not highly unusual for the genre, when lack of true scares blast up the volume is a trick that have been used for years after all, so I'm not gonna bag on it too much over that. Anyway, the acting is okay at best, Emma Watson IMO is flat out bad (but I never really seen her as much of an actress anyways so that's not surprising) but the fact that she has such a crucial part of the movie does definitely take down the overall impression quite a bit. Ethan Hawke is, not bad but appears uninspired and show very little emotion as a tough cop, but the whole movie is pretty emotionless so maybe that was intentional. Overall yeah it's probably my least favourite Ethan Hawke movies. I'd recommend you watch 'Anna (2013)' aka 'Mindscape' with Mark Strong and Taissa Farmiga which is similar in many ways but in all ways a lot better. Or just rewatch 'Sinister (2012)' if it's Ethan Hawke in a horror you are looking for.

This film tells the story of a policeman who investigates a woman's claim that she is the victim of abuse from a Satanic cult, which includes her father and a fellow policeman colleague. "Regression" has a very intriguing plot! I have to say that I did not see the twists coming, even though I had several possibilities in mind. Ethan Hawke is convincing as a dedicated policeman who wants to get to the bottom of the abuse, in order to help the poor woman who naturally evokes much sympathy from viewers. The story is intense because the mystery is well built, and the suspense is well kept. I enjoyed watching "Regression" a lot.

This movie is full of stars that apparently, had nothing better to do so they made this boring forgettable P O S. If you have nothing better to do and want to waste a couple hours on a film that makes no sense, has a few good actors with parts that aren't believable and characters with no more depth than the width of a sheet of paper, this is it. Somewhere in there is a story line about devil worship and a broken relationship but god help me to find it. What a waste of time, would be giving this movie more credit than is due, it would just be better to say why and weep for the money lost making this disaster. I wouldn't suggest this film to anyone.

I think it was high time that we had a really good movie that showed a realistic depiction of what happened during the satanic panic in the 80s and 90s. The movie does a fantastic job depicting how psychologists, policemen, priests, and other people can inadvertently (or, perhaps, somewhat intentionally) implant false memories in people. It also does a good job explaining how regressions don't surface real "buried memories", but actually create new false memories. And finally, it did a great job depicting how one false accusation can trigger others, eventually pulling more and more people into its web. (Spoiler about movie's ending follows.) Having said all of that, I found the movie's ending to be cheap and disappointing. The girl who originated the first accusation is basically painted as the bad guy. Hawke's character, a policeman, explicitly calls her out as being evil. In reality, the children making the accusations in the real-world satanic panic were obviously not evil. They were victims themselves, just not victims of satanic ritual abuse. Instead, they were victims of a system that implanted false memories in their minds. In fact, the way Regression plays out, this would have been a valid ending to the movie, since there were people who were egging her on, giving her new ideas for people to accuse, and stories to concoct. Instead, Amenábar decided to end the movie with the unrealistic idea that she somehow planned this whole thing as a revenge plot against her own family, and to get out of her family's influence. It's unrealistic, it's insulting to the audience, and it's pulling down what would otherwise have been a nigh perfect movie. What's more, this kind of victim blaming is actually dangerous. In the real world, it's very rare that women intentionally falsely accuse others of having raped them. At the same time, women's accusations of rape are often dismissed or not taken seriously. Ending Regression in this way, by effectively blaming the women for the whole thing, plays into this narrative of not believing women's accusations. In addition to all of these points, it would also have been a much more interesting, realistic movie if the conclusion had been that, no, there was no really bad guy. Everybody did their best, and things went to hell anyway, because people are not perfect, and the best intentions can't always guarantee a good outcome. But I guess Hollywood needs a bad guy, and that's what we got. In conclusion: fantastic movie, but a disappointing, unrealistic, sadly dangerous and kind of insulting ending.

I wouldn't say that the title is misleading. On the contrary it is pretty clear. This is a movie about a Psychological Treatment (Regression) not working as it should be and producing false results. A young woman (Emma Watson) accuses her father for sexual abusing her. The detective (Ethan Hawke) who is on the case assisted by a psychoanalyst (David Thewlis) who uses Sigmund Freud's Regression method, uncover evidence of a satanic cult. The movie is rather slow. Tries to be scary a few times but overall it seems lazy in this goal too. It has an eerie feel but fails to seduce you into its dreaming sequences. Overall: Most certainly not "Rosemary's Baby". Maybe if you are a fan of Emma Watson and want to see her in something else than Harry Potter...

I really enjoyed the movie. I thought it was very well acted and would commend in particular the actress who portrayed the grandmother. Both Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson gave strong performances, also. As a criminal defense lawyer, I was happy to see the credibility of psycho-therapy examined; very refreshing. I think the movie calls into question much more than Satanic Ritual Abuse and would hope viewers could make the connection with many other aspects of life. Would highly recommend despite some downright gory and scary scenes.

Being a nineties kid, I didn't experience the supposed social panic surrounding satanic cults in the eighties, which is where Regression draws its inspiration, claiming to be inspired (not even 'based on') by true events. Both Regression's success and failure can be linked back to its final plot twist, a twist that--while surprising--undoes all that comes before. John Gray is accused by his own daughter, Angela (Emma Watson) of sexual abuse. There's only one problem: he doesn't remember it at all. Detective Bruce Kenner (Ethan Hawke) takes an interest in the case. As he digs deeper and deeper together with a psychologist, he becomes convinced that a satanic cult are operating behind the scenes. Needless to say, his tireless pursuit of the truth starts to take its toll on his own mental health. Any and all discussion of Regression starts and ends with the final plot twist. Spoilers ahead. All I can say is that it changes everything, but not in a good way. This is where the setting and the obsession with satanic cults comes into play. It turns out that Angela made everything up just to get away from her family. (The film makes it sound slightly more plausible.) This throws the entire satanic cult theme straight into the trash. I guess Regression tried to do a reverse Rosemary's Baby by there not being a cult at all. However, the film seems bent on pointing the finger at you and shaming you for believing it. The fact that you went along with it, the film seems to suggest, is proof how easily this kind of collective hysteria could exist. I get that and it's a decent concept, but...that's real life; this is film. We've seen stranger stuff than this. You can't dangle satanic cults in front of the audience for ninety percent of the film, do a 180 and then mock the audience for even buying it for a second. Also, the twist undoes all that has come before. What we're left with is a sociopathic girl and a bunch of nightmare sequences. Now that there's no cult, all the twists and reveals start to feel a little too convenient. The film tries to explain it away with regression therapy inducing false memories and the effects (nightmares, etc.) of social panic, but it feels thin and certainly doesn't make for gripping storytelling. Regression tries to be something more than just a generic horror flick. You can tell simply by the fact that the jump-scares are kept to a minimum. Also, when you consider the director's previous efforts, it feels like the end result should've been something like a thinking man's horror film, but it just never gets there and not even the actors' best efforts can save it.