You can see what this film wanted to be, but it didn't really succeed.
Despite being sceptical, Kevin Bacon is prevailed upon to be hypnotised at a party. This experience opens him up to visions and ghostly visitations which turn out to relate to events which have happened in the house he is renting. Eventually he receives a message telling him to dig, so he does.
In one of those astonishing coincidences whereby two movies with very similar themes arrive in cinemas at nearly the same time, this one arrived just after The Sixth Sense which, in many respects, it resembles (Bacon's small son can also see the main apparition). Unfortunately, it's not half the film The Sixth Sense is, even without the you-know-what delivered by Sixth Sense at the end.
And that's a shame, because it starts off really well. There's a strong sense of location, character, and community, and the sequence leading into the hypnosis is nicely atmospheric. Following that there is a decent sense of mystery and mounting paranoia and obsession on Bacon's character's part.
Unfortunately, from there it devolves into a variation of Roy Neary's irritating obsessive from Close Encounters, only rather than making mashed potato mountains, Bacon is digging holes in the garden. I always thought that aspect was by far the worst part of CE3K, and it is the worst aspect here, too. And the resolution, when it comes, is depressingly mundane - a bit more bang for the buck would have been welcome. All the mystique built up at the start is flushed down the drain.
And good performances from Bacon and Illeana Douglas (never one of my favourite actresses, but very good here) are unfortunately completely counteracted by Katherine Erbe playing Bacon's wife - as written and directed, no doubt - as one of those profoundly annoying people who you just want to slap (in a politically correct way, of course).
And it all started out so well, too.
Despite being sceptical, Kevin Bacon is prevailed upon to be hypnotised at a party. This experience opens him up to visions and ghostly visitations which turn out to relate to events which have happened in the house he is renting. Eventually he receives a message telling him to dig, so he does.
In one of those astonishing coincidences whereby two movies with very similar themes arrive in cinemas at nearly the same time, this one arrived just after The Sixth Sense which, in many respects, it resembles (Bacon's small son can also see the main apparition). Unfortunately, it's not half the film The Sixth Sense is, even without the you-know-what delivered by Sixth Sense at the end.
And that's a shame, because it starts off really well. There's a strong sense of location, character, and community, and the sequence leading into the hypnosis is nicely atmospheric. Following that there is a decent sense of mystery and mounting paranoia and obsession on Bacon's character's part.
Unfortunately, from there it devolves into a variation of Roy Neary's irritating obsessive from Close Encounters, only rather than making mashed potato mountains, Bacon is digging holes in the garden. I always thought that aspect was by far the worst part of CE3K, and it is the worst aspect here, too. And the resolution, when it comes, is depressingly mundane - a bit more bang for the buck would have been welcome. All the mystique built up at the start is flushed down the drain.
And good performances from Bacon and Illeana Douglas (never one of my favourite actresses, but very good here) are unfortunately completely counteracted by Katherine Erbe playing Bacon's wife - as written and directed, no doubt - as one of those profoundly annoying people who you just want to slap (in a politically correct way, of course).
And it all started out so well, too.