By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Visions (2015) is a new paranormal horror film starring such names as Isla Fisher, Eva Longoria, Jim Parsons, Joanna Cassidy and Gillian Jacobs. Despite the great casting, obvious budget and interesting storyline, I only first heard of this when I came across it on Amazon.
The film follows Eveleigh (Isla Fisher) who suffers from PTSD after an accident that took the life of a child and severly injured the mother. Eveleigh now pregnant with her and husband, David’s (Anson Mount) child moves to a peaceful vinyard to recover from the memories. She opts to stop taking the antidepressants to avoid side effects much to the worry of her doctor (Jim Parsons). Dr. Mathison suggests prenatal yoga to help Eveleigh through her flashbacks and to calm her down.
The first night they have a party and guest Helena (Joanna Cassidy) runs out of the house after having an episode. She was speaking erratically and acting possessed. Eveleigh is taken aback but David downplays it.
She agrees and meets Sadie (Gillian Jacobs) there. They become quick friends and go shopping and out for coffee with one another. Sadie reassures Eveleigh that pharmaceuticals should be avoided during pregnancy.
Soon, Eveleigh is plauged by nightmares and hallucinations that cannot be explained by her PTSD. During sex with David, she forces him off of her as her eyes see a hooded figure rather than her husband. She sees wine bottles explode, a gun on the floor, nickels standing on their own and someone banging on the door violently. When David rushes in, the bottles are fine, there is no gun and the nickles are flat on the table.
David believes she needs her meds, but Sadie disagrees. She tells her that most likely what is occurring is “mommy sense” and that the events aren’t in her head, but are paranormal. They visit the real estate agent who sold the house. He’s a condescending jerk who tells them that there were no reports of hauntings on the property.
Finally, Eveleigh gives in to her doctor and David. She starts the medication again and the visions stop. She avoids Sadie because she doesn’t want her to be upset. Eventually, she runs into Sadie who voices her concern about the meds.
When Eveleigh returns home and gets the mail, she receives a late library notice addressed to the prior tenant. She opens it and sees that the late books are all about paranormal activity at the vineyard. She calls the woman who tells her to see Helena for help.
Eveleigh throws the meds away and takes the advice. Helena reluctantly helps and admits that something eerie is occurring within the confines of the home. Meanwhile, David rounds up an intervention group to try and convince his wife to go back on the pills.
There are two connected endings within the film. One is a revelation that is somewhat predictable. It’s done well, but screams of late 90s – early 2000s, M. Night Shyamalan style. If that were the only aspect of the conclusion, the film wouldn’t stand out.
That said, there’s an entirely different part of the ending that makes Visions stand out as a smarter and more philosophical than the average horror production. It is surprising, satisfying and delivered with perfect timing and with topnotch acting by all involved.
This is a movie that is made to make one think. It is also a movie masked as one subgenre for 90% of the running time, but then flips into a completely different subgenre. Swimming with Sharks (1994) is a movie that did this perfectly in a comedic setting. It started off as a hilarious somewhat dark comedy and then showed its true colors as a dark statement of society’s need to succeed in business rather than life.
Visions utilizes the same structure, but in horror rather than comedy. It works just as well. The powers-that-be ensured that the movie didn’t talk down to the audience nor did it over-explain the theories it was offering. It had respect for the viewers which in this day and age is tough to find.
Those who frequently read my reviews probably think I work for Amazon because of the many times I mention it. I don’t. That said, I absolutely love my Amazon Prime and I love finding movies that I haven’t heard of to stream. This was one of those finds that I wish I bought rather than rented as I will certainly be watching it again.
The actors were perfectly cast. I’m such a fan of Jim Parsons and his versatility always blows me away. He has the ability to be hilarious and ridiculous yet can be gut-wrenchingly dramatic. The success of The Big Bang Theory is greatly owed to Parson. He can take someone that by all accounts should be unrelatable and make them relatable. Sheldon Cooper’s appeal is that he has so many eccentricities, yet has always had a level of humanity inside of him. Even when it was purposely hard to find, Parson could reveal it without saying a word. I would have loved to see him in more scenes within this film, but even in the short air time he had, he stood out.
Joanna Cassidy is just brilliant. Everytime I see her, the phrase, “I’m right on top of that Rose,” from Don’t Tell My Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (1991) pops in my head. She has such presence and commands attention whenever on screen.
This is the first serious role I’ve seen Gillian Jacobs in. Community (2009) was one of my favorite shows when it was on and I genuinely miss it. I still hold out hope for the promised movie. She’s also been on both the TV Show and the podcast of Comedy Bang Bang. She is one of the funniest women on the planet. That said, she proved she can do so much more. I loved seeing the strong bond and kinship between Sadie and Eveleigh. So often, the focus is on male comradeship and I do love seeing that as well. Not often enough is the former shown and here it was done extremely well and it felt genuine.
Anson Mount had a difficult role, especially with the female viewers. Mostly, David was supportive, but as his doubts mount he almost becomes a villain. Mount was able to pull off keeping his character sympathetic by showing the love and affection David had for Eveleigh. Even when David was angry, wrong and self-righteous, there isn’t a hatred for him. I certainly wanted to yell at him and I called the character an “idiot” numerous times, but Mount was able to express the intentions of David so the actions he made were forgiven.
Isla Fisher owned it as the lead. I remember back when she portrayed the stereotypical yet fun Mary Jane in Scooby-Doo (2002) and how she amazed in Now You See Me (2013). She not only held her own against fantastic actors but stole so many of the scenes. The balance of Eveleigh’s knowing something is wrong but doubting herself is expressed and relayed perfectly.
If you enjoy this film as much as I do, I highly recommend Time Crimes (2007) and Triangle (2009). Each of the films have their own distinct tone and storyline, but they are all thought-provoking movies that fit into the horror genre yet rise above most recent entries.
Scared Stiff Rating: 9.5/10
