Visión nocturna

It does not surprise me that this thinly veiled pilot for a potential television show didn't lead to anything. It's essentially "cop who doesn't follow the rules" clichés mixed with "generic psychic" to pretty much outright embarrassing results. What makes it even worse, in my mind, is that Wes Craven not only directed this, he co-wrote it (with Thomas Baum), and even executive produced it. This was his baby, and it's awful. Maybe not as awful as Shocker, which is not saying much, but still, awful.

Sergeant Thomas Mackey (James Remar) is a cop who doesn't follow anyone's rules, not even his own. He's on the case pursuing the Spread Eagle Killer, a murderer who does in his victims by strangulation and then positions them in the spread eagle position before running off, never to be detected. Into this is introduced Dr. Sally Powers (Loryn Locklin), a young, recent graduate in criminal psychology who obviously has psychic powers from her introduction (that the movie plays coy about for some reason for the bulk of the film). She has immediate knowledge of the middle name of Mackey's captain, Keller (Mitch Pileggi), when she's ushered into Keller's office by Police Commissioner Dowd (Francis X. McCarthy), her foster father.

Mackey doesn't like having to babysit a little girl on a case that he's been officially taken off of but allowed to snoop into anyway for reasons. Hell, there's even the dramatic moment where Mackey tries to hand in his badge and gun, but Keller won't allow such theatrics, which is saying something since the first twenty minutes of this movie are pretty much solid with overdone masculine theatrics of the worst kind you could find in a cop show parody (is this whole thing a parody? It would surprise me to some degree, but not enough). When Mackey and Powers show up at the next crime scene, Mackey goes so far as to actually try and hide evidence he finds at the scene for...really I have no idea. He's coy about it for a bit and then rhetorically throws it in the face of the actual cop in charge. I swear, Remar is a professional actor who has been putting in solid performances for decades, but I would imagine he's embarrassed by what he pulls off here in Night Visions. It's nothing but preening, and it's honestly hard to take.

Powers decides to lay down in the taped outline of the dead body (seriously...she does this) in order to get a psychic reading (which, of course, Mackey can't figure out for...again...reasons), and she gleans bits of information about the killing that will only come out in a post-mortem (which all end up being right, of course, because she's obviously a psychic). At the same time, she meets up with the police photographer Martin (Jon Tenney) while moving in with some woman who works in the police department Luanne (Penny Johnson Jerald). Gee, I wonder who's going to end up being the killer? Could it be one of these two minor side characters? Could it be the obvious one?

It's about here where the idea that Powers is actually housing several different personalities in her head, and one of them takes over, steals Luanne's ex's motorcycle (an expensive looking bit of equipment that he seemingly just abandoned some years back), and goes to a metal bar (she looks great, by the way) where she uses her powers (I think I get it) to figure out who the next victim is. She figures it out, interrupting the murder before the Spread Eagle killer can finish the positioning, and Mackey decides to cover for her presence there for reasons (I think he thinks she's the killer for a hot minute, but it's dropped real fast and doesn't matter).

There's Powers crashing a Hollywood wedding in a swank house removed from the city where a sniper (presumably the same killer who is completely moving away from his MO this time for...reasons) where Mackey gets shot in the shoulder. Powers goes out with Keller's backup to follow up on one of her visions to track down the killer, and what do you know? It's the obvious minor character. How surprising.

This whole thing was obviously meant as the first adventure in the new unlikely pair of cops who solve crimes using psychic visions. It's honestly awful. It feels like Craven trying to stretch out from movies, which, after Shocker, he seems to have grown really tired of, and into television, but his move is outright terrible. Sure, I like Locklin as Powers, but that's probably the extent of it and, I would guess, has little to do with Craven's direction (his direction of Heather Langenkamp in A Nightmare on Elm Street tells me he had no particular skill with female actresses) and more to do with a young actress doing the most she could with little material. It's not Academy Award nominee stuff, but it's decent. Remar, though, is, as has been noted, awful.

Craven really felt like he was floundering the late 80s and early 90s, looking for a place to go after his success from the mid-80s had petered out.

Night Visions (1990)

** (out of 4)

Sergeant Thomas Mackey (James Remar) is a smart-mouth, sometimes jerk who will stop at nothing to solve a crime. His latest investigation has him after a serial killer known in the media as the "Spread Eagle Killer." After getting kicked off the case, the only way Mackey can get back on is by helping a psychic (Loryn Locklin) around in hopes that she can help solve it.

NIGHT VISIONS was a made-for-television movie, which was meant to kick-off a series but this aired to poor ratings and mixed reviews so nothing else followed. It's easy to see why this thing didn't take off because it's screenplay is all over the place and never really knows what it wants to be about. It really does seem as if writers Wes Craven (who also directed) and Thomas Baum wanted to do so much with a series that they put all of the elements into this 91 minute movie and there's just too much here and there's never anything clear going on. I say that because all sorts of subplots are thrown in including the psychic having a personality disorder, Mackey having a drinking problem and then there's the search for the killer.

The actual search for the killer turns out to be incredibly boring because if you've ever seen a movie then you're going to figure out the identity within twenty minutes. I thought it was painfully obvious, which just made the movie feel long and boring. Craven added a few nice touches especially during the opening murder sequence and there's no doubt that the ending was quite good. I found Remar to easily be the best thing about the picture and certainly his tough guy approach. Locklin was also good in her role.

In the end, NIGHT VISIONS is just too bland and boring to make much of an impact.

Night Visions is an obscure made for TV movie directed by Horror-maven Wes Craven. Deservedly forgotten it seems like it was a pilot for a prospective TV series, which understandably never happened. Dull, in that way that only US made for TV material can be Night Visions is indeed a forgettable bore.

It revolves around two individuals investigating a series of killings- clichéd, tough as nails, on the edge cop detective Mackey (James Remar) and flakey, ambiguously psychically inclined psychology grad student Sally Powers (Lori Locklin). The Remar character is kind of fun mainly because he so ultra clichéd- he has in turned to alcohol after his wife left him, he does things his own way, bickers with his superiors constantly and is generally an obstinate dick. A good example of this is toward the end of the movie when he physically assaults the captain (Mitch Pileggi), grabbing him by the balls no less, after the captain won't give him back up rather than simply trying to explain the fairly valid reasons he has for needing it. There are even numerous references to how 'on the edge' he is in his first scene with captain Keller. In fact, this scene with its incredibly hackneyed loose cannon versus the by the book chief with its ridiculous over the top dialogue it easily the most entertaining the movie. The movie spends more time with the ditzy psychic who is far less entertaining. The main problem with her is that her abilities are never properly explained or clarified. Is she channeling spirits (If so who's?) or are they just different aspects of her own psyche when she goes into her trance states and seems to take on new personas? It isn't made clear and it doesn't seem to be a deliberately ambiguous plot point either. Her abilities seem simply there to push the script forward in whatever way is required to move things along rather than following any discernible internal logic. Either to lead them to the next clue or victim (Almost always a tad too late), to put Sally Powers (Yes, it is a silly name- they should just have changed it slightly and called her Silly Powers, which would have quite appropriate) in jeopardy in way she would not otherwise have been, to generate conflict between her and other characters, who understandably think she is crazy, or to have her dress in skimpy leather outfits. The fact that she spends a large chunk of the movie in the company of the killer and doesn't realise it, despite her abilities says it all.

Being a TV movie everything is watered down and incredibly predictable. The 'twist; identity of the killer is obvious the second he turns up on screen and I suspect most viewers will have worked out his modus operandi a long time before anybody on the screen does. You just know the second that anyone starts marking the locations of killings on a map in a movie like this linking them together will form a pentagram and the ultimate explanation of how it ties in with the 'body parts' aspect of the killings, is lame and contrived, especially when they name drop Leonardo Da Vinci. The repartee between the mismatched partners is rather flat, despite the best efforts of the actors and whole growing mutual respect is just another cliché Night Visions dutifully trawls through. James Remar has fun with his clichéd character, delivering his hokey dialogue with glee and Lori Locklin tries to what she can with her poor developed and sometimes annoying character but ultimately the only things she does well is wear a skimpy leather outfit. Mitch Pileggi more or less plays the same role he did on the X-Files, but as if I recall correctly Fox Mulder never crushed Skinner's testicles when he wouldn't support one of his wacko theories. Fans of 24 might also spot David Palmer's conniving wife in a minor supporting role. Wes Craven brings nothing extra to the proceedings- everything is rather bland and by the numbers. If you're looking for an undiscovered Craven masterpiece, or even a goofy but fun Wes Craven horror flick this is not it.

Not too bad. Better than Craven's other TV movie, Chiller, but not quite as good as Summer of Fear. He can do much better, and did in the next year's The People Under the Stairs.

Night Visions is rather generic, there's nothing specifically interesting or unique about it, but it has that Craven atmosphere that makes it still something enjoyable to watch. It was rather soft and low stakes, but that doesn't mean it can't hold your interest. Most of the appeal comes not only from the fact that it's by Wes Craven but also that it's so hard to find. This is the very last work of his that I watched, so I can count today as the day I finally finished his filmography, and I will say that this IS only for completists and ultra-fans. Still, not a bad way to spend your evening.