OneAnjel

I was interested in this film because of the clairvoyant aspect, I have psychic ability in my family history and it took me years to realize that I am clairvoyant because it was a hidden, taboo subject in my family. But as another reviewer mentioned, this film is very loosely based on the double-initial Rochester murders. In fact, it's more of a re-imagining.

I'm not sure what the writer was going for but there are many times that clairvoyants do try to help solve cases and are ignored. Many psychics live their life believing that they have some sort of mental illness. Someone who is not mentally ill but taking drugs for it could have adverse effects.

So from the standpoint of a clairvoyant, I have to say this was confusing. Normally a psychic will not be disturbed by their visions because it's normal to them unless or until they're told by their family or someone else that they're delusional or mentally ill. Many psychic children will see and hear things that others don't but they quickly learn to keep it to themselves; however, they still don't react so adversely to hearing and seeing things. So I have to assume that the writer of this fictional portion of the film was trying to express how she might be reacting to the erroneous medication.

Overall, it could be said to be a film about how psychics are disregarded intermingled with someone's idea of how the decades-old murders could have been solved.

I take exception, however, to them using the backdrop of a Catholic church. I'm not sure why demonizing Catholics is so popular over many decades. For instance when she sees the pictures of the murdered children with candles in front of them, she perceives it as demonic; but it is, in fact, something Catholics do after someone dies - the candle is to light their way as they traverse to the other side.

Trying to research these cases does not bring up any clairvoyant detective or any other psychic attempt to locate the perpetrator, so this aspect was purely fictional. The only take away that I find here is that when someone has psychic ability and they are put on psychiatric drugs they are unable to function.

This detective was so impetuous and arrogant that she actually ruined any chance of the police pursuing her leads and finding the murderer. But if it's a statement about how psychics are the last minority to be accepted & protected, so to speak, I'm not sure why they hid it within a famous murder case.

My thoughts on the film itself - It is palatable as a made for TV mystery if you remove any expectation of seeing something based on a real case. While the acting, for the most part, was acceptable, there was very little segway between the detective falling down every rabbit hole.

So again, I just don't know what the writer's intent was. Five stars is very generous but I can't give less because it does call attention to this case that is still, according to the internet at this moment, unsolved.

This film is a lower budget endeavor and that's obvious from the start, therefore I wasn't really expecting to be excited or enticed to say it was a fantastical experience. I wasn't even going to leave a review but seeing that the only people who got on here to bother doing so were the whiny people who demand that everything be a Hollywood blockbuster, it seemed appropriate. It's obvious that van der Beek and Burton thought it was an important enough story to lend their well-known names to.

Because of this film, a lot of people were armed with information about what to do in a similar situation. I thought the acting was fine and in particular I thought van der Beek was a good choice to show that monsters don't necessarily look like monsters. This film isn't going to knock your socks off in the entertainment sense, but it is a harrowing account of what a teenage girl went through and, more importantly, lived through.

It's easy to criticize if you're coming from a place that expects a film to be written and directed as fiction, but critiquing what was said or done by the characters of a biographical drama seems a bit nonsensical.

My surprise was in seeing how Anne was so dominating and arrogant in the face of such a threat. But I can definitely understand that it takes a strong person to be that brave and that intelligent in such a situation. That's not to say that those who didn't survive a similar situation we're not brave or intelligent.

Sure there's things to criticize here because of the low budget and the short runtime. In particular I didn't like the song in the beginning of the film and I sarcastically thought to myself, well the kidnapping ended that torture. But the actors all did an acceptable job of reenacting a real life drama.

If this film doesn't make you feel emotional about the victims of people who kidnapp and abuse our young people, then you might want to go see the wizard about a heart.

While it bothers to pretend it's a ST prequel, it's really more like a reimagining stylized for the modern viewer. I would love to see an actual prequel that bothers to challenge itself to not have the characters rely on modern technology.

I was 9 yo when Star Trek arrived. The show successfully portrayed a group of talented but inexperienced astronauts as they relied almost symbiotically on each other's strengths and compensated for each other's weaknesses. They each had quirks and well-defined characteristics. The uniforms were simple with their shirts indicating rank and they all wore what was then a far-fetched emblem that could communicate with one another in real time. The show focused on exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life. Somewhere along the way, much of what made the original series so legendary has been lost. Cpt. James T. Kirk was an attractive, impetuous but brilliant man who, like Henry Ford, understood how to rely on his team of highly skilled experts. Lt. Uhura was a beautiful confident bombshell who was highly regarded and respected (only the audience ogled). From the get-go, we have the sexy rebel as Captain, and the exotic feme fatal playing opposite of their social stigmas. Yet none of the ensuing series tried to recreate that.

Roddenberry presented his vision with stories and pictures, not endless dialog rife in this new series. Even in TNG, which was the final series Roddenberry was actually involved in, we had the stoic captain Picard and the tomboyish security officer, Lieutenant Yar. We have the sensual Deanna Troy, ship's counselor, who, although an intriguing and a welcome addition, also did not reflect the original cast of regular characters.

For many who are unaware, an Empath is an actual ancient title of someone from the high clairvoyant realm. Kings and Popes each had their own in the early centuries to tell them when sickness was coming, when enemies were approaching, whether someone was being truthful and even whether they should go to war. They were so easily compromised by the energy of others that they were often sequestered (in lavish chambers) and not allowed to be in the company of anyone other than the person they served or those in question. They were, in many respects, not unlike a great wizard in their time.

Fast forward to the 21st century, looking up the term Empath on social media brings you to the new psychological term which means highly emoted, sensitive to fear & criticism, worry warts who discuss depression, medication & politics. Nothing like the original Empath who intentionally avoids tense subjects and chatty people. The true empath can hold someone's hand and relive something from their past as if they experienced it themselves.

The term empathy is derived from this title, not vice versa as popularly thought today. Therefore empathy is the condition of feeling someone else's experience but really has nothing to do with sympathy or compassion in their modern connotations.

Sorry for the tangent but it hurts me to no end because I, myself, am an original Empath. So while the psychologically sensitive quasi empaths on social media will block you if you mentioned Deanna, she is truly fashioned after one of the original Empaths from the clairvoyant realm and her relationship with Picard is fashioned after the way the popes and kings used them.

Many Trekkies also know, Roddenberry was a huge science buff as well as metaphysics & psychology enthusiast. Much of the technology and spirituality in the original series is based on factual or mythological data or research. Spock is fashioned after a sociopath, for instance, who are popularized in TV and courtrooms for their bad deeds; however they are more predominantly recognized in elite circles as brilliant scientist, successful businessmen, and celebrated entrepreneurs. Their lack of emotional attachment and clear concept of vision make them exceedingly focused & able to adapt. Roddenberry would have been considered a Liberal in his day HOWEVER that is defined MUCH differently then in the current time of extremes.

In TNG, he managed to reinvent the emotionless Spock as a sort of Pinocchio in Data - expertly crafted by Brent Spiner. He also expanded on the sexy dark-skinned character in Lt. Worf whose often very subtle and sometimes not so very subtle insinuations about the Klingons sexual appetite was titillating for the female audience. Overall an excellent series but still very different in many ways from the original.

Both series do not veer very far in inventing alien species, who all stand on two legs and speak English. SNW relies on reminding older audience members of the uniforms and campy makeup & hair; and Spock (whose vocalization here is startlingly similar to Leonard Nimoy).

But there is little resemblance to the original vision of Gene Roddenberry. There are far too many women who are either too cutesy or too severe as if a normal woman couldn't be entertaining or believable, for instance.

Lieutenant Uhura is disappointing because it seems as if she can't decide what gender she is and she sounds and acts like a DEI hire. Captain Pike is too self-absorbed and seems to have no personality. They introduce Sam Kirk who looks nothing like James Kirk. If you can stand the liberal PC all over the show, you will enjoy the somewhat soap opera presentation that focuses on relationships, dialogue, emotions, and impressive CGI rather than strange new worlds.