Visitors

The general premise of this film is a time-worn reliable gimmick: the lone woman in jeopardy. In this case, an interesting slow-build up to the main plot device keeps audiences engrossed: a 25 year old adventuress embarks upon a solo sailboat journey around the globe. While suffering through an extended period of being becalmed in tropical waters, she begins to believe she is being visited by ghostly apparitions who intend to kill her. Initially, the plot is intriguing as we wonder whether these nocturnal fears are real or imagined. However, as the film progresses, it deviates from being a straight forward thriller and introduces a lot of awkward goobledy-gook in which our heroine is visited by ghosts of her departed parents, menacing pirates, long dead relatives, and ultimately some over-sized spiders! Before long, the tiny vessel is as crowded as the S.S. Poseidon. The acting is very credible and the photography is also admirable, but director Richard Franklin makes the cardinal sin of showing us far too much of the mysterious visitors and their omnipresent status eventually makes them no more menacing than party guests who refuse to leave even though it's the wee small hours of the morning. The cumbersome screenplay degenerates into a confusing mess, and a completely unsatisfying climax that betrays our expectations that there will be a "sting in the tail" ending that explains most of what has preceded it. In all, a noble effort, but a failed one.

"Visitors" has got a strong and likable lead. Being a fan of `Pitch Black' I decided to check this one out at the Fantasy Filmfest. The premise is promising and the atmosphere on the isolated sailing boat comes across nicely. At the theatre the surround sound is very effective because mysterious noises come from different directions. The film isn't boring but it isn't new and original either. The ending is disappointing so my rating is a solid 5. I expected a tense psycho thriller, but it isn't very exciting. You've seen everything in other and better films before.

A confident young Australian lady Georgia Perry is attempting to sail around the world solo (although her cat Taco is there for the ride too) on her 38-foot-yacht Leander. But the wind has fallen and now she's stuck adrift in a foggy stretch of the Indian Ocean. It's against the spirit (and rules) to use the engines. So she keeps herself occupied by using her two-way radio. However several days have past and her situation is the same, but Georgia's deprived mind is starting to play tricks on her. Where dreams turn into delusions and emotional scars of the past seem to plague her aboard the ship. From talking to her cat to encountering pirates. Now she's trying her best to depict what's a real threat and what's not.

Richard Franklin's "Visitors" is a broodingly ambitious exercise, but because of a terribly flawed Everett Deroche's screenplay (which mixes a variety film's premise together), it becomes one hell of a bumpy sea ride on calm waters. The film plays out like a psychological mood trip, where the alienation of the lone protagonist is beautifully illustrated and manipulated by Franklin that it brings us into her universe (or mind-set). In doing so it makes the ever-increasing delusions and stark reality hard to distinguish. Now who's real? Was it in her head? Or was she payed a visit by spirits? This ambiguity is never quite cleared up. Franklin being a true fan of Hitchcock manages transport that factor to the screen with slick finesse and good timing by stacking one sudden, but effectively subtle jump after another that heavily relies on the anxious intensity and implied sounds. However at times the unnaturally forced script (mostly the family / love life drama side of the story) is hard to digest and can take away from the ominous build up with poor inclusions that only muddle or hinder the atmosphere and narrative. The fear and feelings that are cooked up in the jerky material can be an up and down experience. It just lacks some bite and becomes incredibly too light within its cleansing context that its leads to a blandly unfulfilling payoff.

It's tautly penned out and unpredictably captivating in spots, but it's the arresting visions, Nerida Tsyon-Chew's hauntingly melancholy music score and a suitably acute lead performance by Radha Mitchell that does the job. Mitchell manages to capture all the emotions and portray them in a well-balanced and visually genuine performance that creates empathy. Susannah York who plays Georgia's mother has some striking scenes and manages to give a thoughtfully well layered, but quite chilling performance. Ray Barrett brings a lot hear to the role of Georgia's father Bill. Another well-done element was Ellery Ryan's effortlessly novel cinematography that set up the atmosphere and disorienting air exceptionally well. Even the screeching sound effects and shadowy dark lighting adequately comes together in certain jittery set pieces.

Simply an okay feature highlighted by some impressive aspects and its eerie tone, but with a stronger screenplay it could've been a promising foray rather than a scratchy one.

Georgia Perry (Radha Mitchell) is a determined woman who sets out to sail solo around the world. Along the way she's plagued by what could either be hallucinations or ghostly visitations. Georgia finds herself up against pirates, hordes of enormous spiders, and the specter of her insane mother (Susannah York).

All this, while Georgia carries on a two-way conversation with her cat.

This is one bizarre movie. Ms. Mitchell carries it all herself, and does an admirable job. Her character must face not only various phantoms, but also personal demons and debilitating guilt.

While the ending is rather hokey, it's an exhilarating ride getting there...

A fine cast, a cute cat, and a swell premise are given the further benefit of the involvement of director Richard Franklin and writer Everett De Roche, both of whom have proven themselves before. There are problems that start to rear their head kind of quickly, though, and what they all rather boil down to is that the pacing feels overly swift in every regard, and the movie at large is brusque and forced. These issues apply to Franklin's direction here above all but extend just as much to the writing (dialogue, characters, scene writing, narrative, use of flashbacks, and plot development), acting, editing, and cinematography. This would be troublesome no matter what genre space the title played in, but becomes more so considering that there's a significant psychological element to the proceedings - a thrust that necessarily requires a thoughtful, delicate touch, which 'Visitors' plainly lacks.

The film is still enjoyable as we see it, certainly. There are terrific ideas here, as small as a single scene or line of dialogue that could have been latched onto, and all the fundamentals are in place for a spooky good time. The trouble is that every last piece of it is presented so bluntly, curtly, and loudly that it is stripped of a substantial portion of its power: every nightmare, dream, or vision, further illustration of Georgia losing touch with reality, and otherwise incident; so much of the camerawork, cuts, and sequencing; and even too much of Radha Mitchell's acting, under these conditions. I don't wholly dislike this, but it's no more than half the picture it could have been if a more nuanced, tactful, understated approach had been taken toward every component part. As it stands any possible thrills and chills are diminished, and even basic viewer engagement. Entertainment remains, but how much?

I appreciate the production design and art direction, stunts and effects (even the digital ones, if and when used sparingly), and costume design, hair, and makeup. Franklin illustrates a keen eye at times for shot composition. Though the same isn't necessarily true of how it is employed here, I like Nerida Tyson-Chew's music in and of itself. But why is it that the detached voice of Steven Grives is the one facet of the movie to consistently demonstrate a measure of subtlety? Why is it only well within the last act that it feels like the feature at large is firing on all cylinders? Why does the ending, specifically, represent a complete tonal shift? There was potential here, and there were also too many choices made that shoved that potential into a neat, small, useless box. For everything that 'Visitors' could have been, it ends up being no more than middling, and becomes an exercise in discovering all the ways that the title could have been improved upon. Here is another instance where I'm glad for those who get more out the flick than I do, but I'm just rather disappointed. Check it out if you want, and it's surely best suggested for those who are major fans of someone involved, but there are too many better ways to spend your time to bother much with this.