Visions criminelles

There are a lot of movies about eyes; The Eye (Western), The Eye (Eastern), Blue Eyes, Evil Eyes and Shutter spring to mind. Michael Scott's Deadly Visions is not the best the genre has to offer but it's also certainly not the worst either.

Deadly Visions, also released as Possessed, sees, no pun intended, Ann Culver, played by Nicollete Sheridan, losing her eyesight in a car accident but regaining it after a successful eye transplant. Unfortunately, post op, she is not really in control of everything she sees. (Just for the record, eye transplants aren't possible, yet, though parts of the eye can be transplanted.)

The film is made for television and is actually better than OK. Nicollete Sheridan is a competent actress and carries this project with ease. Is there anyway of getting away from the lawsuit? Sheridan unsuccessfully sued Desperate Housewives for 20 million in 2012 and again unsuccessfully appealed in 2017. Anyway Deadly Vision was made in 2004, 8 years before all of this but 20 million is going to keep coming up.

The film. Deadly Vision is in the tradition of the Hands of Orlac and Hands of a Stranger though about eyes. The previous owner of her eyes is trying to contact Sheridan's character Ann Culver, through her eyes, and catch her murderer. Julie Angeletti, the original owner of the eyes, was supposed to be a suicide but we all know otherwise.

There is the obligatory cute daughter, Sandy played by Ginger Page. The eventually, well, sort of helpful policeman Lt Austin Burke played effectively by Phillip Granger; the sympathetic best friend Cara Tapper played by Sarah Deakins, the quirky technician, Steven, at the eye bank played by Michael Eklund, and on it goes. Just an observation, Steven wears Hawaiian shirts so straight away we know he has to be unconventional.

Patricia Idlette as Jasmine, as the gifted 'psychic', deserves especial note. Hers is not a large role but she carries it off very convincingly.

The movie is in a sense a police procedural with Sheridan filling the role of the dogged 'police officer'. She doesn't believe Julie was a suicide but rather a murder and her eyes and some determined investigative work eventually realise an outcome.

As is the way with made for television movies there are lots of close-up head shots and head and shoulder shots. Apart the central premise, the plot doesn't stretch credibility too much. There some outside scenes and the general tenor of the film is suburban. Michael M. Scott, the director deserves kudos for his one industrial set scene. The usual is a handful of 44 gallon drums and an empty packing case and a lot willing suspension of disbelief. To his credit, he actually goes to an industrial site to film.

The English born Sheridan has a lot of experience to bring to this movie and it shows. Deadly Visions is a better than average mid-day movie and this in the main down to its polished star.

(There is no point using the same standards for scoring with all movies. Deadly Visions is not Casablanca and so shouldn't be compared with it regarding scoring. It should be compared with like movies.)

When I saw this DVD in my local supermarket in the bargain bin I decided to give it a try and to my surprise I'm glad that I did. I expected the film to be terrible but it wouldn't be a waste of money as it was so cheap. I enjoyed watching the film even though the plot may be unoriginal and the acting may be poor(Nicollette Sheridan shows what bad direction can do as she is a much better actress in Desperate Housewives than in this), the film did offer some jumps and an unsuspected twist at the end. Overall I give this film just a 4 out of 10 mainly because of the end twist and the fact that the film made me think but I would still recommend the film to people who like a mind boggling film and surprise endings.

Two years after a car crash, when Ann Culver (Nicollette Sheridan) loses her baby and becomes blind, she does a corneal transplant and sees again. However, she has frequent nightmares and visions of the death of a woman. Her husband John Culver (Gordon Currie) goes with her to the ophthalmologist that operated her and he says that the surgery was a success. However, Ann believes that her donor was murdered, and she sees the last moments of her. Ann goes to the psychologist, but she is convinced that her donor was killed. She succeeds in finding the identity of the donor, Julie, and her parents say that the police concluded she had committed suicide. Ann looks for Detective Austin Burke (Phil Granger) and he says that Julie committed suicide. Ann is not convinced and searches for new evidence, affecting and endangering her personal life.

"Deadly Visions" (2004) is a reasonable thriller for a TV movie. The plot has the usual cliches of films made for TV, but the result is not bad. Nicollette Sheridan is very hot in 2004 and makes this movie worthwhile watching to kill time. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Visões de Outra Vida" ("Visions from the Other Life")