The Sender

The 1980s are known as the golden age of slasher movies. It's worth noting that not all horror flicks from the era of the Rubik's Cube were slashers. A really good non-slasher is Roger Christian's psychological thriller "The Sender", about a man whose dreams manifest themselves. There are some VERY intense scenes. I liked the whole sequence in the operating room.

As is often the case with horror flicks, "The Sender" features an eye-opening cast and crew. Roger Christian won an Oscar for Art Direction for "Star Wars" and received a second nod for "Alien", but later directed the infamous "Battlefield Earth". Kathryn Harrold used to be married to MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell. Željko Ivanek was born in Ljubljana but raised in the United States and has appeared in a number of movies and TV shows. Shirley Knight has been in movies for over fifty years. Paul Freeman played the villain in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". And then there's writer Tom Baum: he also wrote wrote the 1975 animated feature "Hugo the Hippo", one of the most WTF movies ever.

Anyway, it's a neat movie. I recommend it.

PS: "The Sender" opened the 1982 Avoriaz Film Festival.

My review was written in October 1982 after a Columbus Circle screening in NY.

"The Sender" is a superbly-crafted modern horror picture, credibly using telepathic communication as its premise, for creating nightmarish situations. Boasting spectacular, realistic special physical effects by Nick Allder, the Edward S. Feldman production is certain to engross and frighten terror-film fans and stands a chance to break out into general audience acceptance, along the lines of "The Omen".

Thomas Baum's screenplay, unfolding with almost no subplots or distractions, concerns a suicidal young amnesiac (Zeljko Ivanek) picked up by the police after attempting to drown himself in a lake near the fictional town of Corinth, Georgia. Taken to a psychiatrist clinic, he establishes a telepathic link with the [psychiatrist Gail Farmer (Kathryn Harrold), causing her to experience involuntarily his violent nightmares.

The "sender" cannot control his telepathic powers, and when Dr. Denham (Paul Freeman), Farmer's superior, subjects him to shock treatment and surgical experiments, he sends telepathic images of horror which disrupt the entire hospital. Farmer, who is visited by the sender's mysterious mother Jerolyn (Shirley Knight), tries to cure him by tracing back to what caused his nightmares and telepathic outbursts, with Jerolyn the link to a solution.

Roger Christian in his debut as a feature director marshals the material into a very serious, portentous film, punctuated at irregular intervals by shocking and graphic special effects set-pieces. The basic gimmick of telepathy plays well, since on-screen it amounts to hallucinations. By stressing low-key, underplayed performances by his lead actors. Christian scrupulously avoids the potentially risible moments which have caused many major horror films to lose the audience's involvement.

One problem with "The Sender" is that its trim, no-nonsense approach is a limitation as well as an asset. Various religious angles ad =vanced in the opening are downplayed, as well as the "Shock Corridor" group of fellow patients. Even lead doctors Farmer and Fenman have no relationships or characteristics apart from their contact with the sender. This streamlined, basically "safe" approach denies the film the mythic or romantic potential present in its supernatural predecessors.

Cast is good within script limitations, as Harrold represents an attractive, sympathetic heroine and Ivanek is a mesmerizing, troubled youngster in contrast to his overt loonie debut as the hitchhiker in "Tex". Acting honors go to Knight as the mother who is not what she appears to be, creating a chilling, spooky presence with a minimum of fuss. Technical credits all support the realism established by Nick Allder's effects outbursts, which were executed on the set rather than via post-production opticals or animation. Dynamic use of sound, plus Trevor Jones's ethereal score, drives home the scares.

The Sender has some interesting concepts of the supernatural being housed in science and psychology. The picture unfortunately suffers from the rigors of making monsters out of science and doctors as they ignore and disbelieve the supernatural. The depiction of mental illness is poorly conveyed, but for a film made in 1982, this could have been progressive at the time. The film lacks the larger structure and bite that the Dead Zone was able to capture but a year later. (And no doubt due largely to Stephen King's superb story and Cronenberg's talent to maintain the story but transform it into film.) Acting is generally decent and rises to the occasion. This, and the unsuspected reveal at the start of the 3rd act brings this film to a 6 given the "movie of the week" nature of the story and plotting, as well as the lackluster ongoing tension that wasbnot sustained in this film. Tired of watching the Dead Zone? This one is worth a watch, but don't expect too much from it.

Fitfully effective creep-out, one that sneaked in and out of theaters but managed to find a small audience once it premiered on cable in the mid-1980s. Lovely Kathryn Harrold is very good as a dedicated doctor attempting to understand a handsome young mental patient (Zeljko Ivanek) who is both telepathic and wildly unbalanced. An odd, off-putting piece, though certainly a curious one filmed quite well on a low-budget; its predilection for smashed glass and marauding insects and rodents may turn many viewers off however, and Shirley Knight's performance as the sender's mother nearly lapses into camp (though I actually welcomed this!). ** from ****

I got this film because I read about it from others and it sounded interesting. A horror film that I thought I had never seen! Well, I did indeed see this film as a kid. As soon as it opened I recognized it as the opening scene of the dude putting rocks in his jacket and walking into a lake sparked the memory rather quickly. Well, I kept watching as it has been forever since I had seen this film and it had some good moments, but it could of been a lot better too.

The film does start with a young man trying to commit suicide. He is promptly taken to one of the worst mental health facilities I have ever seen. This is mainly due to what they do throughout the film, I mean all it is missing is that nurse from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" to make it the the absolute number one worst facility. Well a female doctor wants to assist this man who is suffering from amnesia while another doctor wants to use every extreme method of treating patients hoping to zap the young man out of being suicidal. Well, this young man has certain powers...it seems when he dreams or has nightmares he has very powerful telepathic abilities. These abilities make the doctor trying to help him and others in the facility see horrific things. Add the man's mother who appears from time to time seeming to want to help, but her motives are not clear.

The film has its moments, it really is not a hardcore horror film though. In fact, if one were to rate it now it would probably get a PG-13 rating except for one scene near the end involving the young man and another patient after the young man tries to beat up a television. Still, it keeps you wondering where it is going...I am just not entirely satisfied where it ended up. I just find it hard to believe they would have done what they did at the end to the young man as it seems pretty obvious he still needs some guidance. The gore is minimal, and you get scenes with rats and insects as well. The most disturbing scene was one involving a procedure being done on him as the cut look really good.

So this film had its moments, but it was just an okay film to me. Nothing super great or anything. It just seems like it needed more of a point or something. The thing with the mother that was revealed at the end was a bit too obvious as well. Still, it is a lot better than a lot of horror films and it does feature deadly dreams before the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise launched.