Headspace

"Headspace" is a strange little creature feature that I decided to give a rent when I saw it at the video store. The film centers around Alex Borden, a normal guy in his mid-twenties living in New York City. While Alex may appear to be normal, but his life is slowly spiraling out of control. After meeting a mysterious artist/chess-master, Alex begins to gain more and more knowledge and becomes smarter and smarter, to the point where it's no longer for his own good. Something is causing him to tap into a different region of his brain, and he suffers from horrible headaches and night terrors because of it. After being referred by Dr. Bell (Dee Wallace-Stone, of "The Hills Have Eyes" and "E.T".), Alex visits a psychologist, Karen (the lovely Olivia Hussey, of "Black Christmas" and "Romeo and Juliet"), who studies patients similar to Alex. But soon after, people around Alex begin to die in horrible ways, all murdered by a savage, unseen beast. Is any of it related to Alex's troubled childhood? Or what really is happening to him?

I mainly decided to rent this film because, 1) the cover art was creepy, and the back of the box had nothing but praise for the film, and 2) Olivia Hussey and Dee Wallace-Stone were listed in the cast. While the film wasn't a complete waste, it wasn't wonderful either. The storyline to the film may sound interesting, and I thought it did myself. While it is interesting, it's also a little bit cloudy and some things are far too unclear, left without any explanation at all. The problem with this is that these elements in the story need some type of explaining, because otherwise they make little to no sense. The plot is a little convoluted, but this film does have some good offerings too. The cinematography is nice and stylish, and the creature in the film is presented realistically. It's normally difficult to make a monster movie where the monster itself is presented in a way that doesn't throw all logic out the window, and this film succeeds at that. The monster isn't too overdone and it's believable enough.

There is quite a good amount of gore in the film as well, there's more than plenty of monster mutilations to please all of those gore hounds. The film boasts a mildly impressive cast, including two well-known actresses in the horror genre. The lead, Christopher Denham, who plays Alex is convincing in his role as the troubled young adult. Dee Wallace-Stone has a fairly small role as a doctor, and is also excellent in her short on screen time. And Olivia Hussey, who starred as the lead in my favorite horror film of all time, "Black Christmas", plays Alex's doctor/friend. She is given very little to work with, but she is also wonderful in all of her scenes (which also wasn't a whole lot, I would have liked to see her a little more often). The film's surprise ending caught me off guard, and while it took me a minute to understand what had happened, it was a fitting way to conclude the story.

All in all, "Headspace" is a just about average monster movie. It's not too overdone and is far from being corny, but the plot becomes a little cloudy at times and is hard to follow on some occasions. It does boast some very good actors though, and plenty of monster-murders for anyone who enjoys a good creature feature. I'd say it's about average, but I have to admit it was better than I was expecting. Trust me, there's much worse out there. Worth a rent if you're into this kind of stuff. 5/10.

Headspace isn't a completely successful film, but if there was an award for 'most ambitious screenplay', this flick would certainly win it. Andrew van den Houten's debut feature demands respect from the audience for its charming originality, and for the way that it manages to pull many different story elements together. The film is definitely hard to categorise, and works from a psychological base, which is backed up nicely by some good old fashioned scenes of gore. I'm guessing the director was hampered by budget or pressures from elsewhere, as several elements of the film don't feel properly fleshed out, and given how much thought has gone into the film; I find it hard to believe that the writers would just neglect some areas. The film focuses on Alex Borden; a young man who meets a chess player one day and suddenly finds his intellect expanding. This, however, leads to nightmares, and Alex soon finds his world crumbling around him when past traumas meet with real threats from 'demons', which Alex has began to see; and which are killing off people he knows.

The great thing about watching this film is that it's never clear where it's going, and director Andrew van den Houten does a good job of building up the mystery without ever giving too much away at once. I'm deliberately focusing more on the good elements of this film simply because the majority of horror movies coming out recently are tired and derivative, so it's nice to see one that tries its best to do something original. I guess the main negative element of the film is that, while the story plays out well, there's no real resolution to the film, and while messages such as 'ignorance is bliss' stand out from the story, no actual messages are played with much. The director has assembled a strong cast of lesser known stars, which help to provide the film with a lot of cult value. Unknown actor Christopher Denham does well in the lead role, and he's backed up by such cult stars of the past as Sean Young, Olivia Hussey, William Atherton, Dee Wallace and, best of all, Udo Kier; who lights up the screen with a cameo performance mid-way through. Overall, Headspace might not be completely successful; but it's a great attempt, and I'll be keeping my eye on what van den Houten's does next.

HEADSPACE is about Alex (Christopher Denham), a young man who has somehow opened a gateway to an alternate dimension causing it to bleed into this reality. Unfortunately, some murderous demons have also crossed over in the process. Either that, or Alex is losing his mind.

This movie has a heavy, grim atmosphere of gloom throughout, including Alex's childhood, where he and his brother witness their mother (Sean Young) mentally disintegrate.

This is an exceptionally bleak horror film.

Co-stars Dee Wallace, Olivia Hussey, Larry Fessenden, and William Atherton. Also watch for Pollyanna McIntosh in her debut role...

Before I even properly read what exactly the story of "Headspace" was about, I already knew damn sure that I wanted to see it, simply because it assembles one of the most impressive B-movie casts of the last 15 years! Even though they all just appear in supportive roles, "Headspace" managed to snare legendary names such as Olivia Hussy (who still looks yummy even though well passed 50, I may add…), Udo Kier, Dee Wallace-Stone, Mark Margolis, Sean Young and William Atherton! With names like that, who needs extra motivations to buy a ticket? Now that I've seen the movie during a festival screening, I regretfully can't claim that it's a genuine masterpiece but nonetheless it's a truly creative and intelligent production that definitely has more trumps than just an attractive cast. Young director Andrew Van den Houten dedicated an equal amount of energy to telling a good story AND supplying the film with exhilarating gore! We're introduced to Alex Borden, a confused young man who carries some severe childhood traumas around with him. Every morning when he wakes up, Alex discovers that his intellect and storage capacity has remarkably increased but; even though this sounds fantastic, he begins to suffer from terrible headaches and nightmarish visions about demons. When people in his surrounding start to get brutally slaughtered, Alex (righteously?) fears that he might be the murderer without fully realizing it. The ideas and sub plots of "Headspace" are so many-sided that the film might have worked even better as a mini-series! Now some of the potentially very interesting story lines (like Alex' family background or the dubious intentions of his doctors) look slightly underdeveloped even though I'm sure they were initially meant to get processed more carefully. But hey, I'm really not complaining since this probably resulted in more action and gore! "Headspace" contains some very effective shock-moments and graphic make up effects that will surely appeal to all horror fans! The set pieces and locations are convincing, with a very nice portrayal of typical New York City suburbs and street life. The camera-work and choreography is terrific, at times even downright artistic, and the screenplay even manages to be educational! How many horror movies can honestly say that teach you interesting facts about the game of chess? Recommended!

This movie isn't really very good. It starts out good, but goes downhill within about twenty minutes. Dee Wallace is in it, which is what drew me to the movie. The story starts as a young man, Alex, who has well above cognitive level and intelligence.

Frankly, the film doesn't make a whole lot of sense in less than a half hour. If you have a free afternoon, watching this on cable might be OK, but don't waste your money purchasing this.

If someone who has seen this could explain the final scene with Alex and his final doctor, Olivia Hussey, I would love to hear it. Again, that was another scene that had absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the film.