Visitors
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Movie Reviews of Visitors
Movie Review: Psychological Thriller of "Pitch Black"s Radha Mitchell
Summary: 2 Stars
Radha Mitchell (quite impressive in "Pitch Black" against Vin Diesel) stars in this Australian psychological thriller. The co-stars include Suzannah York ("Superman II") and an Aussie veteran Ray Barrett. The director is Richard Franklin, possibly best known so-so thriller "Psycho II."Georgia Perry (Radha Mitchell) is on the last log of the first sole female around-the-world cruise by a yacht. She is not to set foot on the land during the course, and if she uses the engine, she is disqualified instantly. But now her yacht is not moving at all, because of the dead calm that seemingly stopped everything around the ship. She can only talk to her cat (her only partner), and to the finace waiting for her in Australia through the radio.
However, Georgia hears some strange sound, and sees the figures of the person(s) who should never be on board. What does that mean?
"The Visitors" is not a horror film. The film actually tries to include many factors -- thrills, symbolism, meaning of life, etc. -- and achieves none of them. The reference to poetry (S.T. Coleridge) is clumsy or insignificant, and the frequent flashbacks to the heroine's past only detract the claustrophobic suspence of the story. Possibly as psychological thriller it works best, but also it misses potential that the orginal premise has.
Incredibly, there are many (at least three) scenes in which Radha Mitchell's character is in bikini (but her skin does not seem tanned much). How the filmmakers thought about the scenes, I leave it to you, but it certainly does not hurt.
Radha Mitchell shows pretty good acting as the lead, and her meeting with her beloved dad (Ray Barrett) is even touching. Suzannah York's nervous mom is also convincingly portrayed, so while watching I started to think that the filmmakers should have thrown away any "horror" part of the film, and the end result would have been much better. As it is, "The Visitors" remains as it is, just an OK thriller.
If you really want to see a thriller on the lonely boat, see the Aussie film "Dead Calm" starring Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. That was really scary.
Movie Review: UNWELCOME GUESTS
Summary: 2 Stars
Psychobabble is the main ingredient of this "psychological chiller" from down under. Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black)plays a daring young lass who sets out to sail around the world and finds herself out of commission when the wind decides to take a vacation. Meanwhile, after spending so much time alone on the vessel, she's starting to have what could either be hallucinations or visitations from various sources: her mother who committed suicide; her father who dies while she's on the journey; pirates; a pirate she killed who keeps coming back; three ladies who are also dead; and she talks to her cat whom we hear talk back. Director Richard Franklin never focuses on the reality or unreality of these visitors, and one is left digging through immense amounts of Mitchell's guilt over her father's accident which not only paralyzed him but also made him impotent; over her emotionally blackmailing mama who slit her wrists in a convalescent home; her guilt over having an affair with an Indonesian hunk; and of course, the movie's sole purpose seems to be to have Mitchell extricate herself from these guilts. While there are some effectively creepy scenes, VISITORS fails on either being a tense psychothriller or a lukewarm horror thriller. No commitment from the writer or director leaves Mitchell in deep water, despite her competent performance. Susannah York is delightfully campy as the mom; Ray Barrett appropriately paternal as her pop; and Domenic Purcell as her lover and partner, Luke, could use some vitamins to energize his understated performance.
Artsy to the point of irritation, VISITORS doesn't chill, thrill or entertain.