My take (spoilers)


Usually in psychological dramas with ambiguous supernaturalism, the viewer can never be sure how much is delusion and how much is supernatural. But here we know exactly how much: 1) the blind sister really is psychic (and so is he), 2) he's deluded about the sisters because he misinterprets his visions, 3) the ghost daughter is just mistaken identity. So there is no lingering mystery really.

Of course, it's not really about mysteries nor the supernatural; it's a rumination on grief, intimacy, and fear. And that mostly works.

There's too much intercutting between scenes. It really worked in the daughter's death sequence, but not so much in the other scenes. And then at the end there was a mix cut of flashbacks and visions, but it wasn't like he was solving a mystery; more a 'life flashing before his eyes'.

The sex scene is clearly simulated but it's more naturalistic than a lot of movie sex scenes and way more believable than the blood. (But that's what they had to work with at the time - look at the fake-looking blood in Martin, and that had effects maestro Savini. Black and white movie effects hold up much better.)

It's from the 'clip-clop era' of sound design in which footsteps on any surface sound like a person in hard-soled shoes on a stage, but it's more subtle than in cheapo films. (That's not a slam of the film; it's more of a technical observation of the period.)

Dwarves, like albinos, rarely catch a break in horror/suspense movies.

Realism is enhanced by showing what background characters are doing before and after main characters appear. Maybe these scenes went on a beat too long because I became away of what the filmmakers were doing and why.

It's pretty good: well acted, expert directing and cinematography, but I didn't find it especially compelling. 6/10.

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I prefer mine:

Donald Sutherland plays a real world Willy Wonka (purple coat) who after having Agustus Gloop drown in a muddy lake at his home, runs away to Venice with a new wife and tries to find religion. Instead, he is reminded of the tragic death throughout Venice. He is eventually shanked in the neck by a irate Oompa Loompa, who has been terrorizing him the entire time.

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