The Mind's Eye

To call The Mind's Eye a homage to Scanners might be stretching it. A reboot of the Scanners series, maybe. In the long run, this movie is a decent thriller that would probably wow those who never saw the Scanners series. One thing that annoyed me regarding the patients VS the guards is there wasn't any conflict. All the patients had to do was stare down the guards, and that's that. The one guard near the end had it right. He told the lead patient to stare down at the ground or else! It didn't work, but it was a better solution to handle the patients.

Too often I make the mistake of being captivated by a film's poster. The amount of movies I've seen based purely on their poster is higher than I'd care to admit. And alas, once again I've made the mistake. 'The Mind's Eye' has a clever, eye-catching poster indeed, but the film can in no way live up to it. In fact it doesn't even come close. It's a snoozefest. Evidentally psychokinesis does not make for a very good film subject.

The entire plot revolves around an insane doctor who wants psychokinetic powers for himself. Though the audience can't help but wonder, why? What exactly is this going to add to your life? What about having these powers could possibly be worth the effort and sacrifice you are clearly going through to get them? It just doesn't make any sense. Then add in the fact that the two protagonists are about as unlikable and dull as film characters come and you're left with a pretty unwatchable product. Director Joe Begos seems aware he doesn't have the strongest script (dispite having written it himself) and seemingly tries to make up for in the final third with excess gore, but even that falls flat with a lack of originality. There's really not a whole lot to see here.

This entire film was very slow. Nothing really happens besides some brief action every now and then. The acting is mediocre at best and the plot is very derivative. The only good part is the film's third act, which features some cool gory kills. The effects aren't the best but they're definitely gory enough to prevent the movie from being a complete waste of time. If the only reason you want to watch the movie is the gore, then skip to the last 20 minutes, you won't miss anything.

Almost a competent film, there isn't an original thought in this movie. Whoever made it saw Scanners and said, Hey rather than do yet another low budget zombie movie, let's do Scanners. And that's what they did. It almost a paint by numbers recreation of Scanners right down to the mind off (face off) at the end. Not horrible. But not good either.

As a child of the 80's, I grew up with these kinds of films; films about people with special powers and government cover-ups. This film does a great job of evoking that same feeling, with a decent script and a pretty decent SFX budget. The acting, however, was beyond hacky, and really marred the integrity of the film. Almost everyone involved in this movie was just awful, with overacting and poor delivery abundant in every scene. It was like watching a student film at times, with people who have no business being in front of a camera. With a more talented cast, this would have been a worthy addition to 80's horror films. As it stands, it is a decent film with some really bad talent attached to it. Watch it for the carnage and gore, but be advised, you will be rolling your eyes every time someone attempts to deliver their lines with a straight face.