Hallucinations macabres

I only found out that this was a sequel (to the similarly-themed VISIONS OF MURDER) after I was done watching it. VISIONS OF TERROR is a boringly routine '90s-style TV movie about a psychic psychiatrist who helps detectives to investigate the murder of a cop. Luckily for her, she has frequent mental 'flashes' of the murderer and his crimes, so tracking down the bad guy shouldn't be too hard, should it?

You'll stop caring long before the end because this is a poor TV movie in every respect. Everything about the film is sanitised and predictable, and the clichéd direction is no help. Barbara Eden was a star back in the day on TV in I DREAM OF JEANNIE, but I was too distracted by her face lift to notice her acting. Michael Nouri plays the romantic interest. As for the identity of the murderer, well, this is one of those productions where the cast list itself is the only clue you'll need.

Dr. Jesse Newman (Barbara Eden) is a psychologist who receives "psychic flashes". After a cop (Michael Nouri) loses his partner to a ruthless serial killer, he becomes Dr. Newman's patient. When Jesse begins having visions of the incident -seeing through the victim's eyes- she starts sleuthing around on her own.

The more Jesse digs, the more it becomes clear that things are a bit more complicated and far more dangerous than they seem to be.

EYES OF TERROR (aka: VISIONS OF TERROR) is an above-average made-for-TV thriller that showcases Ms. Eden's dramatic skills. It's especially recommended for those who only know her from I DREAM OF JEANIE...

Barbara Eden is back as psychologist Jesse Norman with the mental flashes from the 1993 TVM Visions of Murder, now working for the San Francisco police department. This time she is helping in the investigation of the shooting of a policeman, Craig Lockwood, and still having those flashes to help.

The teleplay gives nearly as much coverage to Jesse's relationship with her newly found daughter, Kimberly (Missy Crider), which gets a pay-off in the climax. There is some humor eg after reading an arrested man his rights, he is told to shut up; wheelchair-bound people block the exit of a police station in a chase scene, and a line "She didn't die from natural causes in her closet". However the reasons for Jesse's flashes are inconsistent, a major suspect disappears midway, and we get the usual demeaning comment how Jesse's professionalism is being compromised by a romantic agenda, since she is a woman and single.

As the partner of the officer killed, Michael Nouri contrasts with Eden, since he is so much the more interesting performer. She is competent and can carry the offhand comedy she is given, however ultimately dull, and doesn't even match Crider's emotion in one scene.

Director Sam Pillsbury uses the camera cliches - slow motion, hand-held, tilted for the flashes, and in one scene of Eden walking down a hallway, actually incorporates three set-ups to give us 1. a pan past her 2. a following shot, and 3. a subjective POV. There is the obvious use of a stunt double when Eden is being chased by a car, however a redemptive spilt red wine on white carpet to suggest a murder.

Psychologist Jesse Newman sometimes works with the San Francisco Police Department. At the start of the movie, she has to talk a man holding a child out of jumping off a building. This situation affects her because when her daughter Kimberly was that age, Jesse had been told the baby was stillborn, so she did not know her then.

After she is given a good luck charm worn by Craig Lockwood, a cop who was fatally shot, Jesse starts seeing visions again. She counsels Lt. Zaccariah, but it doesn't seem to help much. As a result of her visions, Jesse is able to help track down a crazy man who is soon arrested. I won't say who that is or whether he really killed Officer Lockwood, but the actor's performance was definitely one of the more colorful ones in the film.

Jesse turns sleuth to find out exactly what led to Lockwood's shooting. She has some really entertaining moments and manages to get on Capt. Armstrong's nerves. The mystery turns complicated and somewhat dangerous, and several more people have to die.

A large part of the movie concerns Jesse's relationship with her newly found daughter Kimberly, who was stolen from Jesse just after she was born. This added a lot to the movie for me.

I didn't know this was a sequel until I came to this site. I actually watched this because I liked Barbara Eden so much on "I Dream of Jeannie" and in other roles. I liked her so much here, especially in the scenes with Kimberly, that I wished this could be a series.

"Dr. Jesse Newman" (Barbara Eden) is a psychologist who works part time for the San Francisco Police Department handling certain situations that involves talking to people in great need of a skilled communicator. However, what only a few people know is that she occasionally receives psychic visions concerning people or events which she obtains by touching certain objects. For example, in one specific incident she is able to see through the eyes of a police officer who was recently killed in the line-of-duty by a suspect still at large. Unfortunately, the captain of the police department "Captain James Armstrong" (Steven Anthony Jones) doesn't exactly harbor any enthusiasm for her gift. For that matter, neither does "Lt. David Zaccariah" (Michael Nouri) who was the partner of the police officer shot--at least he wants nothing to do with her psychic visions at first. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay crime-drama which was limited to a certain degree by its made-for-television format. Even so, the addition of Barbara Eden help to a certain extent and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.