Evil Has a Face

Good yarn about a series of child molestations/murders taking place in a small Minnesota town. When the most recent victim goes missing the police call in a sketch artist who has had success in bringing criminals to justice with her detailed drawings. When a witness is found and the sketch is completed the artist is confounded because she thinks she knows the felon. A manhunt is started for the man leading the authorities down a road to a series of misleading conclusions. Exciting, although unrealistic, finale.

This is one of many movies that were 'prescribed' to me by my shrink who believed in their effectiveness in therapy. At first I could not understand the connection between a film and a psychological problem. But then it became clear that both are about a 'fantasy'. Almost everyone in society is living a fantasy that can be as far removed or as close to reality as the person wishes. Of course, if the that person is a head of state dragging his country into war or running after Utopian dreams then the harm done is that much more greater.

Now a film is also a fantasy, but it is the very exact and deliberate fantasy of the director. When we see a movie we are transported into that fantasy and we live it in vivid detail and color in all our visual and mental senses. We also live it in our subconscious senses as well, and herein lies its value. Seeing what has been thus far deeply embedded and intertwined inside us now on screen and out in the open helps begin the separation process (between reality and fantasy). Since the distinction between the fantasy of the movie and your current reality is very clear, and since you willingly entered the movie fantasy by your own choice until it overlapped with your inner similar fantasy; you can get to experience the willful 'exiting' of the movie fantasy that would subsequently help you to 'exit' your inner fantasy in the future. Well, it's a little more complicated than that, but this isn't the best place to discuss in deep psychotherapy techniques.

Of course I'm not suggesting that, in and of its self, a movie would cure anybody of anything; that has to be the work of a professional, and it's his or her decision as to whether or not to incorporate it into the therapy process. But I am curious as to whether anyone else has ever 'used' this film (or any other movie) in this sense or at least experienced their psychological effect either consciously or subconsciously.

Always like the great acting of Sean Young,(Gwen), and in this picture she does a fantastic job as an sketch artist along with some Spiritual Powers which help her seek out the EVIL that seems to haunt her and Brighton Hertford,(Bria), a little girl who has been abused and needs help. However, Gwen also has some hidden secrets in her past childhood which also seem to haunt her through out the picture. There is a great scene in the picture where Bria manages to hand Gwen a gun under the table and all Hell breaks loose. Gwen does draw a wrong sketch of a man that Bria does not seem to recognize and it does give the film more suspense. If you want to get away from watching the World News for awhile, this is a great film that will entertain and will keep your interest right to the very END. Enjoy!

I'm just gonna comment on the actors in this film. They were all excellent! Billy Moses as the Sympathetic Sheriff Tom Sawyer, looked very good and did a wonderful acting job as always!The film takes place in a small rural Minnesota town, where a kidnapping of a little girl has taken place. The little girl is found and Police Sketch Artist, (Sean Young), spends time with the girl and gets a good sketch of the suspect. What she finds out is shocking. I highly recommend this film!

This movie is about a female sketch-artist who is called out to a small rural town where a little girl has been kidnapped and may give a description of the perpetrator. The sheriff suspects he may have been involved in more, and the sketch-artist must confront horrors from her own past.

This is actually a pretty good, low-budget thriller. Sean Young is great, and William Moses (of Perry Mason fame) is sympathetic.

The movie's main achievement is avoiding the traps of improbability (there's only one) and cheap scares, where lesser well-thought out movies go for the Michael Myers/Jason Voorhees thing of the killer being everywhere.

Sean Young acts well and believably - what happened to her career, though, which seemed so promising at the time she had a small role in Wall Street and Blade Runner. She needs to pick movies with more potential.