Shadows of the Mind

"Shadows of the Mind" gained a sort of modest cult status since 2005 because, suddenly, it was discovered that director Bernard Travis was actually a pseudonym for Roger Watkins, and he's the crazy guy who also made the notorious low-budget snuff-shocker "Last House on Dead End Street". Cult movie or not, the film always remained very obscure and hard to find, but where I live - in Belgium - there are a handful of VHS-copies in circulation. It certainly isn't the worst psycho horror flick I've ever seen, thanks to a few nasty murders and twisted moments, but particularly the first hour is slow, long, and unendurably repetitive.

Elise Halsted is a twenty-something girl residing in a mental institution since many years, because she helplessly witnessed how her daddy and stepmother drowned in the pond at the estate surrounding the family mansion. Her doctor thinks she's cured and sends her back to the mansion, but he clearly didn't earn his PhD in medicine, as Elise is obviously still mentally unfit. The first hour is an endless series of blurry flashbacks of her parents drowning, dialogues playing over and over in her head, and the poor girl literally begging the good doctor to stay at the asylum. Finally, back in the house, someone is committing grisly murders (one with a scythe!) but it isn't too difficult to figure out who's the culprit. Occasionally atmospheric, but mainly very dull and predictable, the only highlights in "Shadows of the Mind" are the few gory kills and the role of the doctor's nymphomaniac fiancée.