SPOILERS
The opening credits remind me of Alfred Hitchcock’s 'Psycho' opening credits.
The introduction of Hedwig was a good scene. KC wakes up to Claire and her best friend creeped out, with who we know as Barry sitting in the doorway in new clothes. KC gets up. After introducing himself, Hedwig starts talking cryptically.
“I have red socks. He’s on the move. He’ll do awful things to you.”
'Wait, WHAT?'
Hedwig looks joyful and gleeful at the thought of someone hurting these three girls.
KC is the only one that asks,” How old are you?”
With a straight face, Hedwig says,” Nine.”
No one gives an inch in this scene and that’s when you realize that Hedwig is deadly serious, he seriously perceives he’s nine years old. KC talks to Hedwig and tells him that Dennis is coming for him. We assume who we’ve seen earlier is Mr. Dennis and Ms. Patricia. I like that we can gather this from conversation, that we don’t have to be led through exposition or anything for Hedwig. I feel like film has gotten to a point that it doesn’t have to happen via exposition or something to know who's who, where people are, etc.
When the girls figure its drywall, and they try to find a hollow spot, these are the loudest hostages in human history. The amount of noise they make is enough to get someone with damaged ears to wake up.
Barry visits Dr. Fletcher again. I liked this scene because it shows how much this therapist knows about her patients, all 24 of them. Dr. Fletcher reads him like a book, and it’s great to see.
Barry and the therapist continuously come back in, which I like. The execution could've been better, but the idea I like. The idea of their relationship is super interesting. The idea being, Dr. Fletcher wants to help them, but she can't let them hurt people or themselves. Are her patients are trying to outsmart her, or are they trying to let her help them?
The dance sequence reminded me of the one in “Silence of the Lambs” that Buffalo Bill does, but at the same time it’s funny, because all we see at the end are his legs sticking up from the bottom of the shot.
Then we see Kevin's mom, him hiding from her as a little boy, from Kevin's POV, as she yells at him. The actress that plays his mother is frightening. She comes at him with a crochet hook (by the looks of it), and yells and gets super red faced. She’s on screen, and I got scared for a second! It’s like the Mommy Dearest hanger scene!
Kevin, when summoned by KC, tries to understand what exactly happened by asking KC. KC explains what happened as best she can, even though she’s in shock. Kevin tells her where his gun and ammunition are. You feel sympathetic for Kevin and KC, but then one of his personalities takes over. Barry comes in after a couple of other personalities. Then Hedwig, then Patricia, and Patricia leads into The Beast.
Flash to Brad William Henke approaching her after her dad’s death. He says he’ll take good care of her, as apparent suicidal tendencies run in the family. You feel sick to your stomach for KC right then and there, and you want to whisk her away from him.
The ending was a little too fast for me. Once The Beast walked away from her, it was like,” Ok, hurry up! Let’s wrap this up!” in visual depictions.
James McAvoy is a fabulous choice as an antihero with Dissociative Identity Disorder. I was thoroughly afraid of him at times. The way he changes from one identity to the next is amazing and frightening to watch. He wears each set of clothes, speaks in each voice, all in this time frame like he’s been doing it for years, and it doesn’t seem forced or fake in any regard. It's practically seamless. Apparently, no personality knows what the other does, but they all know they exist here. A lot of the time, you don't know if you should laugh, cry, or scream.
It raises a lot of questions as a theme. How do we see people with mental conditions? We look at it as a curse, a sickness, but maybe it’s a gift after all. The human brain is incredible. We hear these unbelievable stories of humans lifting extremely heavy things or speaking languages they didn’t know.
What do we really know about DID? And people who have that condition? What if our view has been wrong the whole time, and those with mental conditions are truly “more than?”
Per NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), this condition is thought of as a way someone’s brain copes with severe trauma, or it’s correlated, at the very least. Half of the population of adults in the United States experience some level of disassociation or another, but DID itself is pretty rare.
Out of $13.50 USD AMC charges, I say it’s worth $8.10 USD. It’s good, it could’ve been better, but there’s always room for improvement. Go see this film, it may just get you to reconsider your views on mental conditions, and perhaps the true potential of people who were born with/developed them..jpg)