HYPNOTIC (REVIEW)

Dir. Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote

Reviewer. Martyn Wakefield

A young woman seeking self-improvement enlists the help of a renowned hypnotherapist. But after a handful of intense sessions, she discovers unexpected and deadly consequences.

Kate Segal is beginning to make a dent in the horror genre with a close collaborations with Mike Flanagan through OCULUS, HUSH, HAUNTING OF... and GERALD'S GAME to name a few recent hits. Here she appears alongside Jason O'Mara as her psychiatrist with an ability to place his patients under hypnosis for what unravels to be his own sinister purpose.

HYPNOTIC is pretty by the numbers and feels more like a well written and acted TV movie than a thrilling mainstream blockbuster. Fortunately, with the addition of Dulé Hill as the detective hot on uncovering the truth, it all comes together as a much better film than it's predictable premise may tease.

Yes, this is by the numbers procedural thriller stuff and it doesn't add much to the genre in terms of originality but it has it's moments as the lead pair play and cat and mouse for survival. O'Mara hams it up in full villain mode but is no less entertaining and HYPNOTIC may not cast you under a spell but it does while away 90 minutes with a little no-brainer fun.