Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as a girl haunted by visions and goes in search of the reason behind them in rural Texas. Unfortunately, the results are okay but are short on frights.
Joanna Mills (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is a successful representative for a transportation company. She grew up in Texas but has not been back there since her youth. Seems that she and her father (Sam Shepard) had a car accident when she was a little girl and Joanna has been acting strangely ever since the accident.
Joanna and her father
She is prone to disturbing visions and cuts herself to make the visions go away. Joanna is only returning to Texas to score a contract with a local bigwig, but the visions begin again and stronger. She’s seeing a woman and a bar that she discovers in the small town of LaSalle. She’s also being stalked by her ex-boyfriend Kurt (Adam Scott). One night she’s attacked by Kurt but is saved by Terry (Peter O’Brien), a man she saw at the bar and in her visions. Soon she’s solving the mystery behind the visions, but she finds that some of the past is still alive and she might be the next victim.
Sarah Michelle Gellar stars in what’s billed as a supernatural thriller, but thoughts of another Grudge or Buffy should be set aside. The movie takes its time to unspool and some will interpret this as the film being slow, others (like myself) will have watched enough supernatural thrillers/horror movies to know exactly what’s going on. Both could lead to boredom.
The movie is okay and looks decent, but it doesn’t plow any new ground. Depending on your experience with these types of films, you’ll probably see the plot twists coming a mile away. It’s nice to see Sam Shepard but he’s in it so little that it’s no more than a cameo really.
Joanna has to deal with a stalker and mysterious visions
They mention that it’s supposed to be a thriller about reincarnation, but as I watched the documentary I was only confused since Joanna is a bit old when the “reincarnation” is supposed to take place. This is cleared by the film’s alternate ending but the way it plays in the movie makes me think of it as more of a possession flick. The performances are okay, but nothing to really set it apart from other films from this genre.
The Return is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include the 8 minute “Making of The Return.” It has interviews with producer Jeffrey Silver, producer Aaron Ryder, writer Adam Sussman, director Asif Kapadia, Sarah Michelle Gellar, production designer Therese Deprez, Adam Scott, and Peter O’Brien.
Next are 10 minutes of deleted scenes that include a bit more of Kurt the stalker, Joanna’s deal not going go well, and a different introduction at Terry’s house. Finally there’s a 5 minute alternate ending. [spoiler]This one is more along the lines of the reincarnation angle and has Joanna being born during the car accident instead of being a young girl[/spoiler]
The movie is okay, but dedicated genre fans will see where all of it is heading quite a short ways into the proceedings. Sarah Michelle Gellar fans will want to check it out but others might want to consider a rental.
Joanna is haunted by visions of a strange woman
The Return is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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