DEADLY REVISIONS (2013)

Deadly Revisions (2013)
Directed by: Gregory Blair
Written by: Gregory Blair
Starring: Bill Oberst Jr., Cindy Merrill, Mikhail Blokh

DEADLY REVISIONS (2013)
Written and directed by Gregory Blair

Waking up in hospital after being found unconscious at the bottom of the staircase of his home, author Grafton Torn is unable to remember what happened to him that fateful night. Unable to walk without the aid of a stick, Grafton takes up his best friend Deter’s offer of staying at his woodland cabin to recuperate and hopefully regain his lost memories. Under hypnotherapy with therapist Ally Morris, fragmented parts of Grafton’s memories appear to come back but what do they mean? And do his nightmares have anything to do with lost memories?

Gregory Blair’s creepy thriller DEADLY REVISIONS stars genre icon Bill Oberst Jr as the brilliant but troubled author Grafton Torn who seems to be plagued by things that go bump in the night. With frightening visions whenever he sleeps and with reality blending with dreams, he’s unable to keep a lid on his sanity. Fearing he may have a mental condition like his father had, Grafton yearns to find out the truth about what happened to him in the hope he can solve the chilling experiences that haunt him in the dark.

DEADLY REVISIONS is a film that slowly creeps up on you, sucking you into Grafton’s world. Though we occasionally meet other characters including Grafton’s best friend Deter, Grafton’s ex-wife Cat and the hypnotherapist, it’s very much Grafton’s tale. It’s fortunate that he’s a very likable character, even if he’s clearly broken and a tad reclusive, and as a viewer, and whilst watching the film, I really wanted him to find out the truth about his accident and hopefully put the terrors to bed. With nightmare images of inanimate objects moving including a creepy baby doll as well as a sack-head, axe-wielding maniac lurking in the darkness, there’s plenty to give you the chills and realise that something isn’t quite right. With the backstory of the troubled relationship between Grafton and his ex-wife and his reports of inanimate objects moving prior to his accident, there may be more to everything than he first thought.

I quite enjoyed DEADLY REVISIONS as it chooses to concentrate on the characters and tension, leaving the scares to play second fiddle. For better or worse, you invest in these characters and whilst our heart sides with Grafton our head is very much in agreement with the hypnotherapist and Deter, people who can see daily life as it truly is. Could Grafton’s vivid imagination, which has served him so well in his career, be his undoing or is there more than meets the eye?

Chilling and downright creepy, DEADLY REVISIONS is a splendid, slow-burning mystery thriller.

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