The Risen (2003) (TV)

Director:

Jeff Beesley

Writer:

Jim Osborne (writer)

Release Date:

11 May 2003 (Canada)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Tagline:

Amanda's changed... a little boy holds the key.

Cast

Alberta Watson	...	Amanda Knowles
Eugene Lipinski	...	Darren Knowles
Wendy Anderson	...	Katherine Simms
Daniel Maslany	...	Bobby 'Tiger' Simms
Peter Outerbridge	...	Nick Simms
Helen Shaver	...	Lynn Todd
Ian Black	...	Priest
Mike Fleischhaker	...	Intern (as Mike Fly)
Kelly Handerek	...	Chairman
Gerald Lenton-Young	...	Doctor Sutton
Barry W. Levy	...	Doctor Harvard (as Barry Levy)
Scott Martin	...	School Boy
Amy Matysio	...	Nun
Andrea Runge	...	Judy Lawson
Rob van Meenen	...	Ron Lawson

Also Known As:

La ressuscitée (Canada: French title)

Country:

Canada

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada

Company:

Independent Moving Productions Inc. (IMPinc.)

If you prefer your soul-movies to be credible - "The Risen" is an option!

Slavish followers of my former cinematic ravings (such ARE out there!) may wonder why my reviews came to a grinding halt in 2005. The simple fact is that I tired of the abusive and sub-intellectual feedback that they generated. The fact that films were being regurgitated additionally, on a brain-dead assembly-line-of-remakes, soured my inclination to comment further. The days of "Midnight Cowboy," "Jacob's Ladder," "Goodbye Mr. Chips," "Blade Runner" and their ilk, long dead, I deduced.

Last night I watched "The Risen." It affected me sufficiently that I harbored the desire to comment on it. Is it a masterpiece? nope! What it IS though is another interesting Canadian flick that transcends its limited budget...a trait exhibited by "Ginger Snaps" before it. What we have here is basically a "displaced soul" concept, that leaves crap like "The Unborn" floundering in its cosmic amniotic fluid.

Suffice to say, Amanda Knowles is rendered operable upon, courtesy of an ectopic pregnancy. When she awakes, she recalls nothing, including her husband. This is not necessarily a bad thing, given Darren Knowles considerable total lack of appeal, one ponders. From this point on, her life becomes a real-time nightmare, helped not one jot by her inexplicable fascination for a young student at her husband's upmarket college of learning.

T'would be churlish of me to comment further except to say that despite having the outcome telegraphed early, the very last line of this film will probably upset...in a heart-warming fashion, the aware viewer.

Alberta Watson gives us a very believable characterization, as does the always reliable Helen Shaver as her sister Lynn.

Interesting also that the film was co-executive-produced by Anthony Ginnane who gave us the equally offbeat "Men with Guns" and the minor Aussie classic "Sally Marshall is not an Alien."