The Eavesdropper (2004)

The secretary Liza Raines becomes deaf after a shooting in a robbery, is evicted and later she is found by the social assistant Grant Kane living in her car. Grant brings Liza to a ... See full summary »

Director:

Andrew Bakalar

Writer:

Andrew Bakalar

Stars:

Lucy Jenner, Costas Mandylor, John J. York

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lucy Jenner	...	Liza Raines (Patient 14)
Costas Mandylor	...	Aiden Porter
John J. York	...	Grant Kane
John de Lancie	...	Dr. Gene Kramer
George Takei	...	Dr. Hsieh
Tucker Smallwood	...	Gen. Humes
Ben Donovan	...	Jason
John McCann	...	Secretary of Defense
Billy Rieck	...	Serial Killer (Ronald)
Rafael H. Robledo	...	Agent Perez (as Rafael Robledo)
Deborah Dir	...	Emily, Patient 13
Iona Morris	...	Gen. Humes' Aide
Gilbert Glenn Brown	...	Leon / Night Nurse
Sam Scarber	...	Detective Watkins
Jessie Sanders	...	Damian

Storyline

The secretary Liza Raines becomes deaf after a shooting in a robbery, is evicted and later she is found by the social assistant Grant Kane living in her car. Grant brings Liza to a Transition Shelter to be rehabilitated, and she accepts to be submitted to an experimental treatment never tested in humans in the Center for Hearing Research. The leader of the research Dr. Gene Kramer is pressed by the CIA agent Aiden Porter that is funding his experiment to test his vaccine of restoration of cells in fifteen patients, and he advises that the rats subjected to the experiment became psychotic. The patients also become psychotic and suicidal, with the exception of Liza, the patient 14. She achieves the ability of hearing frequencies emitted by the brain and read minds as a side effect. Porter recruits Liza to work in CIA disclosing the innermost thoughts of the suspects, but later Liza finds his real hidden intentions.

---

Plot Keywords:

patient | experiment | psychotic | cia | pill | 

---

Taglines:

What you hear can kill you.

---

Genres:

Drama | Thriller | Sci-Fi

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, some sexuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Patient 14

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gemstar Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

When the police shoot the boy in the school and are right next to Liza, she doesn't react to the loud nearby gunfire even though she has "super" hearing. Ironically, it was a gun fired near to her ears that first damaged her hearing, thus causing her to try the experimental drug that gave her "super" hearing.

User Reviews

On the other hand...

Contrary to the previous reviewer, it is precisely the fact that you have to constantly hear multiple streams of thought of a few people at the same time, and decide what is "noise" and what is "important" what made this movie most interesting and enjoyable for me.

It is a psychological experience that is exactly the opposite of what you normally do all day long... paying attention to the one stimulus that you already know is important in the given situation while what is not important automagically gets filtered out by your senses.

For a layperson (regarding the complex machinery of your senses) this movie gives you a "hands on" way of appreciating the valuable work your senses do for you all the time, filtering out irrelevant information for you. Even if you are acquainted with the science behind the senses, this movie shows you how you probably would go insane if this filtering were not part of our makeup.