Headspace (2005)

Director:

Andrew van den Houten

Writers:

Steve Klausner (writer)
Troy McCombs (story)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Evil Has Many Faces.

Plot:

25-year-old Alex Borden is handsome, charming, and intelligent. In fact, he may be too smart for his...

Plot Keywords:

Voyeurism | Brother Brother Relationship | Priest | Shot In The Head | Homosexual

Cast

Olivia Hussey	...	Dr. Karen Murphy
William Atherton	...	Dr. Ira Gold
Sean Young	...	Mother
Mark Margolis	...	Boris Pavlovsky
Larry Fessenden	...	Father
Erick Kastel	...	Harry Jellenik
Dee Wallace	...	Dr. Denise Bell (as Dee Wallace-Stone)
Udo Kier	...	Rev. Karl Hartman
Christopher Denham	...	Alex Borden
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Karen Anderson	...	Desk Nurse
Jeanette Arnone	...	Mother (KGB Lab)
David Austin	...	Female Creature
Elwaldo Baptiste	...	Highwater, Guard #1
Teodorina Bello	...	Hospital Cleaning Lady
Stephen Benson	...	Social Worker
Matthew Biancaniello	...	Creature
Richard Blauvelt	...	Slattery, Guard #2
Paul Boritzer	...	Police Officer #1
Dr. R.D. Bowers	...	Doctor #1
Agata Bowman	...	Wheel Chair Patient
John Bradford	...	CT Scan Operator
Guiseppe Cataldo	...	Guard #1 (KGB Lab)
Sigmund Cranmore	...	Additional Park Background
Eli de Mir	...	Scientist
David Denham	...	Orderly
Alexander Drake	...	Additional Park Background
Johnny Egan	...	Additional Park Background (as John J. Egan III)
David Glen Eisley	...	Janitor (as David Eisley)
India Eisley	...	Martha
Nat Gelfinbein	...	Additional Park Background
Raymond Gutierrez	...	Boat Basin Witness
Morris Katz	...	Street Artist
Paula Kelly	...	Alice, Ambulance Driver
Alexandra Klausner	...	Additional Park Background
Steve Klausner	...	Additional Park Background
Vassily Kolganov	...	Additional Park Background
Paul Kurzeja	...	Patient #1
Tamas Lassu	...	Link #1
Michael Locascio	...	Jason's Father
Quinn Lujan	...	Young Alex
Daniel Manche	...	Young Harry
Romy Marqvardt	...	Nurse
Troy McCombs	...	Homeless Outside Church
Pollyanna McIntosh	...	Stacy
Jennifer Mekalonis	...	Nude Model In Painting
Laura Minch	...	Homeless Outside Church
James Morance	...	Additional Park Background
Irwin Nayman	...	Additional Park Background
Carl Peters	...	Patient #2
Mercedes Renard	...	Reporter Connie Sanchez
Regis Schultis Jr.	...	Man In Church
Abe Shainberg	...	Game Spectator
Josh Shainberg	...	Chess Player in park
Leo Shvedsky	...	Guard #2 (KGB Lab)
Santo Silvestro	...	Game Spectator
Paul Sparks	...	Jason
James Spruill	...	Lloyd Carter
Cornelia Szustka	...	Lab Technician
Marc A. Thomas	...	Doctor #2
Craig Tollin	...	Additional Park Background
Robert Tollin	...	Additional Park Background
Robert Tonino	...	Stacy's Boss
Andrew van den Houten	...	Charlie, Ambulance EMS
Carola van den Houten	...	Bag Lady (scenes deleted)
Tatiana Vidus	...	Model
Yan Vizinberg	...	Link #2
Mark von Kreuter	...	Mark, Ambulance Orderly
Todd Walker	...	Game Spectator
Todd Walker	...	Obsever
Patrick Wang	...	Sammy Chung
Justin Wheeler	...	Police Officer #2
Timo Wild	...	Resident
Holly Wilson Miller	...	Attending Nurse (scenes deleted)
Matthew Wolinski	...	Guard #3 (KGB Lab)
Brandon Xuereb	...	Additional Park Background

MPAA:

Rated R for strong horror violence/gore, sexuality and language.

Runtime:

89 min | 95 min (International version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | Germany:18 (unrated version) | USA:R (cut)

Filming Locations:

Katonah, New York, USA

Company:

Modernciné

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: At the main characters first visit to the "artist's apartment", he stands and looks at a painting (the one of the naked woman lying on the couch). He stands still to look at it and as the camera shifts from right to left around him, in the background the TV, (which is turned off) picks up the legs of someone walking, yet both characters are standing perfectly still.

Soundtrack:

DIALYSIS DAZE

Strange But Watchable Indie Monster Movie.

"Headspace" is a strange little creature feature that I decided to give a rent when I saw it at the video store. The film centers around Alex Borden, a normal guy in his mid-twenties living in New York City. While Alex may appear to be normal, but his life is slowly spiraling out of control. After meeting a mysterious artist/chess-master, Alex begins to gain more and more knowledge and becomes smarter and smarter, to the point where it's no longer for his own good. Something is causing him to tap into a different region of his brain, and he suffers from horrible headaches and night terrors because of it. After being referred by Dr. Bell (Dee Wallace-Stone, of "The Hills Have Eyes" and "E.T".), Alex visits a psychologist, Karen (the lovely Olivia Hussey, of "Black Christmas" and "Romeo and Juliet"), who studies patients similar to Alex. But soon after, people around Alex begin to die in horrible ways, all murdered by a savage, unseen beast. Is any of it related to Alex's troubled childhood? Or what really is happening to him?

I mainly decided to rent this film because, 1) the cover art was creepy, and the back of the box had nothing but praise for the film, and 2) Olivia Hussey and Dee Wallace-Stone were listed in the cast. While the film wasn't a complete waste, it wasn't wonderful either. The storyline to the film may sound interesting, and I thought it did myself. While it is interesting, it's also a little bit cloudy and some things are far too unclear, left without any explanation at all. The problem with this is that these elements in the story need some type of explaining, because otherwise they make little to no sense. The plot is a little convoluted, but this film does have some good offerings too. The cinematography is nice and stylish, and the creature in the film is presented realistically. It's normally difficult to make a monster movie where the monster itself is presented in a way that doesn't throw all logic out the window, and this film succeeds at that. The monster isn't too overdone and it's believable enough.

There is quite a good amount of gore in the film as well, there's more than plenty of monster mutilations to please all of those gore hounds. The film boasts a mildly impressive cast, including two well-known actresses in the horror genre. The lead, Christopher Denham, who plays Alex is convincing in his role as the troubled young adult. Dee Wallace-Stone has a fairly small role as a doctor, and is also excellent in her short on screen time. And Olivia Hussey, who starred as the lead in my favorite horror film of all time, "Black Christmas", plays Alex's doctor/friend. She is given very little to work with, but she is also wonderful in all of her scenes (which also wasn't a whole lot, I would have liked to see her a little more often). The film's surprise ending caught me off guard, and while it took me a minute to understand what had happened, it was a fitting way to conclude the story.

All in all, "Headspace" is a just about average monster movie. It's not too overdone and is far from being corny, but the plot becomes a little cloudy at times and is hard to follow on some occasions. It does boast some very good actors though, and plenty of monster-murders for anyone who enjoys a good creature feature. I'd say it's about average, but I have to admit it was better than I was expecting. Trust me, there's much worse out there. Worth a rent if you're into this kind of stuff. 5/10.