Dead Again (1991)

A woman who has lost her memory is taken in by a Los Angeles orphanage, and a private eye is enlisted to track down her identity, but he soon finds that he might have a past life connection to her that endangers their lives.

Director:

Kenneth Branagh

Writer:

Scott Frank

Stars:

Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Andy Garcia

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kenneth Branagh	...	Roman Strauss / Mike Church
Andy Garcia	...	Gray Baker
Emma Thompson	...	Grace / Margaret Strauss
Lois Hall	...	Sister Constance
Richard Easton	...	Father Timothy
Jo Anderson	...	Sister Madeleine / Starlet
Patrick Montes	...	Pickup Driver
Raymond Cruz	...	Supermarket Clerk
Robin Williams	...	Dr. Cozy Carlisle
Wayne Knight	...	'Piccolo' Pete Dugan
Patrick Doyle	...	Cop #1 - Hospital Elevator / Party Guest #2
Erik Kilpatrick	...	Cop #2 - Hospital Elevator
Gordana Rashovich	...	Handcuffed Woman - Hospital Elevator
Derek Jacobi	...	Franklyn Madson
Obba Babatundé	...	Syd - Restaurant Owner (as Obba Babatunde)

Storyline

Mike Church is a Los Angeles private detective who specializes in finding missing persons. He takes on the case of a mute woman who is suffering from a total amnesia and doesn't even know her name. She keeps having nightmares involving the murder of a pianist, Margaret, by her husband Roman Strauss in the late 1940s. In an attempt to solve the mystery about her identity and her nightmares, Church accepts the help of an antiquary who arrives to offer his services as a hypnotist. The hypnosis sessions soon begin to reveal some surprises.

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Plot Keywords:

hypnosis | private eye | amnesia | scissors | past life regression | 

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Taglines:

A Mystery About True Love...And Certain Death.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 August 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Volver a morir

Filming Locations:

380 South San Rafael Avenue, Pasadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,479,395, 23 August 1991, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$38,016,380

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Mirage Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Black and White Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The convent is the same building that was used for exteriors of Bruce Wayne's house in Batman (1966).

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Goofs

In the opening credits, the newspaper stories (other than the obvious headlines) consist of the same five paragraphs printed 37 times in succession.

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Quotes

Cozy Carlisle: Hey, thumbdick, I was a damn good shrink. Nineteen years I worked with a lot of people through a lot of shit. OK, I slept with a patient or two. It's not like I didn't care about them. I loved being a doctor. I used to not charge half my patients. Then the fucking state comes along, they send in some bitch undercover, and I'm fucked. Life isn't fair, is it?

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Crazy Credits

Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh are each credited twice for their dual roles in this movie.

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Jeff Goldblum/Aerosmith (1993)

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Soundtracks

Board Review
by Otis Conner (as Otis Connor)

User Reviews

AN EPIC CLASSIC THRILLER!

Dead Again is an absolutely amazing film! To call it anything less would be a complete insult.The film is so multi layered in charachter development, story growth and my god those fantastic twists and some truly winning and believable performances. Where have thrillers and films like this gone. They kept you up at night and got your adrenaline going. You didn't know what was happeneing until exactly the end and the tension building up was gratifying without the brilliant and dead on conclusion. where have they gone? Emma Thompson stars as a beautiful amnesia victim whom awakes in catholic shelter suffering from violent nightmares. Kenneth Brannagh stars as Mike Church a detective who becomes smitten with her and decides to help to find her identity. He enlists the help of a psychic and through those sessions they discover her past life and how she was murdered and how it's now relaying to her recent one. Now it's up to them to discover the facts before history tries to repeat itself.