Movie Review: Regression (2015)

Regression is a 2015 psychological thriller movie directed by Alejandro Amenabar. The movie stars Ethan Hawke, Emma Watson, Devon Bostick, and David Thewlis and follows a young woman (Emma Watson) who claims a devil - worshipping cult physically abused her. In addition to that, we uncover the secrets behind Watson's characters family and just how dysfunctional it is. Regression was a film that I saw on Amazon Prime. I streamed it as part of my Amazon account and I was not expecting much. With a very low rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a low critical reception, I'd expected this to be a pretty dull horror film with no substance. I was wrong, way wrong at that because this movie was actually a solid good horror film. Regression was very well made and the biggest compliment I give to this movie is how actually scary it is. This movie has moments where things get very very scary and I was surprised at how much horrific images were in this film. It spooked me out and so on that level it succeeded. The acting was also great. Ethan Hawke does a great performance as he slowly loses his mind, as does Emma Watson. My favorite role by far was David Thewlis. He's a very underrated actor and his performance in this movie was by far one of his best. He was fantastic and brought a lot to his character that I do not think another actor could've done. My biggest issue with this movie is that while this is an original, scary, functional horror thriller the ending message behind the film is not. It's not an original message and while I will not spoil what it was, it's something that films like The Crucible and Hunt have all used. I liked the overall product and how it presented the message, but the takeaway somewhat dissapointed me. I also have to be honest in saying that besides Watson's portrayal of Angela I cannot recall a single characters name. The characters themselves do not stand  out in the movie, yet the actors who portray them do. I like what this movie was doing and these people, but it doesn't quite work as an original or unique piece of cinema. Overall, Regression was a good and quite scary movie that succeeded excellently in that territory, but lacked a certain originality that I wanted to see in this film. 3 stars