Headspace Review

Written by: Stigma   

Headspace is one of those low budget movies that I started out wondering - how good is this really going to be? Low budget, independant - doesn't usually spell fantastic movie. But this one surprised me, by a lot. I would have truly expected to see it as one the old fashioned USA Up All Night movies.

Headspace opens up with a family celebrating a birthday - two young boys, the older of two is the guest of honor. Mom brings out the birthday cake and sits it down, when suddenly her nose starts bleeding. The father looks worriedly at her, but doesn't do much. Later on, the kids are shuffled out of the house in the middle of the night by their father. They get stuffed into a truck and geared up to leave, just as the mother comes out of the house with some crazy eyes. Good old dad gets out of the truck, and with a 12 guage, blows her head off. Suffice to say the kids are crying.

The scene changes, and now we are following this decent looking college age guy (Alex) around his campus. He comes up to a chess match between a master (Harry) who is kicking everyone's ass and earning money for it. Alex decides to take a seat and play Harry, who mops the floor with him in ten seconds. They shake over it, and suddenly Alex ends up with a migraine. Later on, at home, Alex is reading when his older brother, or adopted older brother (I think, it wasn't clear on who this guy was) comes on over. Alex is weirded out beause suddenly he is super-nerd - able to read and absorb whole works of shakespear and Tolstein in a single hour. Beyond that, he has memorized hundreds of chess moves. The older brother guy goes to leave, when Alex faints.

Next, Alex wakes up in a hospital, where two doctors are discussing his condition. Apparently his cognitive abilites are off the charts, which is surprising the hell out of both doctors. One of them wants to keep the boy to study him, while the other isn't so sure on that. The male doctor (Dr. Ira Gold) goes in to check on Alex, and brushes some loose hair from the kids face (I have no idea why) and tells him that he will be fine. Meanwhile, the headaches are still coming hard and strong for him, and now poor Alex is starting to have visions as well. The two dumbfounded doctors tell him to see this other specialist, and allow him to leave.

The specialist, Dr. Karen Murphy, tries talking therapy with Alex, who has to show off his abilities to memorize amazing amounts of data in little chunks to remind her that he isn't normal. After his first meeting with her, he goes back to school, where he runs across the chess master again, who refuses to take him on. Unmoved, Alex follows the guy to his apartment, where he finds out that Harry is an accomplished painter AND weird chess master. They play, Alex looses again, but on his way out, sees that one of the paintings has a picture of a claw in it, similar to the claw he keeps seeing in his dreams.

Later on, Alex travels to his older brother's apartment, via Fire escape, and is going to burst in on him when Alex finds his older brother occupied with a pair of boobs. In starts one of the hottest sex scenes I have seen in a horror flick in a long time. In the deleted scenes, it was even longer and hotter - holy cow, is it softcore porn or horror here? But hell, I'm not complaining. Anyway, Alex watches this little scene, until his migraine starts and he gets another vision - more people are dying. So far, Doctor Ira, and a couple of the chess losers have been killed, and Alex thinks it's him doing the killing.

That is, until something with a claw tries to climb out of his closet to come and get him. He starts to go a little nuts after this, and we aren't so sure now if he is really seeing these visions or if he is just schizo and whacking people himself. Scared and confused, Alex goes to a church, his friends, his doctor, and finally the chess master - who happens to be Alex's REAL brother. Apparently, there are people who are able to see into these other dimensions. When they are together, they form some sort of link to that other dimension, where murderous demons get to cross over. Alex and Harry are both brothers and links. But Harry wasn't able to live up to the pressure, and blows his own head off. Alex finds him, and we have our first face to face with the monster, who was very well done, by the way.

Pushed past the breaking point, Alex runs from the place and goes to his adopted older brother's house, where he confuses his adopted older brother and his hot girlfriend for the demons. There is a long stand off with a knife until the police get there, and arrest him. Poor Alex ends up in the crazy people's home, restrained, in a padded room on a gurny, doped out of his mind. That is, until Dr. Karen goes to see him, and well, She isn't really Dr. Karen, but one of the hideous demon creatures.

The film was very well shot and directed. The actors, who include some big name stars, did a superb job, even in the intense lovemaking scene. The special effects were well done, and the director did a fantastic job. The sound was there, in the background, but nothing to really write home about. It was an enjoyable film and I recommend it to anyone who needs a thrill over the weekend.