The Hypnotist
The Hypnotist
R | 10 October 2012 (USA)
The Hypnotist Trailers

After a young woman and her parents are murdered by a killer determined to wipe out the entire family, Detective Inspector Joona Linna works with a psychiatrist to hypnotize the son who narrowly escaped death in order to find the one surviving daughter before the murderer does.

Reviews
Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.
InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Tweekums When a gym teacher is found stabbed to death the police go to his home to inform his family and are shocked to discover that his wife and daughter have been similarly murdered and his son is seriously injured. He is taken to hospital but is unable to recall what happened. Detective Inspector Joona Linna is investigating the case but has no idea how to proceed until it is suggested that he brings in psychiatrist Erik Bark to hypnotise the boy. This leads to some advances in the case but it also leads to Bark and his family being targeted by a mystery character in a hood. This character breaks into their house, drugs his wife and kidnaps his son before making it clear that they want Bark to stop helping the investigation.This is a decent enough Swedish murder mystery even if it felt more like a television drama than a film made for the cinema. The mystery was interesting enough and there were some twists… even if when they are revealed they feel a bit cliché. There is plenty of tension and an impressive finale involving a bus on a frozen lake. The acting is solid without being overly showy with fine performances from Tobias Zilliacus, Mikael Persbrandt and Lena Olin as DI Linna and the Barks. Overall a solid enough Scandi-drama that fans of the genre might enjoy even if it isn't one of the best.These comments are based on watching the film in Swedish with English subtitles.
mickclarke48 The book in my view is very poorly written-chapter a day formulaic stuff (obviously written by two people) . However the plot, or backstory, as they say these days, is quite interesting.So to make a film of a poor book with a good plot and ignore the plot to the extent that you have no idea why anybody does anything is frankly ludicrous.I love Scandinavian noir so could still enjoy the atmospherics,the cinematography and some of the acting but as a coherent whole forget it.Despite the film having more style than the book I wouldn't recommend this to anyone .
jmalmsten It's a strange feeling, watching Swedish genre movies of this kind. Because, even as a swede myself. It never feels natural. It feels like a pale imitation of something that HBO would slap together for an episode of another CSI knockoff.Starting of with the plot. Which is infuriatingly predictable. And if it's one thing a thriller shouldn't force its viewer to do it's to make us sit and patiently wait for the characters to catch up with the obvious conclusions that the viewer has already reached. This makes the few points that the movie does well into forgettable set-pieces. Things will happen that are mildly intriguing. But then a character will do something that just makes you want to slap them. They'll start to whine. Argue about something non-relevant. I swear. For a long time I even forgot that there was a murder in the movie because the story got so bogged down with lazily written marital problems. For most of the film I was simply thinking two things: "Get on with it!" and "Why are we still here?". And even "Naw, it couldn't be that simple? right? oh, it seems like... yup... they really think this was clever?"And then there's the characters. My summary mentions Lena Ohlin. And yes. She did become my biggest gripe here. Every scene she was on screen I grew to dislike her even more than the last scene. When not picking unnecessary fights with everyone she meets she's being either hysterical or well... a bit less hysterical. I don't think it's the fault of the actress. Because I think no one would be able to save the characters written into the film. Bland. Uninteresting. Two-dimensional cardboard cutouts of personalities. Again. It's like watching a bad imitation of a mediocre American cop-show where the filmmakers think they're doing the next Sixth Sense.In many ways it reminds me of the recent series called Äkta Människor. It's that feeling that you're watching a product that the makers are so fond of. But has no idea what has already been done in the genre. Or even worse, they figure that the audience (Swedish middle-class) hasn't seen the films they are influenced by. About the only redeeming aspect here is the cinematography. But even that where mostly drab grey. Dark and bland... But as it seems to have been fairly well received I might be in the minority here. It had a couple of interesting ideas in execution. But at the same time it's just too bogged down in mediocrity to stand out in any way, shape or form.
ssto i thought the movie was quite good while watching it. it is a nice thriller, with suspense to the very end.somewhat strange motivations of the main villain, but then you probably cannot really connect to insane motives.it was kind of strange that while the hypnotist's character was well developed, with character history and family environment, the other main character - the cop, was very under-developed.apart from this and a few weak moments that every decent thriller carries in order to support the storyline, it is a pretty good production