UNSPEAKABLE (2002)

Female psychiatrist Diana Purlow (Meyer) is in the middle of testing a new cutting edge computer system in an attempt to retrieve memories hidden deep within the minds of death row inmates. After one such session with Cesar (Rodriguez), an inmate who has always' protested his innocence over the brutal murder of a border patrol officer, becomes convinced that his imminent execution must be halted. As her attempts at saving Caesar from the electric chair seem doomed, her path collides with multiple serial killer Jesse Mowatt (Grover) who's previous crimes seem destined to be lost in the killers mind, until Diana connects him to her mind probing machine.

This movie attempts to meld science fiction with a more traditional psychological thriller and firmly roots its action within the confines of a state prison, home to a block of death row inmates who's relative peace is about to be shattered by a dark and mysterious murderer. Its opening focus is mainly on the character Cesar and his relationship with psychiatrist Diana Purlow. Although the story moves along with some promise showing an interesting back story to Cesar's predicament, this is simply a distraction to the upcoming arrival of sicko serial killer Mowatt who, on his violent introduction to the prison system thanks to the red neck prison warden (Hopper), intrigues the prison psychiatrist as a possible subject to help test out her computer system.
The lovely Dina Meyer produces a decent performance given the material she has to work with and it’s easy to see why her appearances continue to please both the genre audience’s eyes and intellect. 2004’s well received horror sleeper ‘Saw’ once again produced a solid performance from Meyer but a chance to play a more gravely role instead of the victim would be refreshing. Hoppers hard-bitten deep South typecasting is getting a little old now as he chews his way through yet another B-movie set and the Fahey/Henriksen combination are so under used its almost criminal. Pavan Grover, who plays the evil Elvis impersonator Jesse Mowatt, has to juggle triple duties as the films writer and executive producer going some way to explain why his acting performance left a lot to be desired. Seeming hopelessly out of his depth against the might of Hopper, Henriksen, Fahey and Meyer, Grover struggled with the intensity of some of the emotional scenes, often under and over playing several key interactions effectively cheapening an already questionable story.

The films ‘R’ rating allows for several glorious moments of gore and violence for those fans with more ‘basic’ requirements and so splatter enthusiasts should feel right at home thanks to some effective special effects including a brief but gleeful shot of a torn off face (the shot appears in its entirety in one of the DVD special feature.) Those of you who prefer a more subtle physiological approach to their films will be sadly disappointed due to the films rather limp ambiance which fails to fully capitalise on the movies demonic themes which, coupled with the claustrophobic environment of the prison system, should have produced a much more effective air of tension.
Maybe if Grover had submitted his screenplay to 20th Century Fox, they might just have agreed to produce it as part of an X-Files series because that’s all it really merits. Replace Dina Meyer for Gillian Anderson and throw in David Duchovny instead of Lance Henriksen and voila! Despite the best efforts of some of the cast, the story meanders along in a very detached and pedestrian manner jumping from present to previous day without much rhyme or reason and is simply too nonsensical to be credible. It’s a mixed up meld of crazy science fiction mind reading contraptions, demonic serial killers and strange little worms that live where you’d least expect them! TV fodder for sure, but catch it if your up in the night and can’t sleep.

Score

3 / 10