Bloodtype Online

    

      “The Sender” is another Legend Films release as they keep pumping out cult films without any special features. No big deal as the Bloodtype Online staff gets to check out a number of obscure films that are seeing their first legit release.

      “The Sender” begins with a teenager sleeping on the side of the road. He then wakes up and walks towards a lake that is surrounded by visitors and swimmers. From here he stuffs his jacket with rocks and begins to walk deep into a lake. He doesn’t mind that the kids will witness his suicide attempt. He is very focused on killing himself in a ludicrous way. His attempt fails and off he goes to the state mental facility. He is appointed Dr. Gail Farmer. She seems like the strict doctor type, vocally that is. She is not as tough as her superior Dr. Jospeh Denman. She begins her first encounter with the teen labeled as John Doe 83 with a copper style interrogation. Soon John Doe 83 claims to be Jesus Christ but that is all too familiar of a claim as she has heard it before. In fact one of the inmates goes by the name of “The Messiah”. This gentlemen is a poser compared to John Doe 83.

      Soon after leaving the hospital Gail has visions of John Doe 83 in her bedroom toying with a necklace he commented on earlier in the hospital. She was sure, absolutely sure that he broke into her place. The cops come over and find no evidence of a break in. Also John Doe minutes after her claim was found sound asleep in a guarded and locked hospital. The cops think her claim was that of a dream. 

      More hallucinations occur with Dr. Gail Farmer but are they hallucinations? It seems John Doe has telepathic powers and she sees his dreams. These dreams don’t answer everything for the viewer and gives the film a number of fun set pieces. When doctors attempt to put John Doe 83 in shock treatment, the entire group of inpatients, nurses and doctors in the mental facility experience John’s jolting dream. The doctors an nurses float like astronauts in a slow motion sequence that is intense to say the least. Let the bodies hit the floor! The music and sound design was easily two of the biggest highlights of this film.

      John Doe 83’s mother Jerolyn (Shirley Knight) makes an appearance as much as she makes disappearances. She is another of one of Dr. Farmer’s visualizations that other people might not see, but she should take dead serious. 

      The film leaves some things to be desired as far as the story goes, but I can’t say it wasn’t a fun popcorn flick. Its not a kick ass kind of fun time, but every now and then there was some nasty dream sequences that viewers should get a kick out of. Actually it seems that John Doe 83’s dreams we’re Dr. Farmer’s actual experience, or are they? They are shown but they are lurid hallucinations most likely. Though she dealt with a lot of torment, she still always showed care for her patient. 

      The John Doe 83 character was fun. I don’t know if he was in fact Jesus ,but he had some interesting powers that he seemed rather tortured over. In one scene The Messiah said that John Doe 83 has made it impossible for him to move his head or else it would fall off. Later in the film when The Messiah is berating John, the audience gets to see the authenticity of John Doe’s skills.  

      The film has mystery that’s answered and unanswered but big deal. After John’s wacky Shock Therapy gone wrong, the doctors discovered he is a grown up sender case. Dr. Joseph Denman believes that when babies are around 7 months old, the mother and son sometimes have a way of silently communicating with each other. He believes John Doe 83 is the first case of this. All of this is sci/fi mumbo jumbo that adds up to fun explosions and mayhem. If I piece everything together and try to be rational nothing has much reason except to create chaos. That may have been the sole purpose for this film but the bottom line is it entertained. There was a couple of quirky nutjobs, an interesting ethics battle between doctors that never took over the already interesting main subject and a fine performance by Zeljko Ivanek. He constantly seemed disturbed, tortured and saddened. His relationship by Shirley Knight made for good drama. He was scared to death of her for some reason. Kathryn Harrold as Dr. Gail Farmer carried the piece and had lots of fun things to do emotionally and physically as she constantly had psychological stuff to deal with as she worked on patients and dealt with her own illusions. She also got into one car chase and nearly every mini-disaster sequence in the film. 

      The ending is mildly satisfactory and far from original but it left the story open so the viewer can imagine more happenings on their own. No matter what watching mental patients slit their wrist or escape lobotomies is always fun. It’s just a place no one truly wants to be and it always makes for interesting horror. The film isn’t a gore fest but there are some nasty visuals throughout the film. Not nasty in a limbs all over the place sense. You’ll get rats, a creative beheading, manipulative characters that are scarier because how sweet they seem and chaotic scenes with stunts, slow motion doctors flying through windows and blazing fires. Not a bad time at all. There’s a number of tense moments and plenty of believeable performances. The fact that telepathy is treated as legit was kind of silly but this is the world of the fantastic. Not perfect but worth a watch. 

** 1/2 

-Russ Rutter