Film

The Return

Cert: 15

Description: Ever since she and her father Ed were involved in a traffic accident, Joanna Mills has been haunted by nightmarish visions of a murdered woman she has never met. When her job as a sales representative for a trucking company takes her back to her sleepy hometown, Joanna's visions become more intense, drawing her into the orbits of the reclusive Terry Stahl and her obsessive ex-boyfriend.

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Other reviews:

Becky Howard, This is London

Dir: Asif Kapadia.

Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Peter O'Brien, Adam Scott, Sam Shepard

Country: US.

Year: 2006.

Duration: 85mins

Dark visions of murder

No comeback: The Return stretches credibility too much

By Derek Malcolm
18 Jan 2007

Though its leading actor is Sarah Michelle Gellar of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, British director Asif Kapadia's American supernatural thriller is no parody of the genre. Kapadia, whose The Warrior was justly praised, goes for atmosphere and detail as Gellar's young Midwesterner determines to learn the truth behind the terrifying visions that have haunted her since childhood.

She sees and feels the brutal murder of a young woman she has never met, unaware that the murder may eventually be her own. Stalked by an obsessive ex-boyfriend (Adam Scott) and estranged from her father (Sam Shepard), she wanders through a miserable Texas town as if hypnotised by fate. It is a well-made film, but it stretches credibility too far too often.