'The Mind's Eye' Trailer: '80s-Style Horror Is Back With Head-Exploding Vengeance
The makers of The Mind's Eye love their '80s genre cinema and they wear that affection as a badge of honor. Like he did with his debut feature, Almost Human, writer/director Joe Begos has made a horror movie that looks like it time-warped straight out of 1982. The synth soundtrack is appropriately icy, the practical make-up effects nasty, and the performances pitched just to the right of hammy. This film killed amongst a certain subsection of horror fans at last year's Fantastic Fest, where it also took home the award for Best Horror Director.
The trailer for the film has arrived online and you will probably know whether or not this is your kind of movie after watching it. The Mind's Eye caters to a very specific audience of horror nerds. You know who you are.
If the whole thing sounds like an early David Cronenberg movie, know that nothing about how this movie is constructed is accidental. The Mind's Eye follows two "patients" from a clinic studying people with psychokinetic powers who escape after learning that the doctor in charge of the operation is a psychopath with dark intentions. Naturally, they're pursued by dangerous henchmen and they're forced to fight back using their incredibly dangerous and unpredictable powers. Lots of glass shatters. A few heads explode. This is a very gooey movie.
I'll come straight out and say it: I was not the biggest fan of The Mind's Eye when I saw it back in September, but I also feel like I was in the minority. Almost everyone I spoke with got a kick out of its heightened tone, gnarly practical make-up effects, and throwback style, which eerily captures the language of so many low-budget '80s movies. It's hard to imagine an ordinary person falling in love with what Begos and his collaborators have created here, but they're preaching to the choir. They've made a movie for horror fans who know exactly what's going on here.
The Mind's Eye is set to open on August 5, 2016 in the United States and it's the kind of thing that will probably play really well as a late night VOD rental. The official synopsis and poster can be found below.
Zack Connors and Rachel Meadows were born with incredible psychokinetic capabilities. When word of their supernatural talents gets out, they find themselves the prisoners of Michael Slovak, a deranged doctor intent on harvesting their powers. After a daring escape, they are free from his sinister institution, but the corrupt doctor will stop at nothing to track them down so that he may continue to siphon their gifts for his own use.
