Visions

Visions follows Isla Fisher’s Eveleigh Maddox as she survives a horrific car crash and subsequently attempts to get her life back on track, with the movie detailing Eveleigh’s growing suspicion that said crash has left her with paranormal abilities. There’s little doubt that Visions suffers from an overly familiar atmosphere that’s compounded by a painfully-deliberate first half, as director Kevin Greutert, working from Lucas Sussman’s screenplay, hits all of the beats one has come to expect from stories of this ilk – with the most egregious example of this Eveleigh’s eventual investigation into her new house’s apparently murderous past. It is, as such, not surprising to note that the movie’s midsection is often excessively repetitive, as sequence after sequence follows Eveleigh as she experiences some kind of horrific vision and attempts to figure out what it could mean. And while Greutert attempts to liven things up by surrounding Fisher with eclectic supporting figures, including Eva Longoria’s Eileen, Gillian Jacobs’ Sadie, and Jim Parsons’ Dr. Mathison, Visions remains stagnant and uninteresting until it moseys into its comparatively electrifying third act. It’s during this portion that the movie, buoyed by a thoroughly unexpected plot twist, becomes the engrossing thriller it should’ve been all along, although it’s nevertheless not quite enough to compensate for the lackluster nature of everything that came before – which is a shame, certainly, given the visceral energy and excitement of that final stretch.

** out of ****