The Sender (1982)

good back-story, and good acting

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

I got this film because I read about it from others and it sounded interesting. A horror film that I thought I had never seen! Well, I did indeed see this film as a kid. As soon as it opened I recognized it as the opening scene of the dude putting rocks in his jacket and walking into a lake sparked the memory rather quickly. Well, I kept watching as it has been forever since I had seen this film and it had some good moments, but it could of been a lot better too.The film does start with a young man trying to commit suicide. He is promptly taken to one of the worst mental health facilities I have ever seen. This is mainly due to what they do throughout the film, I mean all it is missing is that nurse from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" to make it the the absolute number one worst facility. Well a female doctor wants to assist this man who is suffering from amnesia while another doctor wants to use every extreme method of treating patients hoping to zap the young man out of being suicidal. Well, this young man has certain powers...it seems when he dreams or has nightmares he has very powerful telepathic abilities. These abilities make the doctor trying to help him and others in the facility see horrific things. Add the man's mother who appears from time to time seeming to want to help, but her motives are not clear.The film has its moments, it really is not a hardcore horror film though. In fact, if one were to rate it now it would probably get a PG-13 rating except for one scene near the end involving the young man and another patient after the young man tries to beat up a television. Still, it keeps you wondering where it is going...I am just not entirely satisfied where it ended up. I just find it hard to believe they would have done what they did at the end to the young man as it seems pretty obvious he still needs some guidance. The gore is minimal, and you get scenes with rats and insects as well. The most disturbing scene was one involving a procedure being done on him as the cut look really good.So this film had its moments, but it was just an okay film to me. Nothing super great or anything. It just seems like it needed more of a point or something. The thing with the mother that was revealed at the end was a bit too obvious as well. Still, it is a lot better than a lot of horror films and it does feature deadly dreams before the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise launched.

Apparently "The Sender" is quite popular and highly acclaimed among the rest of my fellow reviewers here, but I can't say it made the same powerful impression on me. Undeniably this film plays in a much more sophisticated league than the majority of early 80's horror efforts, but in my humble opinion it's still a little too flawed to label it as an undiscovered gem. "The Sender" is actually more of a psychological thriller instead of a horror flick, in spite of some genuinely repulsive special effects, with the emphasis primarily lying on suspense and an extremely convoluted screenplay. I'll be the first to admit that it's a pleasant surprise to encounter a story-driven thriller amidst all the brainless slasher efforts of the early 80's, but the plot can't hold your attention long enough and there isn't enough empathy with the main characters. "The Sender" opens wondrously atmospheric and mysterious, with the attempted suicide of a drifting and clearly disorientated young man who simply walks into a recreational lake with stones in his pockets. The man is taken to the state mental hospital, where he's baptized with the name John Doe 83 and gets put under the custody of the caring female psychiatrist Dr. Gail Farmer. In her attempts to safeguard John Doe 83 from undergoing electroshock-therapy, Dr. Farmer builds up a liaison with him and involuntarily gets drawn into his world of nightmares. As some sort of telepathy, John Doe is able to "broadcast" his dreams to certain receivers. Dr. Farmer has all sorts of visions and she even receives visits from a creepy woman who claims to be the boy's mothers, but she can't be sure what's real and what's not."The Sender" contains a highly satisfying amount of grisly images and truly nightmarish scenery, like for example mirrors that break and start bleeding, rats crawling out of people's mouth and mentally unbalanced patients strangling themselves. The absolute highlight of macabre is undoubtedly the sequences in which an entire operating room shatters as soon as the ETC machine is connected to John Doe's persona. My personal main issue with the film, however, is that these sequences are merely just isolated highlights in an overall confusing and not-compelling-enough thriller. The interactions between Dr. Farmer and her patient are overlong and sometimes redundant, while there are so many other potentially fascinating elements to elaborate on, like for example a more detailed background of John Doe's fellow mental patients. Also, a story like this also needs an evil and greedy doctor who wants to exploit John Doe's extraordinary psychic powers. Some kind of anti pole to Dr. Farmer's character. But enough with the complaints because, let there be no mistake, "The Sender" is definitely worth a peek if you're looking for an unconventional and stylishly put together 80's shocker. Director Roger Christian, almost 20 years before making the abysmal "Battlefield Earth", does a professional job maintaining a slow and unsettling pace and the acting performances are far above average. Particularly Shirley Knight is creepy as hell as John Doe's mysterious mother in black.

An suicidal amnesiac(Zeljko Ivanek), with enormous telepathic power, is brought into a psychiatric hospital to determine what his identity is. The doctor over his care, Dr Gail Farmer(Kathryn Harrold) begins seeing her patient's own nightmares, seeking to understand why he's plagued by such horrific images that keep him from sleeping normally. Meanwhile, once an attempt at electroshock therapy yields a devastating link to the other patients in the hospital(..not to mention, the staff and security, often experience his nightmares as well), the efforts to heal "John Doe #83" are of a major concern of all involved. It's determined that he is a "sender", his abilities to transfer what he thinks and dreams to others heightened thanks in part to his perhaps deliberate amnesia due to a past traumatic event(s)which is better to forget than re-live. Farmer often receives communication from her patient's mother, Jerolyn(Shirley Knight), by telephone and startling appearances..what makes these visits so strange is the fact that no one else sees her come or go through the hospital into her office. Soon Farmer is led to believe that Jerolyn may be the root cause of what is tormenting "John Doe #83" and she will have to fight for him for his very life might be at stake.One thing I stand amazed about in regards to the horror genre is the constant discovery of gems that you have never heard of until word of mouth leads you to them. THE SENDER is such an example. Through a few people on this site, I found out about the movie and I was pleasantly surprised to find it available on DVD. Everything about the movie is top-notch. The acting from a superb cast(..especially Harrold, a wonderful, underrated actress and the sterling Shirley Knight with the kind of character who's really spooky), the ever-developing plot always unleashing startling scenes of shock and unpredictable images(..rats, roaches, blood dribbling from shattered mirrors, not to mention the show-stopping electro-shock sequence where the staff are "affected" by their attempt to "help" their patient, sent hurling through the air, crashing into equipment and through windows), really creepy score which hits all the appropriately effective notes, and the stunning cinematography from Roger Pratt(..who's one of the best working today, notable for such films as TROY and a few of the HARRY POTTER movies).I think THE SENDER is such a success because it handles such a subject as dream transference and telepathy in a matter-of-fact, clinical way, trouble and care provided in developing the characters. In other hands, this could've been incredibly hokey and an object of ridicule. The professional look and feel of the film really sets this apart from other films of it's type. Highly recommended to science fiction / horror fans, also of definite interest to the "asylum" genre crowd, I think. I'm a big fan of "telepath" horror themes, so THE SENDER did the trick nicely. One of character actor Zeljko Ivanek's first big roles and he's very effective in a haunting performance.

More people should really seek out and watch THE SENDER. And the less you know about this film before going into it, the better. All you need to know about the plot, is the set-up. The film begins with a skillfully crafted, ominous scene in which a man (John Doe #83/The Sender) tries to commit suicide (how, you just have to see!). He doesn't succeed, and gets submitted to a mental hospital. From there on, the doctors have to find out who he is, and what his problems are. And rest assured, the more they discover, the creepier things get. This is a rather unique film, worthy of a bit more recognition. A bit slow in pace to some, perhaps, but for me the pace and rising tension were perfect. If any of you enjoyed films like Richard Franklin's PATRICK (1978) or Douglas Trumbull's BRAINSTORM (1983) - this one's maybe a bit of a stretch, as it's more sci-fi/thriller/drama orientated - then THE SENDER comes highly recommended.Aside from the steady pace of lingering creepiness & mystery, I found that there were at least two real "WTF?" moments in this film. Two scenes that took me by surprise in a way I didn't know whether to cheer or be terrified. A very good (psychologically tinted) horror film, indeed! Yes, I'm rating it highly, but compared to some of the trash I watch on a regular basis, this film deserves some extra praises. And Paramount should really make an effort to release a worthy DVD edition of this film, adding a commentary track by director Roger Christian and maybe some other fine special features. Their 2008 release features only the film and nothing more.