Amnesia (1997)

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

**SPOILERS** Turning all the women in town, which has barely 100 residents, on with his saintly and pure of heart sermons and, in the privacy of an out of town motel, his hot and lustful sex Pastor Paul Keller, Nicholas Walker, is just about worn out when it comes to pay any attention, sexual or outer-wise, to his mousy and frustrated wife Martha, Ally Sheely. Being stuck with not only Martha but her son, Pauls step-son, Edger(Vincent Berry) who just can't cut it in his school work is about all the outside pressures that the good pastor can take.One of the many women in town whom the righteous Pastor Paul has his eye on happens to be Edger's sexy teacher Veronica Dow, Dara Tomanovich, whom he's been having a very raunchy affair with at the out of town motel. The motel is run by the love-sick, for Paul of course, Charlence Hunt (Sally Kirkland) who's been secretly listening into Paul and Veronica's love-making secessions and getting herself all hyped up over them. Paul , since he was a little boy, has had this phobia about water. This all stems from when Paul was a little boy and saw his best friend Frankie Serig drown in the local watering hole with him being unable to save his life. It turns out that for some strange reason Paul uses the name Frank Serig when he registers into the motel with Veronica.Insuring himself for a cool million Paul then plans to get himself permanently lost, by faking his own death, and then have him and Veronica take off with the cash and live, in sin, happily every after. Checking out the local river Paul then plans to find a way he can make it look like he drown without his body being found but freaks out when he, while on a rowboat fishing, sees a vision of young Frankie drowning in it. Cracking his skull, by falling down and landing on his head, Paul falls overboard almost drowning himself.Finding his way back to Charlence's motel Paul also finds that he doesn't know who he is which to the hot as a pistol, for handsome and sexy Paul's love and affection, is heaven sent for the love starved Charlence. Charlence takes all the advantage that she can of the confused and bewildered Paul by making him her both private and personal slave boy. It's after Paul's funeral that Martha is contacted by agent Tim Bishop, John Savage, of Luckland insurance the company that insured Paul for a million smackers and things really begin to get wild. Bishop not at all believing that Paul is deceased but at the same time not realizing that it's Veronica Paul's secret lover, not Martha who knows nothing about Paul's policy, that was supposed to be the soul beneficiary. While all this is happening Paul is being held captive by the insane with love Charlence at her motel with no idea what all this fuss about him is all about!The film gets a bit convoluted when Bishop gets himself good and drunk and them showing up at Martha's house makes a complete jerk of himself trying to drunkly and sexually attack her where he only ends up out cold on her bed with his pants off. Bishop's bizarre behavior has Veronica, who knows that Paul is indeed alive, get Martha to blackmail him into paying her, and with the fact that she came up with this great idea, and Veronica the insurance money. The big stumbling block in the entire Paul business is that he's alive and that Charlence also knows that he's alive and with her insane actions threatening to expose that fact, to Bishop, and being stuck on Paul that she won't let go of her dreamboat even if it kills her or him.You can't help feeling sorry for Paul in all this since no matter what bad things he did in his past, and it was a lot, he wasn't exactly himself or anyone else, at the time of his demise. Being the nameless and mindless entity that he became when the ax came down on his head, in the form of an off-the-wall Charlence who together with Veronica and Martha, made it difficult to accept that Paul paid for his sins since he had no idea at all that he ever made them.

Where to start... If this movie had been a dark comedy, I would say it was FANNN-TASTIC! Unfortunately for me, and anyone else with free time and a buck to spare (mind you that was the price I paid, got it from Wal-Mart), this movie was meant to be a thriller. The only THRILL I got was watching Kirkland's lousy rendition of Anne Wilkes from Misery sans snowy woodland area. If you want a good laugh, on a rainy Friday night with some friends, then I highly recommend this movie. But if you want to watch something at least half way decent, then don't even bother.I for one enjoy crappy films, the worse the better in most cases. But Wow... I Meant WOW!! The only person in the entire film that didn't stink it up was the little boy, played by Vincent Berry. The only reason why I even give it 3 stars is because it gave me something to do.

Nicholas Walker is Paul, the local town Reverand who's married to Martha (Ally Sheedy), but also is a habitual womanizer and decides to fake his own death to run away with his current affair, Veronica (Dara Tomanovich). However in so doing, he gets a bout of amnesia (hence the name of the film). Sally Kirkland is also on hand as a crazy old coot who pines for the good Reverand in a shades of "Misery" type of way. It's sad to see a pretty good cast wasted like this. Not the least bit John Savage in a horridly forgettable role as a shoddy private investigator. In a film billed as a 'black comedy', one has to bring BOTH elements into said movie. While this does bring the former in spades, it sadly contains none of the latter. Furthermore you can't emphasize with any of the characters and as thus, have absolutely no vested interest in them. Technically not an all-together bad movie just an extremely forgettable one.Eye Candy: Dara Tomanovich gets topless; Sally Kirkland also shows some skin My Grade: C- Where I saw it: Showtime Showcase

Paul Keller (Nicholas Walker) is a Father married with the widow with a son Martha Keller (Ally Sheedy) and lives in a small town. He has an affair with the local schoolteacher Veronica Dow (Dara Tomanovich) in a hotel managed by Charlene Hunt (Sally Kirkland), who has a crush for Paul. One day, he pretends to fake his death and leave town with Veronica, but he indeed suffers an accident and loses his memory. A crap investigator (John Savage) from the insurance company comes to the town, where very strange situations will happen. This movie blends `Misery' with `Fatal Attraction' and is not indicated for all the publics, but for the viewers who enjoy a very black humor flick. My vote is six.