''Regression'' is a 2015

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

mystery film directed and written by Alejandro Amenábar. The film stars

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, author, and film director. He made his film debut in ''Explorers (film), Explorers'' (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in ''Dead Poets Society'' (1989). Hawke starr ...

and Emma Watson, with David Thewlis, Lothaire Bluteau, Dale Dickey, David Dencik, Peter MacNeill, Devon Bostick, and Aaron Ashmore in supporting roles. The film had its world premiere at the

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; , ) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spain, Spanish city of Donostia, Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Countr ...

on September 18, 2015. It was released in the United States on October 9, 2015, by

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company, LLC (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein on March 10, 2005. TWC was one of the larg ...

under the banner RADiUS-TWC. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics.

Plot

In Hoyer,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, in 1990, Detective Bruce Kenner investigates the case of John Gray, who admits to sexually abusing his 17-year-old daughter Angela but has no recollection of the abuse. They seek the help of Professor Kenneth Raines to use recovered-memory therapy on John Gray to retrieve his memories, and come to suspect that their colleague Detective George Nesbitt is involved. They detain him but fail to find evidence against him. Detectives suspect a satanic cult is involved because of Angela's testimony, in which Angela says that she was abused by people in masks and someone took pictures of it. Bruce and Kenneth meet Angela's estranged brother Roy Gray in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to inquire about why he left the house. Using the regression technique on him, he recalls hooded figures entering his room while he was young. Bruce and Kenneth suspect Roy's grandmother, Rose Gray, has some involvement but find nothing after a search of her house. Meanwhile, Bruce begins having nightmares involving satanic rituals. Angela tells him that the cult is out to kill her as she has shown her demonic mark to him and that he is in danger as well. She tells him that her mother received miscellaneous calls and saw strange figures staring at her in the street before she herself had an accident. Bruce starts to experience the same things and his nightmares increase in intensity. Rose jumps from the window of her house after seeing ghostly figures, injuring herself. Bruce meets Angela in the church's cemetery to reassure her and after an emotional outburst, she kisses him. Shocked, Bruce leaves her there and returns to his home. He sees a soup advertisement on the street and recognizes the woman in it as the one he sees in his nightmares. He concludes that his imagination has run away with him. He tells Kenneth that all these past memories are induced by therapy and the whole situation is just the result of mass hysteria. Though the professor is initially resistant to the idea, he too comes to suspect that these memories were not real. Bruce is attacked by two hooded figures who finally reveal themselves as George and their colleague, Farrell. George was seeking revenge after Bruce detained him as a child molester and ruined his career. Bruce offers to forget the whole situation if George tells him everything he knows. After George reveals things, Bruce confronts Angela about her abuse and she insists she told the truth. Finally Bruce concludes that she was fabricating everything from the beginning as she wanted to escape from her family, whom she believes to be responsible for her mother's death. She wanted to elope with George, as they had a sexual relationship for some time, but he refused to elope with a minor. Angela accused her father in order to escape the house. When Bruce confronts her, she tells him that no one is going to believe him, especially if she tells them that they kissed in the cemetery. Bruce tells John everything but John decides to take the blame and pleads guilty in order to rescue Angela and hopes that she will forgive him one day for being a bad father. Many cases like this were reported before the satanic abuse hysteria faded, and that there was never any proof that such ritualistic abuse by organized Satanic cults existed (presumably referring to assertions made during the Satanic panic in the U.S. and other countries in the 1980s and early 1990s).

Cast

Production

On October 31, 2013, it was announced that

would star in the thriller film ''Regression''. On February 5, 2014, Emma Watson joined the film to star with Hawke, and on March 25, David Dencik was added to the cast, playing a man who is arrested in a Minnesota town for allegedly sexually abusing his daughter. On May 23, Devon Bostick was added to the cast of the film. Alejandro Amenábar directed his own script, while FilmNation Entertainment holds international rights.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began on April 15, 2014, in

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. Emma Watson stated, ''"First day shooting Regression today – a very cool birthday present xx."'' On the day, which was her 24th birthday, she filmed a church scene at the

University of Toronto Mississauga The University of Toronto Mississauga (abbreviated as U of T Mississauga or UTM) is the second-largest division of the University of Toronto and one of its three campuses, located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1967, the campus ...

. Shooting was taking place in

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

on May 5. On June 3, it was reported that Watson was back in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

to continue the rest of filming after spending some time in the UK and graduating from Brown. Principal photography concluded June 12. On January 28, 2015, the crew filmed several additional scenes or reshoots in Mississauga.

Marketing

On June 10, 2014, TWC-Dimension revealed a first look photo from the film. On February 12, 2015, the first trailer was released, and on February 1, 2016, the U.S. trailer premiered.

Release

In November 2013, TWC-

Dimension In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coo ...

acquired US distribution rights to the film. The film had its world premiere at the

on September 18, 2015. It was released in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on October 2, 2015 and in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

on October 9, 2015. ''Regression'' was originally set for an August 28, 2015 release in the U.S., but was pulled from the schedule. It was then pushed back to its eventual U.S. theatrical date of February 5, 2016, and was released on Amazon Instant Video thirty days later.

Reception

''Regression'' received generally negative reviews from critics upon release, with criticism focused on the film's third act.

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported a 14% rating, based on 42 reviews, leaving a rating average of 4.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "''Regression'' boasts a pair of eminently likable leads – neither of whom are able to dislodge the movie from the mire of psychological thriller mediocrity." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a score of 32 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". The film opened at the box office, grossing just $55,039 in its domestic run in theaters. The film would eventually gross 17.7 million USD worldwide, on a budget of 15 million USD. Mark Kermode, of

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, wrote that the film was "largely forgettable fare, but at least its unhysterical heart is in the right place." Despite a disappointing domestic run at the box office, the film was number one at the weekend

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicket. ...

from October 4 to the October 11, 2015. In 2015, ''Regression'' had the highest opening-weekend gross at the Spanish box office for any homegrown film, earning $2.87 million (€2.55 million). The film garnered 40 percent of the Spanish box office on 370 screens.

References

External links

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Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray ...