Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Minnesota, 1990. Detective Bruce Kenner investigates the case of young Angela, who accuses her father, John Gray, of an unspeakable crime. When John unexpectedly and without recollection admits guilt, renowned psychologist Dr. Raines is brought in to help him relive his memories and what they discover unmasks a horrifying nationwide mystery.
Regression suffers from a muddled, unsatisfying plot that squanders its intriguing satanic panic premise. The 1990s setting and repressed memory angle had real potential, but the narrative meanders and the ultimate reveal feels like a cheat rather than a revelation. Ethan Hawke gives a committed performance and Emma Watson is serviceable, anchoring the film above its material. The cinematography is competent with some appropriately bleak Minnesota atmosphere. The satanic cult thriller subgenre was well-trodden even by 2015, and director Amenábar brings little distinctive vision to differentiate this from genre contemporaries. The ending, attempting ambiguity about mass hysteria and suggestion, lands as frustrating rather than thought-provoking, undermining the tension built throughout.