Messages

Scripted by working pathologist and Hammer horror expert Dr Wayne Kinsey, this supernatural crime thriller focuses on the string of naked female corpses left by an eye-gouging serial killer, The Optician. Sadly, its optical metaphors and ghostly mysteries quickly degenerate into a blur of random flashbacks, dream sequences and clichéd imagery (spookily lit dolls and masks). Grieving, drink-addled pathologist Dr Richard Murray (Jeff Fahey) receives cries for help from what he believes to be the unquiet souls of the murdered women. Or perhaps these messages from ‘the other side’ are the prickings of guilty conscience. Did he perpetrate these crimes, during his alcoholic black-outs?

David Fairman’s laughably inept direction, cinematographer Simon Dennis’ ludicrous lighting and Paul Turner’s ear-grating score provide an amateurish setting for the lazy performances of a bunch of has-beens: ‘Lawnmower Man’ Fahey, ‘Cagney and Lacey’ support player Martin Kove and ex-footballer Jon-Paul Gates. It’s easy to see why this piffle had to be independently financed – no film company executive in its right mind would have touched it with a barge pole.