E y e s o f t h e storm
Cert 15 ★★★
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She can’t be sure whether the kidnap is real or one of her lurid hallucinations
FEAR OF RAIN
The syrupy family drama meets the tense psychological thriller in this engaging teen flick from actressturned-director Castille Landon. Her set-up is intriguing. High-school student Rain (Madison Iseman) thinks she’s spotted a missing child in the attic window of her next-door neighbour who also happens to be her English teacher.
Not only does no one believe her but Rain is schizophrenic so even she can’t be sure whether the kidnapping is real or one of her lurid hallucinations. To raise the stakes further, Rain has just been released from hospital after suffering a psychotic episode. Her attractive, one-dimensional parents (played by Harry Connick Jr and Katherine Heigl) fear that if the authorities hear of one more incident, she’ll be institutionalised.
And the authorities are exactly who the elegantly sinister Mrs Mcconnell (Eugenie Bondurant) threatens to call when she catches Rain having a poke around her house.
Rain is an outcast at school but the dreamboat new kid Caleb (Israel Broussard) is so eager to help that we wonder if he’s too good to be true.
To keep us guessing, Landon mixes two different styles. When we are with Rain’s family or hearing one of many speeches about mental health awareness, the film has the flat, sun-baked look of a wholesome issue-based drama.
But when Rain is in the grip of psychosis, we get shaky cameras, dramatic lighting and hand-written words from her journal scribbled across the screen.
Landon overdoes this a bit but there is some solid acting and a couple of wonderfully preposterous twists.