Name: The Atticus Institute (2015)
IMDb: link to IMDb
Genres: Horror, Mystery Country of Origin: USA
Cast: Rya Kihlstedt as Judith Winstead, William Mapother as Dr. Henry West, Sharon Maughan as Susan Gorman, Harry Groener as Lawrence Henault, John Rubinstein as Marcus Wheeler, Julian Acosta as young Robert Koepp, Franklin Dennis Jones as Robert Koepp, Rob Kerkovich (NCIS: New Orleans) as Agent Barnes.
Directed by: Chris Sparling Written by: Chris Sparling
The Three Acts:
The initial tableau: The (fictional) Atticus Institute was founded in the early 1970s to study exceptional persons who might have ESP abilities: telepathy, clairvoyance, telekinesis, for instance. They find hundreds of subjects, find a few weak espers, and get conned at least once. Then they meet Judith Winstead.
Delineation of conflicts: West's children still care about their distant father, and are discouraged when the Institute clearly has a bad effect on him. The Institute staff have great talent, but dealing with an incredibly bad-tempered test subject is quite a challenge. As they continue to observe Judith, it becomes clear that they are dealing with something besides ESP. Just what is it? They call in an expert from the DIA (defence intelligence agency), Robert Koepp. His presence seems to make it much worse. Will Judith's ability be diagnosed correctly? If so, what will the DIA (and DOD) decide to do with it during the Cold War?
Resolution: The attempts of 1970s science to deal with the supernatural were worth a watch.
One line summary: High-handed DoD personnel fail versus the supernatural.
Statistics:
a. Cinematography: 4/10 VHS level, 240p, perhaps. Even on a mockumentary, why? There is more time spent in hand-held mode than I cared for.
b. Sound: 8/10 Much better than the video.
c. Acting: 8/10 Good. John Rubinstein and Harry Groener are long time favourite actors of mine, and they delivered. Rya Kihlstedt was quite something as the possessed Judith Winstead. Julian Acosta did well as young Roepp. I liked the actors who played Henry's two children.
d. Screenplay: 6/10 Proceeded in reportorial style. The motivations were reasonably well mapped out, except for the starting points. How things would proceed once the military took control made sense, but how Judith came to the early state (when she first entered the Institute) was still murky to me at the end.
Final rating: 6/10
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