A young boy, Lucas(stunning, haunting performance from young Ben Keyworth)who is slowly going blind, dreams up a horrifying nightmare about a serial slasher of blind women nearby his London home(..with a graveyard located outside his window, no less). It seems to take shape when he places his thick-lensed glasses on which might mean that the impending surgery of his eyes has created such a subconscious fear it has taken shape in reality. A poor dog, Toby, becomes a victims of this. Those in reality, Tom Miller, a locksmith(David Thewlis), a window washer, and photographer Tony(Paul McGann)all seem to become foreboding possible killers in the horrifying fantasy. Lucas' step-dad Frank(James Fox), in reality a florist, is a cop on the case of the slashings of the blind women in his nightmare. Mother Miriam(Fanny Ardant)is pregnant in reality with perfect sight(..who says she would rather be the one going blind rather than her son)but blind in the nightmare which has the young lass worried for her safety..and later the child after it's born, although the film paints the possible picture he'd rather harm the infant than keep it safe. Rose(the beautiful, fine-figured Clare Holman)is Frank's daughter in reality on the verge of marriage with Tony, but in the nightmare also blind, married to someone else blind, who is possibly threatened by Tony, anything but the person in real-life.
In the nightmare we follow the boy as he canvases the area around where the serial slasher might frequent, but watch his unusual, cold manner about things..he's an observer who seems almost unphased at the terror occurring around him. His voyeuristic activities has him seeing people from a different perspective because..and this is the powerful aspect in the nightmare I think..most are blind except Frank, the policeman, an ice-cream vendor who lusts after Miriam, the locksmith, window washer & photographer. So obviously he sees what the innocents do not..how certain people truly are. In the reality, we also see a cut-away Lucas who seems like Waldo amongst a group of people existing as if he's not there. I don't think he is for the most part..his on-coming blindness and the pregnancy about to take place take shape over everything else. The surgery is also the main event that truly terrifies him..the doctor who will have the knife is a scary blind hobo in Lucas' nightmare(one of his eyes has an albino white tint for extra ominous effect).
I'm afraid this flick will be frustrating to many who might not attach to the lead character who can be quite creepy, and detached, for most viewers. I saw this as an interesting approach seeing him as a young boy struck with fear losing his sight, both mentally and physically. I think this film goes into some dark psychological places..treads onto that territory of fear using blindness and impending blindness as catalysts to tell the dark tale. The slasher, the glasses and what they see when Lucas puts them on and removes them, and the knitting needle which seems to be his weapon of protection..all seem to represent symbolic images of the blindness he fears of.
In the nightmare we follow the boy as he canvases the area around where the serial slasher might frequent, but watch his unusual, cold manner about things..he's an observer who seems almost unphased at the terror occurring around him. His voyeuristic activities has him seeing people from a different perspective because..and this is the powerful aspect in the nightmare I think..most are blind except Frank, the policeman, an ice-cream vendor who lusts after Miriam, the locksmith, window washer & photographer. So obviously he sees what the innocents do not..how certain people truly are. In the reality, we also see a cut-away Lucas who seems like Waldo amongst a group of people existing as if he's not there. I don't think he is for the most part..his on-coming blindness and the pregnancy about to take place take shape over everything else. The surgery is also the main event that truly terrifies him..the doctor who will have the knife is a scary blind hobo in Lucas' nightmare(one of his eyes has an albino white tint for extra ominous effect).
I'm afraid this flick will be frustrating to many who might not attach to the lead character who can be quite creepy, and detached, for most viewers. I saw this as an interesting approach seeing him as a young boy struck with fear losing his sight, both mentally and physically. I think this film goes into some dark psychological places..treads onto that territory of fear using blindness and impending blindness as catalysts to tell the dark tale. The slasher, the glasses and what they see when Lucas puts them on and removes them, and the knitting needle which seems to be his weapon of protection..all seem to represent symbolic images of the blindness he fears of.