The Sender
The Sender | |
---|---|
Directed by | Roger Christian |
Written by | Thomas Baum |
Produced by | Edward S. Feldman |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Roger Pratt |
Edited by | Alan Strachan |
Music by | Trevor Jones |
Production companies | Kingsmere Productions Ltd. Paramount Pictures |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date | 22 October 1982 (US) |
Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $8 million[1] |
Box office | $1,054,328 (US)[2] |
The Sender is a 1982 British psychological horror thriller film directed by Roger Christian and written by Thomas Baum. It stars Kathryn Harrold, Željko Ivanek (in his film debut), Shirley Knight, and Paul Freeman.
Plot
A young, disheveled-looking man is awakened on the side of a road by passing traffic. He walks to a nearby lake and attempts to drown himself by filling his clothing with rocks and walking into the water, but is pulled out and taken to a nearby
At her home later that night, Gail hears a window being broken and witnesses John entering her house and stealing a
After John attempts suicide a second time, he's taken in by Denman for electroshock therapy. The moment the current is activated, John unconsciously sends violent and destructive hallucinations towards everyone in the hospital, both staff and patients. Gail rushes in and removes the electrodes. Now believing her hypothesis, Denman begins intensive study of John, while Gail continues to see Jerolyn and other cryptic visions sent by John, including one in which he lies dead with his body covered in rats. She suspects that the visions are memories of the recent past, repressed into the subconscious due to trauma. After John tells her that his mother used to lock him up in the house, she theorizes that Jerolyn, who believed that her son was a miraculous virgin birth, kept him trapped inside her house for his entire life, eventually trying to kill him with carbon monoxide poisoning when she believed he'd leave her.
John's telepathy quickly becomes more and more uncontrollable, especially after he begins “sending” while conscious. Despite Gail's protestations, John is taken into the
When they arrive at their house, he turns on the gas stove to kill a swarm of
Some time later, John has regained his memory and tells his story – his mother tried to kill him, and when he realized what was happening, he fought her and inadvertently knocked her unconscious, leaving her to suffocate while fleeing the house. Unable to cope with what he'd done, his
Cast
- Kathryn Harrold as Dr. Gail Farmer
- Željko Ivanek as John Doe #83
- Shirley Knight as Jerolyn
- Paul Freeman as Dr. Joseph Denman
- Sean Hewitt as The Messiah
- Harry Ditson as Dr. Hirsch
- Olivier Pierre as Dr. Erskine
- Al Matthews as Herb
- Marsha Hunt as Nurse Jo
- Angus MacInnes as Sheriff Prouty
- John Stephen Hill as Policeman
- Jana Shelden as Nurse Reimbold
- Tracy Harper as Young Girl
- Monica Buford as Dr. Warren
- Mary Ellen Ray as Nursing Staff
Production
Development
The screenplay was written by
The script was first purchased by 20th Century Fox, who were hoping for a quasi follow-up to Brian De Palma’s The Fury (1978)—a box office hit about another youth with devastating psychic powers—but the production floundered and was dumped before it got off the ground. The production was, almost immediately, picked up by Paramount Pictures who, after Friday the 13th (1980) and My Bloody Valentine (1981), were looking for something else to tap the lucrative slasher film market. However, director Roger Christian didn’t approach The Sender as a slasher-horror in the slightest, remarking that he wanted to make a film that was “more Bergman than Carpenter.”
Christian made his feature directorial debut with The Sender after producers were impressed with his previously directed short films, Black Angel and The Dollar Bottom.[1] Several of his previous collaborators, including composer Trevor Jones, cinematographer Roger Pratt, and special effects supervisor Nick Allder, were retained by Christian for the film.
Casting
The titular role was played by a then-unknown Željko Ivanek, who had previously only ever acted on-stage. The other leading roles were played by Kathryn Harrold, Shirley Knight, and Paul Freeman. Among the supporting actors were Al Matthews, an American-born singer and radio personality living in the UK who later gained fame for his role in Aliens, and Angus MacInnes, a Canadian character actor known for his supporting roles playing North American characters in British films and television programmes.
Filming
Exteriors were filmed in the American state of
During filming, several scenes from the script were either changed or cut. Among these were a different ending, in which the character of Gail Farmer seemingly develops telepathic powers of her own.
Post-production
Dissatisfied with Christian's initial workprint cut as “overly slow” and “artsy”, studio executives ordered the film re-edited to start with the ending and tell the story in flashback. After some argument, in which editor Alan Strachan sided with Christian, it was put back in the original sequence.
Release
Due to Paramount Pictures’ lukewarm reception towards the film's initial cut and poor test screenings, the film was only given a
Legacy
The film is often cited by critics as an influence on A Nightmare on Elm Street, with its mental hospital setting and use of surrealist, dream-like imagery particularly pertinent to the third film in the series, Dream Warriors. Elm Street writer-director Wes Craven was known to be a fan of writer Thomas Baum, asking him to co-develop his television series Nightmare Cafe.
On the commentary track for the DVD release of Hot Fuzz, Quentin Tarantino described The Sender as his favorite horror film of 1982.[3]
References
- ^ a b Jones, Alan (1982). "The Sender". Cinefantastique. Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ a b "The Sender". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
- ^ Cole, Andrew (14 January 2008). "Every film mentioned by Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino in their Hot Fuzz commentary track". Tysto. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
Further reading
- "Returning to Sender" by John Nicol, Fangoria magazine #318, November 2012, pages 64–66. Interview of director Roger Christian. Three-page article has seven photos. In the interview, he says he would be interested in doing a remake and discusses Quentin Tarantino's interest in the film.
External links
- The Sender at IMDb
- The Sender at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Sender at AllMovie