Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.5

The Mind's Eye Blu-ray Movie Review

Not Much to See

Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 4, 2016

Writer/director Joe Begos has followed his alien body-snatching tale, Almost Human, with another variation on established horror tropes. This time he's chosen psychokinesis, and Begos cheerfully plunders—excuses me, "references"—Scanners and The Fury. But those films had interesting plots; all Begos has to offer is extra gore.

The Mind's Eye follows the efforts of Zack Connors (Begos regular Graham Skipper) to rescue Rachel Meadows (Lauren Ashley Carter) from an evil scientist bent on exploiting their psychokinetic powers for his own purposes. We know that the villain, Dr. Slovak (John Speredakos), is a scientist because he says so, although there's precious little evidence of either labs or active research at his remote facility somewhere in snowy New England. The production design makes only a token effort to transform buildings and shacks into a research center, just as the script supplies the characters with little in the way of back story or personality. Mind's Eye is structured for the simple purpose of providing as many bloody episodes as possible, with damage inflicted by both psychokinesis and conventional weapon (guns, knives, hypodermics).

An exploding head is included for Scanners fans, and the evil doctor's demise matches that of the villain in The Fury. Neither set piece is effective, however, because the practical effects are unconvincing and the buildup lacks any suspense. Mind's Eye is filled with confrontations in which armed goons repeatedly confront victims they know to have awesome psychokinetic abilities, only to postpone firing their weapons so that the victims have ample opportunity to summon their deadly powers. Then, having knocked the goons senseless, the psychokinetic opponents leave theirs guns in easy reach so that they can awaken to inflict more injuries. Meanwhile, Dr. Slovak's experiments are transforming him into a monster, but the makeup looks like a rejected concept from the Scanners finale.

The Mind's Eye Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Begos continues to shoot his own films, using a Red camera. Image's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray reflects the usual virtues of digital capture, but The Mind's Eye is an ugly movie. Begos repeatedly floods his interiors with brights washes of blue, red, yellow and (occasionally) green light, which is presumably intended to be stylish but is mostly distracting. Snowy outdoor scenes are generally realistic by contrast. Image has mastered the film with what is for them a high average bitrate of 28.68 Mbps.

The Mind's Eye Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I cannot remember a previous occasion when a film on Blu-ray was preceded with a suggestion to play it LOUD. The Mind's Eye's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 relies on the John Carpenter-style electronic score by Steve Moore (The Guest ) to create tension and shocks and also to punctuate the psychokinetic manifestations. Otherwise, the effects editing is nothing special. Dialogue is clear, even when Dr. Slovak's experiments give him an altered voice.

The Mind's Eye Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentaries
• With Writer/Director Joe Begos.
• With Producers Joe Begos, Josh Ethier, Graham Skipper and Zak Zeman.



• A Look into the Eye of Madness Featurette (1080p; 1.78:1; 28:02).



• Poster Gallery (1080p; 0:30).



• Trailer (1080p; 2.39:1;1:52).



• Introductory Trailers: Monsterland, The Hoarder and Kill or Be Killed.

The Mind's Eye Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Almost Human was creative in its borrowing, but The Mind's Eye is not. If you enjoy a lot of unrealistic bloodletting and mangled bodies, it may be mildly diverting. But if you want to see a gripping tale about psychokinesis, watch Scanners or The Fury. Not recommended.