celenazinc I got about halfway through this movie and was very disappointed. It was just flat out boring and completely unrealistic. I can get past being unrealistic in a lot of movies, but not when it's supposed to be a crime drama thing. The evidence collection and interview processes were just plain oddball. I started fast forwarding to see how it ended. And then got bored with that and just turned it off and returned it. The main character, played by Ellen Barkin, just wasn't believable at all. Peta Wilson acted very well in this film, but her character was way out there and there wasn't anyone for her acting talents to play off of that made it work.

MASTERPC I have read the 28 most recent comments by various people regarding this movie and was surprised that no one mentioned the fact that the first victim, shown on the bed with the "missing eyelids", as the camera pans up and away from her face, blinks! Yes, BLINKS! I recorded it as it came on HBO this past weekend and when I saw this I literally had to replay it several times, focusing on one eye at a time to make sure that I was not seeing things! Of course, after that, it was hard to take the movie seriously although there were a few interesting and intense scenes with Julian Sands. Very disappointed and give it a 4 mostly due to the fact that the 1st victim blinks in one of the last frames as the camera pulls away from the body/face. Too bad.

res0owwh WARNING - POSSIBLE SPOILER!This movie can leave one with feelings of darkness and insignificance. It deals with the heart of sexual abuse and the radiating damage it can cause and contribute to.The main character is on a self-destructive path and has no control over it and no knowledge of how to gain that self-control. She was wise to leave at an early teenage the abusive home in which she grew up, but it was not soon enough to undue the damage. More than likely, it would have taken years of self-searching to fix the damage.In her case, her use and/or addiction to cocaine and sexuality were direct results of sexual abuse and the emotional unavailability of her parents (total disregard for life and human beings, as well as ignorance, itself). I doubt that Lucifer himself would want the main character's father in his camp. The guy appeared to have no soul, nor the mother for that matter. The brother was another victim of the mind-set or lack-of-mind-set, only knowing what he had learned, and what he had learned was from an extremely limited scope (remote country-side existence). In all likelihood, the father and the mother were reared in the same types of circumstances, therefore, their behaviours "seemed normal" to them. The case AGAINST DENIAL.There was one positive scene in the movie at the end when Ellen Barkin legally removed the younger sister from the environment. Although, statistically speaking, that was probably just a "temporary fix".The movie is classified as "fiction with a purpose" - it teaches about humanity and the problems which humanity has faced and continues to face at a highly escalating rate. It will open eyes, if we allow it to.

vyto34 One of the most visually appealing movies made in recent years, with a good dose of eroticism, to boot. But somewhat unpleasant theme, so enjoy the visuals!Peta Wilson may be the sexiest actress playing in movies today! (and Ellen Barkin is no slouch in the sexiness department herself).