Sarah Michelle Gellar

"Return" to classic suspense falls flat

The misleading ad campaign for “The Return” plays the movie off as an action-packed horror flick for teenagers, trying to ride on the success of “The Grudge 2.” The advertisers even employ Zelda Rubinstein (the psychic from “Poltergeist”) to provide a creepy voice-over for some ads to give the viewer a horror-film vibe, even though Zelda has no connection to the film whatsoever.

The truth is that “The Return” is nothing close to what the ads portray it to be. The film isn’t actually a horror film, but rather part supernatural thriller and part love story. It’s a film that relies on the old notion “less is more,” an idea deemed to be outdated by the makers of today’s thrillers and horror flicks. But while the film tries to do something different, it fails to live up to its potential as a great thriller.

The film centers on Joanna Mills (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a successful sales representative for a trucking company. While she appears normal and well-adjusted, her private life is plagued by an abusive ex-boyfriend (Adam Scott), an estranged father (Sam Shepard) and a lack of friends. Joanna seems to be stuck in limbo; she is neither here nor there, always on the go, never anywhere long enough to establish roots. To top that off, she also happens to have disturbing visions and bouts of self-mutilation and is haunted by a Patsy Cline song (which is actually creepier than it sounds).

After being offered the opportunity for a promotion, Joanna returns to her home state of Texas to complete a sale. Joanna vowed to never return to Texas once she left, but this opportunity is too good to pass up. Once in Texas, Joanna becomes determined to find out why a man in work boots is now tormenting her and why she is seeing another woman in the mirror. She follows the clues in her visions to the run-down town of La Salle, which looks like it hasn’t gotten a paint job since the 1950s. The town is tied to her past as well as a murdered woman. While there, she meets the murdered woman’s husband, Terry (Peter O’Brien), who is believed to have committed the crime, leading Joanna to set out on a twisty-turny ride to solve the murder. All the events culminate in an interesting and somewhat touching, albeit not very original, ending.

Director Asif Kapadia, who helmed the critically acclaimed “The Warrior,” brings an effective minimalist approach to the film. He deserves credit for not using cheap disgust effects to create the disturbing scenes, preferring to rely on unseen terrors to generate chills. Kapadia never shows too much, making the disturbing moments even more disturbing. He is also able to capture a surreal feel in the film, adding to the confusion the audience already feels and putting them right alongside Joanna.

The fatal flaw of this film is the lack of a strong script. First-time screenwriter Adam Sussman has good intentions of creating a slow-building thriller, but he never fully captures the true essence of it. He misses his opportunity to create strong characters who fuel the plot, a necessary aspect of such thrillers. And since the movie clocks in at only 85 minutes, Sussman could have easily added more depth to the characters and thrills, written some scenes to make relationships more believable and created a stronger sense of urgency. Fans of the genre will find it easy to guess where Sussman’s script is going next. If the writer didn’t use characters as plot devices and saw them as actual people instead, “The Return” would reach the level of a true thriller.

One must respect Sussman, however, for treating the general audience as smarter than it actually is. He believes viewers don’t need everything spelled out for them, that by using a couple words or a certain expression, the audience will be able to infer what is going on. While not everyone will understand what happens, it’s a pleasant relief not to be treated as completely stupid.

While the acting is fine, Gellar seems to sleepwalk through her role, simply alternating between a wide-eyed expression of horror and a look of vulnerability throughout the film. Part of this is because the script does not always give the actors much to work with, but that doesn’t make up for Gellar’s lack of subtlety.

“The Return” is a film that you will either hate or like, but you probably won’t love it. Fans of the endangered genre of slow-building, psychological thrillers will like (not love) this film, despite its flaws. Those who go in expecting what they see in the ads will be gravely disappointed. Overall, most of the film’s merit comes from its intent rather than its actual content; it fails to develop thrills strong enough to linger in our minds past the credits, or characters who stand out.

Grade: 2 out of 5