'00s Trash?: Memory (2006)

 Another Film on the Disc and one who's Title almost rhymes.  This is Memory, a 2006 Film that I'd never heard of before now.  It is from the same 4-Film Set that contained Mortuary.  Is it better or worse?  On the surface, it doesn't seem super-promising.  The Star- Billy Zane.  Unless he's on a doomed boat or in purple spandex, have people cared?  No offense there, Mr. Zane- but it is true.  The Supporting Cast includes Tricia Helfer- right after Battlestar Galactica began-, Dennis Hopper (back when he was doing just about anything) and, seemingly at random, Ann-Margaret.  This comes to us from the Director of, all Film, The Medallion with Jackie Chan.  He also wrote the Book that Memory is based on, which seems like an end-run around the whole 'Adapt this Book into a Film' thing.  Did it work better when it happened with The Wicker Tree?  Yeah, no.  The Plot is all sorts of weird, involving brain fluid, a powder made by an indigenous Tribe in Brazil and a hidden series of crimes.  Have I hooked you yet?  Well, too bad, you're here for the pretentious Title Card, so keep going...

A man is attacked by a Brazilian Tribe in a bit that reminds me of Cannibal Holocaust.

Curious and distracting way to open the Film.

The man ends up at a Brazilian Hospital which calls in Zane and his friend- both Neuro Scientists/Geneticists to help.

While checking on him, Zane gets some powder on him.

Yes, this whole Plot hinges upon him being stupid about a guy in semi-quarantine!

That night, he has the first of many vivid dreams where he's in the Woods and a masked man is running about.

He wakes up in the Shower, understandably confused.

He keeps having these visions and seeing things that he can't possibly know/see.

For instance, he sees a Newspaper from 10 years before he was born.

He starts to recognize people too, thinking that he might be seeing people related to unsolved crimes in his town.

Meanwhile, he interacts with his father figure (since his real father was never around) in Hopper and his Mom (who suffers from Alzheimer's)'s friend Ann-Margaret.

They also show us fake Home Movies with stand-ins for the older Actors, putting in way more work than necessary for something like this.

As his concern and paranoia grows, he ends up dating Helfer, who gets dragged into the whole thing by default.

His friends support him, even if they don't truly believe him.

He won't let up on the case, going so far as to break into the Home of one of the alleged- by him- victims, a girl who has been missing for months.

His visions also work for full Plot Convenience, not striking him here, but instead waiting for him to get outside before KOing him.

Taunted, it seems, by the masked perpetrator from his dreams/visions/memories, Zane looks more into the name they gave themselves.

It all relates to an Angel that supposedly 'saved' Children, which the person seems to be doing (in their own mind) by taking them from their families.

As the case seems to strike closer to home, can Zane solve the mystery?

I won't SPOIL it, so you'll just have to enjoy this Seven-style obsession room instead.

A surprisingly-interesting Film.  Granted- I think the whole Science behind the Plot is kind of silly.  Is it based on any real thing?  I feel like it must be.  That said, it feels silly.  You can get Sense Memories- shown in fully 3-dimensional Flashbacks- from people in your Family?  Really.  Come on!

That said, the Film is surprisingly-engaging.  Zane does a good job as a guy who slowly gets more intense and 'into' solving a Mystery.  Helfer does a good job as being someone who wants to help, even if they grow more concerned.  Hopper- in his admittedly-small role- plays a nice father figure to Zane and makes you think that more will come from this.  Ann-Margaret drops in and out of things, eventually becoming more important to solving the familial mystery that appears.

The whole thing could be shlocky in the wrong hands.  In the hands of its Writer and Director, it's a decent-to-good Film that plays with the Giallo-style in an interesting, if silly way.  It's worth a look, to be honest.  Of course, I'm not going as far as this real (?) headline does...

Next time, I cover a Film by Joe Dante.  It's one of his more recent works and it attempts to be a throwback of sorts to what made him famous in the first place.  Stay tuned...