Communion (1989 film)

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Communion
CommunionPoster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Philippe Mora
Written by Whitley Strieber
Based on Communion
by Whitley Strieber
Produced byPhilippe Mora
Starring
CinematographyLouis Irving
Edited by Lee Smith
Music by Eric Clapton
Allan Zavod
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Allied Vision
Release date
  • November 10, 1989 (1989-11-10)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7 million [1]
Box office$1.92 million [2]

Communion is a 1989 American science fiction film based on the book of the same name by Whitley Strieber in 1987.

Contents

Starring Christopher Walken and Frances Sternhagen, it tells a story of a family that experiences an extraterrestrial phenomenon while on vacation at a remote home in the wilderness during which the father Whitley Strieber is abducted and all of their lives change. According to Strieber, the story is a real-life account of his own encounter with "visitors", with Walken playing the role of Strieber.

Plot

In 1985, New York–based author Whitley Strieber lives with his wife Anne and child Andrew in Manhattan and seems to be successful. However, he is woken at night by paranoid dreams that someone else is in the room.

On a trip to the family cabin in the woods, the intruder alarm is triggered and Strieber sees a face watching him from the doorway. Bright light fills the cabin windows and wakes Andrew and two other family friends Alex and Sarah but Anne remains asleep.

Disturbed by this, the group returns to New York and life seemingly returns to normal, but Strieber finds that his work and personal life are becoming affected by recurring nightmares and visions of strange alien beings including greys, blue doctors and bugs. This upsets Andrew and puts strain on his marriage.

After an incident at their cabin in which Strieber is so convinced that there are alien beings inside the home that he pulls his gun out and almost shoots Anne, worried that Andrew is beginning to have the same visions, he is finally convinced to see psychiatrist Dr. Janet Duffy specializing in hypnotic regression therapy.

The therapy confirms that Strieber has possibly been abducted by unknown beings and experiments have been performed on him; however, he is still skeptical about it and reluctantly attends a group therapy session of fellow 'abductees'.

Eventually Strieber realizes he has to confront his visions, real or not, and returns to the cabin where most of the incidents seem to occur. He interacts with the alien beings and realizes he has been in contact with them his whole life and it was passed on from his father Karl and he will, in turn, pass it on to Andrew.

Making up with his family, Strieber comes to accept the alien visitors as part of his life and in the last scene he sits in his office and embraces the face of a 'grey' alien.

Cast

Production

Communion was written by Whitley Strieber adapting his book of the same name, itself chronicling Strieber's alleged encounters with extraterrestrials. [1] Strieber opted to work with director and friend Philippe Mora on adapting the story to film with the understanding Strieber would handle the writing without interference while Mora would handle direction without interference. [1] Strieber chose to have the film produced independently as he feared having a major studio adapt his experiences would turn it into a special effects-heavy horror film rather than a character piece. [1] During production it was reported that on set some members of the crew would crack jokes at Strieber's expense about the autobiographical aspects of the story. [1] Strieber said of these instances:

Some people who work on movies are nice people; some people who work on movies are jerks. We had the usual mix on this crew. [1]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 46% approval rating based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10. [3]

Some critics praised Christopher Walken's performance as the highlight of the film. Los Angeles Times called his performance "terrific" and added: "Walken dazzles, giving us an intelligent, talented man caught in a nightmare and fearing for his sanity." [4]

Music

The score was composed by Eric Clapton and Alan Clark, though no official soundtrack album was ever released. In 2010, the main theme and end credit theme were released by film composer and former Oingo Boingo guitarist Steve Bartek.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Florence, Bill (January 1990). "Communion". Cinefantastique. Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  2. ↑ Communion at Box Office Mojo
  3. ↑ "Communion". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  4. ↑ Kevin Thomas (10 November 1989). "MOVIE REVIEW: Walken Has Purported Close Encounter in 'Communion'". Los Angeles Times .
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