Open Your Eyes (2021) by Greg A. Sager


Director: Greg A. Sager
Year: 2021
Country: Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Psychological Thriller

Plot:
Struggling to get a new script completed, a writers' attempts to get started are interrupted by a series of incidents around him that begin to affect his mental state to the point of paranoia, and when a potential romance with a neighbor only increases everything he tries to save his sanity.

Review:

This one was a rather troubling genre effort. This one tends to waste way too much time for the most part on an uninteresting set up in the first half that focuses exclusively on his struggles to write the story. That isn't deviated much throughout here with the various stalling tactics that are intended to show him succumbing to writer's block but instead just serve as padding to drag out the running time. It can only show a person staying at one location jotting inspirational notes to himself, staring at a blank computer screen, and falling asleep only to jolt themselves awake before it just becomes dull and monotonous which is, unfortunately, the case here. The film takes up way too much time with this, which doesn't get any better once it starts to focus on the romance angle that emerges between the two of them, which generates a far longer period of dullness before anything happens.

Luckily, once something happens, this one does get slightly more interesting though not as much as expected. The series of initial antics that are utilized alongside the procrastination tricks he's attempting to work through that affect his psyche give this a wholly intriguing psychological bent that gets explored much better in the second half when everything becomes obvious regarding what's happening to him. The relationship takes a far darker tone with the series of revelations that brings up which turns this from a relationship drama into a darker thriller with how everything plays out here including the fun series of extended flashbacks that come about. Seeing how these play out and become responsible for the breaks in his mental state is quite obvious with where it's going but still maintains a sense of fun because it's coming off the rather inherent dullness that came before it. This holds it up but not enough over its flaws.


Overview: */5
A dull and troubling psychological thriller that comes off the most enjoyable with its final half but still has problems even in that section, this one comes off with quite a few issues that keep this one from being any higher. Give this a look if you’re a fan of these kinds of films or a fan of the creative crew, while most others will have a lot of issues here that make for a cautionary genre effort.

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