Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This slowly unravelling story features a typically intense performance from Ethan Hawke (as Detective Bruce Kenner), and features UK actors David Thewlis (Professor Kenneth Raines) and Emma Watson as the shy young victim at the centre of it all Angela Grey. It is written and directed with great, gloomy, foreboding flair by Alejandro Amenábar.The cast are excellent, which is just as well during the early stages of 'Regression'. This first act looks great, but could uncharitably be described as 'a lot of people standing around talking.' This is a necessary price to pay if you are to appreciate and fully understand the twists and turns events subsequently take.The lack of traditional jump scares indicates this is intended as a subtle, thinking person's horror and as such, works very well. Grey's burgeoning friendship with Kenner is charming and you feel pleased she is beginning to see an end to the traumas she has been put through. She is very easy to sympathise with, as Grey discovers. And yet it is a mistake to take anything at face value, because in true demonic possession style, things are not always as they seem.Despite being top billed, Watson isn't in this a whole lot, and yet events circle around the character of Grey. Watson has become a somewhat controversial figure, with some questioning her talents as an actress and others lauding them. It is difficult to know why this is. Perhaps it is because she uses her platform to highlight women's rights; perhaps it is simply because she is educated and successful beyond acting; perhaps it is because she seems successfully to have progressed from child star to adult actress. Or perhaps I am easily pleased (who cares, really?) - I find her quietly impressive here; she holds her own amidst some exemplary performances.Is this a perfect film? Not really - it could have benefitted from losing 10 minutes of run-time, and it needn't have taken quite so long to get going. Also, the final twist could have been given more gravitas. But 'Regression' is a very solid, expertly produced mystery and I enjoyed it.

It's 1990 and satanic cult hysteria has swept the nation. Police detective Bruce Kenner (Ethan Hawke) investigates John Gray who admits to abusing his daughter Angela (Emma Watson). Kenner calls in professor Kenneth Raines (David Thewlis) to use memory regression. George Nesbitt (Aaron Ashmore) is a cop and a suspect. The story is a muddle with limited tension. This movie needs to sell the audience on the supernatural cult before surprising them with a twist. It never really sells the cult idea possibly due to the opening text. I read it as a hysteria unfounded by reality. There is a brooding atmosphere and Hawke has a brooding personality. It's trying to be Se7en without pulling it off. Filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar has done much better. Honestly, the cast is more intriguing than the movie. This may function better as a straight up horror but then the final twist is a betrayal of that.

First of all, this movie was too jumbled to sink your teeth into. There was no depth. It was hard to keep track of the characters and what they did or didn't do because none of them had any screen time worth mentioning except for Ethan Hawke and, to some extent, the psychiatrist. At no time did the film draw me in.**SPOILER ALERT**The crappy ending was a neat little summation that you might have missed if you blinked. I was like, are you freaking kidding me?!Even if a young woman wanted to seek revenge on her family for her lackluster upbringing (which is a weak premise in itself), what about all of the people who, independent from her, had corroborating memories? Her father was in real anguish over his memories of satanic abuse, which not only matched the girl's brother's details and traumatic emotion, but both she and her father named the same abuser, unbeknownst to the other. He was willing to go to prison for life, possibly get the death penalty, for feeling guilty because he wasn't Father Knows Best...? Seriously?! Meanwhile, the crazy grandmother is also harboring the same satanic delusions as the others in the family... and yet... nobody ever actually experienced ANY of it!The detective has some pretty vivid nightmares, to the point of thinking they may actually have happened. He puts a gun under his pillow. And one day, a couple of his fellow officers come to beat the hell out of, or kill him – in black robes, no less! – and he's like "I understand why you're upset with me, so I won't report this". Gimme a break!The worst thing about this movie though, which I find wholly irresponsible and unforgivable, is that the point of the film is a declaration that satanic abuse never happens – it's all in the minds of delusional people! OH. MY. GOD.! Way to dismiss the agony and suffering of the thousands of people who have been victimized by actual, non-imaginary satanic cults which DO, in fact, exist! It is a large network of organized rings around the world.... which certainly makes me wonder about the motive of the people who created this piece of deleterious propaganda...

There are a lot of excellent Spanish directors; however only Almoodovar and Amenabar are very well known abroad. And sadly they made great movies long ago but their latest efforts are really badly directed and even worse scripted.After getting Tom Cruise to remade his second movie (Open your eyes) and winning an Oscar for his third (The Sea Inside), Amenabar made an over-produced, and later financial failure called AGORA.The movie blamed the rising Christian faith as the barbarians who destroyed the Alexandria library and its documents and knowledge without any historic accuracy. Some people considered the movie offensive; but it was just a poorly directed, mediocre script whose only goal seemed to be to create controversy.Regression (after an hiatus of a few years) is perhaps more of the same. It is difficult to understand if Amenabar is attacking one more time the Christian faith, psychoanalysis or people stupidity. *** SPOILER FOLLOWS **** Based on real events (which does not necessary means what the movie tells is completely true) it tells the story of a police detective that investigating a possible child molesting case; turn things in a satanic cult stuff, creating a media big mess; to find out later that everything was product of a quite hysterical young women.***END OF SPOILER *****Nothing in the move makes a lot of sense; people believe things without any real proof; everybody (including the "smart" city detective) becomes obsessed almost immediately; but it happens so fast and without any logical reason that is impossible to believeEthan Hawk makes a big effort to with his character (frankly, never trust his character with any investigation) and Emma Watson surprises with her dual personality character. The rest of the cast does whatever they can; but no magic can be done with an script without any proper progression that keeps asking to accept the absurd of a situation.In brief; avoid it !!!